Netflix Zombie Movie #Alive Remains a Standout of the Decade

Recommending a zombie movie in 2026 comes with qualifications. Zombies are a cheap monster option for indie horror filmmakers who can just stock up on corn syrup and paint all their friends corpse blue. The subgenre was already crowded before the one-two punch of the live-action Resident Evil movies and The Walking Dead turned the 21st century into permanent undead territory. If this century so far has a trademark monster, it is zombies.

By now, enough creators have taken their own swings at the subject that you have multiple options for any kind of zombie you like: fast, slow, post-apocalyptic, non-apocalyptic, scary, funny, action-packed, contemplative, consumerist parody, self-parody, deconstructive, reconstructive, non-constructive, scientific, supernatural, musical.

There is arguably no more point in doing zombies with a twist unless the twist is really good, because the genre is already twisted enough. The only thing left to do now is to do zombies well. That is the reason to watch the 2020 Korean movie #Alive, which is currently on Netflix.

All alone and an easy target

In retrospect, it is a surprise that #Alive came out during 2020, rather than just after it. It could not have been made in reaction to COVID since the timing is wrong, but it still feels like it was. #Alive is built around its sense of isolation and despair as its protagonist is stuck alone in his apartment watching South Korea slowly crumble.

If it had come out six months later, #Alive would have been an accidental metaphor. It still kind of is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ8CCg1tOqc – trailer

Oh Joon-woo (Yoo Ah-in) is a streamer who wakes up late one morning after the rest of his family has already left for the day. His usual routine is interrupted by a riot outside his window. An unknown disease has broken out in the city that is transmissible by bite and causes its victims to go into a violent, cannibalistic frenzy.

Soon, Joon-woo is the only living person that he can see from his eighth-floor window. He is more or less safe from the zombies once he barricades his door, but what little food and water he has quickly runs out. Everything Joon-woo took for granted is gone, and he is soon improvising to survive as the city falls apart around him.

A quick summary of #Alive makes it sound like it would be a cheaply made bottle episode, but there is some real money and ambition at work here. Much of it is set in Joon-woo’s living room, but the creature effects and set design are both top-notch, some scenes feature dozens of extras, and its setting quickly expands to take up much of the block around Joon-woo’s building. #Alive is a high-budget version of what could have been a low-budget premise.

That being said, #Alive would be dead on arrival if its lead actor were not up to the job. Yoo Ah-in is asked to carry a lot on his shoulders, and he is up to the task. Joon-woo could easily have been some obnoxious tech-obsessed millennial stereotype, but he is smart, resourceful, and determined. Joon-woo is an easy character to root for, which is rare in horror, and that drives #Alive forward.

In a previous era of horror movies, #Alive would probably have more of a reputation than it does now. It was a sleeper hit during the pandemic and was briefly in Netflix’s top 10 foreign films. However, it had a lot working against it in the following years, such as the relentless pace at which Netflix releases original films and the poor discoverability of its title. By now, #Alive is the next best thing to forgotten.

As we head into October, however, it is worth revisiting. #Alive is a solid, fast-moving piece of horror filmmaking that still has plenty of energy left six years later. It is worth a look for your yearly pre-Halloween horror lineups.

#Alive is now streaming on Netflix.

Source: Polygon