Horror has many subgenres; there’s Psychological, Slasher and Gothic, just to name a few. One of the most popular by far is Zombie Horror, so it really shouldn’t have surprised me that the show All of Us Are Dead is one of Netflix's most watched series of all time. I watched this back in 2023 a year after its release in 2022 and saw no one talking about it online, so I figured I’d stumbled across yet another sleeper hit. While that might not be true, the fact that no one I know seems to be aware that this show exists is very unfortunate. So, while we still have some time before season two comes out (whenever that is), let’s talk about one of the best zombie shows in recent memory.

The series, based on a web comic of the same name, takes place in South Korea in the fictional city of Hyosan, where the students of the local high school are having a pretty rough time. 

On the more harmless side of issues plaguing the students we have things like navigating their complicated feelings for each other, on the more nefarious side, others are dealing with some pretty intense bullying and harassment. Wherever they may fall on that spectrum, life gets a whole lot worse for everyone when the school becomes ground zero for a zombie outbreak.

Forced to survive with only their wits and common classroom objects, they must fight off both hordes of their now dead and rabid classmates, friends, and teachers as well as those who are still alive and arguably more dangerous than the zombies themselves.

The action choreography for this series is very well done. It's reminiscent of something like Train to Busan, both in its brutality and in the way the environment plays a key role in the action. Something as simple as a classroom or gym suddenly becomes a deadly maze when flooded with fast moving zombies. There’s an emphasis on evading and dodging, allowing for some very cool moments. One of my favorite scenes takes place in a library, where our main character is contending with both enemies’ dead and alive.

For any story with a focus on Psychological Horror, good character writing is a must. Fortunately, this show delivers some very high-quality character drama and storylines. The show starts with a large cast, which it slowly and painfully tears apart. There’s plenty of betrayals, sacrifices and tense moments, all of which feel earned.

When you have such a large ensemble cast it’s hard for any actor to stand out and claim the spotlight, which is largely the case for this show. With that being said all of the performances were great, especially the zombies, who were very convincing. Some of my favorite performances came from Lee Kyu Hyung who played Song Jae Ik, Lim Jae Hyeok who played Dae Su, Lee Sang Hee who played Park Seon Hwa and Ham Sung Min who played Gyeong Su. The best two performances, though, came from Yoo In Soo who played Gwi Nam and Oh Hye Soo who played Eun Ji.

This is it for the spoiler free section. If you’ve not seen this show yet go watch it then come back and finish the rest. While you’re here read the first edition of both my new series Operation One Piece and The Monthly Mention!

Typically, horror stories that heavily feature monsters of some kind tend to be allegories for something else. This is the case with most zombie fiction and All of us Are Dead is no exception to that rule. I think this show has a lot to say about the ways in which society consistently fails its young people. 

When some of the students at Hyosan are being bullied relentlessly by fellow classmates, the teachers look the other way, allowing for the continued abuse of the kids who they’re supposed to protect.

Lee Byeong Chan, whose son is among the students being bullied, is forced to come up with his own solution, which is to create a virus that will make his son stronger and able to stand up for himself.

Not only is this a drastic measure to take but it’s also not the right way to deal with the situation. Had Lee come up with a better solution no one would have died at all and had the school officials done their job like they should have, he wouldn’t have come up with such a disastrous idea.

Compare that to the way the students act throughout the story. When conflicts emerge within the group, they often try to come up with a diplomatic solution to the problem. There are many moments when it doesn’t work, like in the case of Gyeong Su and Na Yun, but there’s a more serious attempt at fixing the problem so that everyone can continue to work together.

The best way to compare the adults’ methods for resolving problems with that of the students is to look at how they each approach the zombie situation.

For the most part we see that the teachers have taken to hiding around the school. When they do find students who are still alive, they typically make the situation worse for them and endanger their lives.

A great example of this behavior is Jin Gu, the PE teacher who hides in the classroom with our main characters. He orders them to block the doors and after they do so they find out he was bitten. Instead of being honest or choosing not to interact with the students he gets angry when confronted about his bite before ultimately turning into a zombie and forcing them out of the room into a more dangerous situation.

I think the zombies in this context can be viewed as a metaphor for how overwhelming and intense it can feel when you don’t have reliable adults to guide you when you’re still developing.

Our main group spends the entire show running from one classroom to the other trying to avoid being killed. Isolated and desperate, the students choose to rely on one another to survive instead of the adults who largely abandoned them. They do so by putting their minds together and trusting each other.

If there’s anything I think we should learn from this story, it’s that even though we’ve been neglected by the older generations, who seem more than happy to cash in and take it easy while the planet is dying around us, as long as we work together, we can build a better future for everyone.