This review was written solely based on the Netflix show not the webtoon. This review may contain spoilers! 

Netflix Korea has really been stepping it up when it comes to grabbing the attention of Western audiences. On Sept. 17, 2021 Netflix released “Squid Game,” which immediately caught viewers attentions all over the United States and was on the number one show on Netflix in America for 28 days. The Internet went crazy and it was all anyone could talk about for weeks.

On Jan. 28 Netflix released another Korean Drama, “All of Us Are Dead.” The show quickly hit number one on Netflix charts, making it just the second non-English speaking show to do so after “Squid Game” last fall. “All of Us Are Dead” is still on the top 10 charts as of today, but what a lot of people don’t know is that they show was originally written as a Webtoon by Joo Dong-geun. The Webtoon was originally called “Now at Our School.” It was then created and directed into a series by Lee JQ and Kim Nam-su, with Lee JQ also serving as showrunner, and Chun Sung-il as writer. 

“All of Us Are Dead” is a zombie thriller series that takes place in the city of Hyosan, South Korea which is plagued by a virus that turns all the infected into zombies. However, Hyosan High School serves as ground zero of this plague. The show revolves around students who are trapped and struggle to survive. They have no food, water, or communication. The students use anything in their surroundings to try and avoid getting infected.  

“All of Us Are Dead” does a great job with playing with the audiences’ emotions. When I first saw the trailer, I thought, “oh it looks interesting.” I thought it was going to be like those other zombie movies, but it turned out to be sad, especially because I found myself so attached to the characters. 

It’s hard to watch the characters struggle because they all just want to survive and they try so hard. Their resilience shines as they continually lose family and friends to the virus, but they keep trying to survive.

It’s so easy to just fall in love with the characters because they all care about each other and they just all go through the same things together. The characters learn so much about themselves and become attached to the idea of all surviving together. They don’t want anyone to be left behind or sacrifice themselves.  

I started watching the show with my sister and Lee Cheong-San (Chan-Young Yoon) quickly caught our attention. We joked around and called him our ‘baefy,’ but he wasn’t the only character that I got attached to, Nam Onjo (Park Ji-hoo) also did.  

Cheong-San and Onjo are best friends that have lived next door for many years. They grew up together and it’s obvious that Cheong-San has a crush on Onjo. These characters stood out to me because of the connection they had. Whatever happened they all always managed to help each other out.  

When Cheong-San finally does confess his feelings, Onjo starts to realize that she really does love him more than a friend. Both characters suffer from seeing their parents as zombies and they decide to promise each other that they will be able to talk about it the next day, week, year after they are rescued.  

The connection between these two characters is so strong that you don’t want anything to happen to either of them. 

I learned not to get too attached however, as there are a number of important character deaths in the show. “All of Us Are Dead” had me yelling at my TV and crying my eyes out. There were many scenes that were so addicting to watch that I didn’t want to turn off the show. It didn’t help that most of the episodes ended off in a cliff hanger, so then it felt like I just HAD to keep watching. 

I recommend this show to anyone who likes zombie movies or shows. Netflix really outdid themselves! 

All of Us Are Dead is now streaming on Netflix.