#Alive

With how oversaturated the zombie horror genre has become over the past couple of decades, it's difficult for any modern entries in the field to stand out well. As mentioned in my Train to Busan (2016) review, the formula they are usually tied to becomes a tired predictable template that desperately needs other elements of the feature such as likable characters and cool action to make up for that weakness. This not only applies to those from America but other countries as well, with a great example of the South Korean thriller Train to Busan raising the bar on what can be done. This brings us to another South Korean entry within this topic, #Alive, that was released on Netflix September 2020. I hadn't heard much about it nor have seen marketing for it but was informed about it from a friend who liked it. So on the day before Halloween, I watched it to see if it could do something cool with its premise and was somewhat underwhelmed after looking at the forgettable viewing experience. 

What's it about? The story follows a video game live streamer struggling to survive a zombie outbreak in his city via isolation in his apartment. On its own, this premise can be fascinating as isolation can allow some creative freedoms in exploring the protagonist react to things happening outside they have no control over. There are a few nice parts of that aspect here that aren't exactly anything new but are at least contributions to the viewing. The zombies here are the standard fast twitchy movement kind of threat that work well enough in confined spaces of an apartment hallway. Once the 40 minute mark is reached, the momentum of the story picks up considerably towards reaching its potential. 

However, the overall package feels undercooked by a number of factors that hinder meaningful moments. The first act moves slower than the infected humans and meanders with a few scenes that pad our alone time with him. The predictable story formula doesn't help this feature from standing out and plants itself as middle of the road background noise. It takes 40 minutes to get out of that lonely solo screen time with the main character and the strength of everything else could have been greatly expanded upon if at most 10-15 minutes were trimmed from the isolation arc.

 

How are the actors? In regards to story importance, the actors to focus on are Yoo Ah-in and Park Shin-hye. Yoo does a fairly solid job doing his best to make something likable out of a role that doesn't exactly have much of a personality (being let down by the script). Park fares better than Yoo with having better material to work with and having some cool zombie kills of her own. The chemistry between both actors is serviceable and watchable that adds some fun entertainment after that aforementioned point in the runtime. 

 

Overall Consensus: #Alive struggles to rise above being middle of the road horror due to its predictable script, dull scares, and a dragging beginning act but balances it out with decent character chemistry, nice undead kills, potential for its premise. ⭑⭑⭑1/4 Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes R

 

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You want to see some foreign language horror. You like seeing some modern technology used during an undead outbreak. You don't mind predictable stories with character archetypes. 

 

Reasons to avoid it: You dislike any of the aforementioned actors. You aren't in the mood for foreign language horror. You are bored by standard middle of the road genre movies.