Arrow Films
After Bong Joon-ho’s success with Parasite, South Korean cinema is pretty hot right now. It’s the perfect time therefore for Arrow Films to have acquired another potential South Korean hit – Zombie For Sale. Pre-Parasite, South Korea was already firmly on the zombie film map thanks to the brilliant Train to Busan, an action-packed tale of a zombie outbreak on a busy commuter train. In case the title hasn’t given it away, Zombie for Sale also hones in on the popular horror sub-genre, although it takes a significantly different approach.
Zombie For Sale starts traditionally enough. A storm rages and, as the rain hammers down, we watch as a reanimated body emerges from a shallow grave. Once our introduction to the undead is out of the way, director Lee Min-jae switches up the tone and location as we meet the Park family (no not that one). Living in a sleepy backwater town, the type where everyone knows everyone, the Parks run a dilapidated garage. Their luck changes though after an encounter with our opening zombie. Rather than turn the bitten patriarch of the family as per the lore of other zombie films, the bite has unexpected rejuvenating properties. In fact, our zombie actually prefers raw cabbage to man-meat. Sensing an opportunity, word gets out to the townsfolk; the family take the ‘zombie’ into their care and start charging the locals for the benefits of his unique talent. But can their luck last?
Arrow Films
Switching from what appears at first to be a straight zombie film into something else isn’t as smooth as it could be. The move jars slightly, and once we leave our newly animated corpse it takes a while for the story to get back on track. However, once things settle down, and we understand where Zombie For Sale is going – both tonally and from a narrative perspective – that’s when the magic begins.
Much like Bong’s Parasite, it is our central family of characters that win us over. The Parks are a ragtag group of people that more than prove the saying, ‘you can’t pick your family’. Each member is so unique and vastly different from the last that the only reason for their closeness is their genetics. Their differences in opinions, lifestyles etc., actually leads to the bulk of the drama and comedy on-screen.
The film has everything – horror, action, drama, comedy, and even a Romeo and Juliet style romantic subplot involving one of the family and their reanimated lodger. It’s not exactly the punk rock zombie-human love affair of Return of the Living Dead 3‘s Julie and Kurt, but the sweetly subtle exchanges between the couple warm the heart in the same way. Given it’s zany nature, Zombie For Sale becomes an immediate crowd-pleaser as it progresses. Even the composer is having fun here; the score skews heavily towards the comedy elements. There’s one piece in particular that sounds very much like a Korean take on the Benny Hill theme that works perfectly against the physical comedy that unfolds.
Arrow Films
Zombie For Sale offers a distinctly fresh take on zombie tropes. Whilst starting in a traditional fashion, it soon races off in its own direction, and has much more in common with the likes of Cocoon than it does anything that George A. Romeo brought to life. It wears its quirky warm-hearted nature on its sleeve, and like the typical zombie pandemic, its joyous nature is infectious, and will no doubt have you grinning from ear to ear.
Zombie For Sale was reviewed at Arrow Video Frightfest Glasgow 2020.
