It's a very small cast (I mean, other than the hordes of zombies) with really only 4 characters who speak (one of which is a neighbour that dies immediately). Most of it is carried on the back of Joon-Woo (played by Yoo Ah-In), who spends pretty much half of the movie on his own. He wakes up late one day and it seems like a normal day. His parents and sister are out and left him some cash to get groceries, but he instead logs on to do some gaming. It never says how old he is, but I'd guess early 20s? Anyway, suddenly things go batshit outside and on the TV -- there's an outbreak of something and people are going cannibalistic and violent.
He's trapped, and with very little food. The electricity and everything is on at first and he spends his time watching TV and looking out his window. He's able to receive some last text messages from his family, who are trapped in dad's office (I think). He sends off a last message into the ether with a picture of himself and his address, hoping for rescue.
At this point, I'm thinking, dude, you should really fill your bathtub with water and everything else you've got that's a container because, you know, hurricanes. But he doesn't. And, inevitably, things get turned off and there's no more water and not really any food and he's apologising to his dad for going into his whiskey collection. When he's about to kill himself, he's saved when a girl across the way Yoo-Bin (played by Park Shin-Hye playing every character I've ever seen her play -- resourceful, a bit snarky) uses a laser pointer to get his attention. She's been watching through binoculars.
They are able to use a drone to attach a rope between their flats and exchange some food, and, after he breaks into the (very dead) next door neighbour's place, talk over some walki talkies. She's not entirely sure he's not an idiot. He's duly impressed by her ability with an axe. And, when things get really desperate, they come together to try and get to the 8th floor which she had been spying on and seemed zombie-free.
There they run into the only other actor who has much of anything to say -- a seemingly friendly man played by Jeon Bae-Su, who I've seen in so many things as a character actor that I'm not going to list them (but include a stint as Attorney Woo's dad). He invites them in, gives them food and water...and I had SUCH a bad feeling. Yep. His wife, who he has tied up in another room, is a zombie. And he wants them so he can feed her. They just manage to escape (honestly, not sure how, you're kinda just supposed to believe that Park Shin-Hye's character somehow managed to fend off zombie-wife with her hands tied). But the gun shots have attracted more zombies and they don't know what to do. She asks him to kill her. He can't quite do it, but has almost worked himself up to it...when they hear helicopters.
They make a last ditch effort to get to the roof and just when they are about to be overwhelmed, the helicopter arrives and gets them. Seems his S.O.S. worked after all.
Boy, was I glad it wasn't a Mist like ending where he kills her and then gets rescued. Anyway, what this movie does well is the hyper focus on the claustrophobic entrapment the characters feel, especially the loneliness and isolation of the whole first half when the camera is concentrated on him. He's just an average guy and it's a palpable feeling of despair. When he connects with the girl, it's just such a relief and he's got something to live for. Not in a romantic sense -- they're just trying to survive. But she gives him hope.
I liked it. I mean, I'm not much for zombie / horror films, honestly, but this one does it well and by concentrating on the stories of just these 3 characters, it is much more effective than being one of those Save the World! epic movies. It's quiet and desperate and it works.
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