The odd family: zombie on sale
Even the undead can be monetized in this endearing South Korean zombie comedy of miễn phí enterprise and family dysfunction.
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South Korea came relatively late khổng lồ the zombie-cinema sweepstakes, making up for lost time most notably with 2016’s “Train to lớn Busan,” which has already generated a sequel. Nonetheless, “Zombie for Sale” will seem most familiar not necessarily to lớn horror fans, but rather those who grokked the comedy of family dysfunctionalia in prior genre-expanding local breakouts “The Host” và “Parasite.” As in those films, things here center on a somewhat hapless lower-class nuclear unit who get going when the going gets outlandishly tough.
Lee Min-jae’s debut feature finally sees distribution on these shores — amid a different kind of viral contagion crisis — nearly a year & a half after its home-turf premiere, during which time it has opened in other Asian territories và played festivals primarily as “The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale.” Amiably slow to gear up toward a satisfying kích hoạt climax, this endearing zom-com is making its simultaneous U.S. & U.K. Commercial debut as part of cult-cinema-minded Arrow clip Channel’s July programming slate in both subscription territories.
A flurry of news reports over opening credits inform that trial patients are rumored khổng lồ have had serious side effects from pharma company Human In Bio’s new diabetic medicine NoInsulin. Some were reputedly unwilling, abducted “volunteers” — including, we assume, the ragged young man seen clambering out of a manhole và stumbling down a rural road away from that corporation’s secret laboratory headquarters. He plods his way toward podunk Poongsan, where he unsuccessfully tries khổng lồ bite several oblivious inhabitants, but is chased himself by the resident stray dog. He hides in a shed at the Park family’s gas station, albeit not before briefly getting his choppers into their patriarch Man-duk (Park In-hwan), an irascible thẻ cheat và all-around ne’er-do-well who lives in a trailer next door.
Man-duk’s progeny aren’t faring much better: Their paltry living seems to lớn be made primarily off causing accidents for unlucky passersby on the roadway, then charging exorbitantly for tự động hóa repairs. Mechanic Joon-gul (Jung Jae-young) is ever-ready for such “emergencies” with his tow truck, just as dourly pregnant wife Nan-joo (Um Ji-won) is to lớn receive the payments in her zealously guarded cashbox. His junior sister Hae-gul (Lee Soo-kyung) gives off a bit of a ghoulish Wednesday Addams vibe, their own mother having died giving birth lớn her in this already-depressing place. Middle sibling Min-gul (Kim Nam-gil) chooses this moment for a visit home, failing lớn mention that he’s just gotten sacked from his job in the city.
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When discovered, the boy Hae-gul dubs Jjong-bi (Jung Ga-ram) is just a grubby, grunting thing ineffectually lunging for any available flesh, though he’s surprisingly OK with the substitution of cabbage heads. (They look like brains.) It is Min-gul who identifies him as a zombie, which suggests bitten Man-duk is about to “turn.” Instead, however, the old man feels suddenly invigorated, making all his senior pals eager khổng lồ get whatever he got for themselves. So the enterprising family begins charging for their new member’s services, which consist of a hungry nip on the arm. Soon just about everyone is feeling decades younger, the money is pouring in, the gas station gets a spruce-up, & once he gets a salon tóc makeover, the somewhat domesticated (but still mute) Jjong-bi again looks lượt thích the cute college jock he no doubt once was.
All this is pleasing enough, with well-tuned performances that run a stylistic gamut from deadpan to lớn antic. The firsttime feature director (as well as DP mang lại Hyoung-rae) exhibits a particularly sharp eye for compositions that turn background movement into droll slapstick. But “Zombie for Sale” is just warming up for the first hour or so. In the remainder, it turns out that “zombie virus” wasn’t so harmless after all — just slow-acting. Once nearly the whole town abruptly succumbs, the Parks barricade themselves at home. Fireworks, young love, ill-timed childbearing & a weed-whacker all figure in a long climax that is satisfying and, at moments, surprisingly sweet.
The sum effect is a little bit “Shaun of the Dead,” a bit “Warm Bodies,” plus a whole lot of particularly Korean sitcom-gone-macabre humor à la “The Quiet Family” và the aforementioned Bong Joon Ho smashes. While perhaps not quite up to their level, “Zombie for Sale” hits an agreeable median between being slick, shaggy, grotesque and warmhearted. It’s skillfully assembled in all departments, though Hwang Sang-jun’s sometimes 1950s-rock-flavored score might better have leaned toward a tone more sardonic than cute.
