Zombie-thriller '#Alive' runs hot, but many viewers unimpressed

"#Alive," stars Yoo Ah-in and Park Shin-hye. Courtesy of Lotte Cultureworks

By Lee Gyu-lee

The zombie-apocalypse, thriller film "#Alive" is dominating the local box office amid the COVID-led void in theaters, yet not all viewers agree that it deserves its position.

Since its release on June 24, the blockbuster, starring Yoo Ah-in and Park Shin-hye, has been on top of the box office, with more than 800,000 tickets sold until Saturday.

However, the film has received a growing number of negative reviews and low ratings from audiences.

"There's no plot in this … I seriously wonder what the actors saw in this when deciding to take their roles," a user wrote on Naver Movie.

Another wrote: "The story was quite simple compared to the performances of the actors. No explanation of how the virus was spread, nor any backgrounds. There were a lot of blanks that needed to be filled in."

Directed by Cho Il-hyung, the film follows two protagonists ― Yoo and Park ― isolated in a zombie-hit apartment complex. The two team up to survive and escape the complex while contact with the outside world is cut off.

The director said he had emphasized the protagonists' survival of the apocalypse rather than on the background of the infection, unlike most other zombie films.

"We wanted the audiences to think about what being alive means and what it feels to have someone around you to go through hardships together," Cho said at a press conference earlier this month.

As the director intended, some did express the freshness of the new approach in a zombie flick. "I think it did a nice job of getting rid of unnecessary details and showing the realistic side of human in survival, despite its rough ending," a user wrote.

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