Today the ZRC would like to talk about ‘Doomsday Book’, a 2012 film from South Korea about the Zombie Apocalypse.

(Warning: The Wikipedia link is, as is common with wikipedia pages about movies, rife with spoilers.)

More behind the cut.

Well, ok. It is an anthology series, so only 1/3 (the first third), is about said Zombie Apocalypse.

It’s a pretty negative third though!

The first segment, apparently titled A Brave New World in English, is about said apocalypse. First we’re introduced to a somewhat nerdy research scientist about to get out of military service, and his annoying, borderline abusive family.

(Not Zombies, just jerks)

The rest of the family is going on vacation, so said poor scientist is left behind to clean up the piles of trash and rotting food they leave behind. A grosser sort of Cinderella story.

Along the way he disposes of a very sinister looking rotten apple…

Which ends up used in some sort of food waste/animal food processing scheme…

And thus: Zombie Apocalypse

(Can Science ever explain these things? Anti-Zombie movies tend to be pretty hard on science.)

It’s not really a spoiler to say this apocalypse happens, Doomsday Book is pretty heavily marketed as a Zombie movie, on, say, Netflix, where the ZRC found out about it.

Still, it’s sad for the Zombies, who are shown as at least pitiable, if not fully sympathetic figures.

I’m not sure what to make of it as a critique of the South Korean agricultural system, but this part of the movie could EASILY put you off your lunch, as it did me. So much rotten food…

The second segment isn’t about Zombies at all, but rather a robot that may have achieved Enlightenment.

And the third is about a planetary crisis triggered by a child’s internet purchase.

The third segment is the best, Zombie absence aside. The second segment probably has the most interesting concept but it gets more than a little speechy and bombastic after a while.

The Zombie Rights Campaign, alas, has to rate ‘Doomsday Book’ as Anti-Zombie for its overall negative take on the issue of a, ahem, Zombie Apocalypse.

Tags: Movies, ZRC Reviews

This entry was posted by John Sears on Monday, September 15th, 2014 at 6:03 am and is filed under Zombie Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.