Zombie for Sale

I really love this movie. It has very good cinematography and funny moments. Even though the storyline seems to be problem here, this movie gives you a new experience of zombie invasion. Damn! The director knows how to make excellent scenes.

Just watch it for fun, cause it is made to make you laugh.

I suppose the word that comes to mind when I think about this film is "offbeat". It's a zombie film that isn't really scary. It's a comedy but has a kind of hangdog feel. None of the characters is terribly attractive, let alone glamorous. But somehow I found a lot of things to like about The Odd Family. For a start, I was quite taken with the look of it, with its lush green expanses outdoors and its convincingly old-fashioned, cluttered interiors. I also thought the film was put together and paced in a very coherent way, so, even though there weren't any exciting action scenes or dramatic confrontations, I was still carried along by the story. The ensemble cast worked well together; it looked like all of them had cast vanity to the four winds and completely entered into the spirit of their very ordinary, even lumpen characters. And, lastly, I did enjoy the story and the way the family members (including the new addition, the zombie) interacted with each other. So, although its wry, lowkey charms may not be obvious to everyone, I do recommend this film for an evening's gentle entertainment,

Lee Mn-Jae's 2019 film, "The Odd Family, Zombie on Sale" seems to be maybe South Korea 's first entry to the Zombie comedy genre. There's a lot of references to Millennial "Zom-Com" films such as "Shaun of the Dead", "Warm Bodies" and "Zombieland" but also straightforward Zombie films, like George E. Romero's 2005 "Land of the Dead".

It's story centers around the "Park" family owning a gas station that take a young man, Hyon-woo" (nicknamed later as "Jongbie, the Pet") who develops "zombie" characteristic behavior. The family consists of a married couple (with wife expecting), their father plus a young girl, "Hae-Gul" in which "Jongbie" develops a crush on. The obvious enemy here is an illegal pharmaceutical company called "Human Bio", doing experiments on humans... does this plot sound familiar to you?

Again, if you like these referenced films, Min-Jae's film is for you. Otherwise, he does not offer anything new or original here. But the quality of acting, set production and special effects are very good. In its Midwest premiere, Min-Jae stated that his wife co-wrote the script and that the fact "zombies" belong to Haitian Vodou. He further said that in fact, the idea of the "living dead" can be also found in Korean lore.

When asked if there will be a sequel, he said (in a joking manner) maybe when the baby character grows up to be 20 years old... he will pursue a sequel! If you are interested on an international perspective on how filmmakers have taken on the "zombie" genre, then "The Odd Family, Zombie on Sale" is for you!

As much as it's merely a combination of three completely overused genres, films that hit the trifecta of romantic, zombie and comedy are a rare breed, and it's even more uncommon that they're done well. Zombie For Sale fully embraces the silliness inherent to it's premise, so it's easy to forgive when it's being outlandishly unrealistic. It also strikes the best balance of laugh out loud comedy and fully functioning zombie flick since Shaun of the Dead. Not sure what's causing this boom in quality Korean cinema, but I hope it continues for a long time!

It was a sort of ok film, started off with promise but faded away. I think it was at least twenty minutes too long.

A solid 5/10.