Director: Shin Jeong-Won
Cast: Lee Jung-Hyun, Kim Sung-Oh, Seo Young-Hee, Yang Dong-Geun, Lee Mi-Do, Kim Seo-Won, Joo Bo-Bi, Lee Iyan, Woo Yeong-Taek, Woo Yeong-Taek, Shin Min-Jae
Running Time: 110 min.
By Paul Bramhall
Based on the title The Night of the Undead it’s a fair assumption to expect another entry in the popular Korean zombie genre, however director Sin Jeong-won has something very different in mind. Opening to the suitably epic Nessun Dorma, we witness a spacecraft crash land in the middle of Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul, its naked male passenger arising from the wreckage with only pixilation to hide his modesty in front of the surprised onlookers. What does a newly arrived alien intent on taking over humanity do once they make it to Earth? Apparently the answer is to get married, live life disguised as the perfect husband, and patiently wait for the right moment to drain your spouse of their life energy. Then simply rinse and repeat until the time comes to take over the world, or at least, Korea.
The quirky plot synopsis likely won’t come as a surprise to fans of Jeong-won’s past work. He’s a director who’s made his name off genre bending comedies, from mixing gangsters and ghosts in his 2004 debut To Catch a Virgin Ghost, to man eating pigs in 2008’s Chaw, through to his most recent production with 2012’s exorcism farce Ghost Sweepers. Jeong-won’s penchant for mixing wackiness, horror, and comedy has fallen largely out of favour in recent years, as the Korean film industry has become increasingly commercialised and inevitably less adventurous, so to see him return to screens with The Night of the Undead is an unexpected surprise.
There must have been something in the air in 2019, as The Night of the Undead wasn’t alone in providing a throwback to a more creative time when it comes to genre bending comedy, with Lee Min-jae’s debut The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale also providing a distinctly left of field comedic take on the zombie genre (and yes, that one actually did feature the undead!).
Within the first few minutes it’s clear that Jeong-won hasn’t changed much in the 7 years since he was last in the directors chair, and while its also clear that he isn’t working with a particularly high budget here, the manic energy that most of his movies come with was never derived from how big of a budget they had. Playing the alien is Kim Sung-oh, most recognisable for his bad guy roles in the likes of The Man from Nowhere and Unstoppable, who’s living a blissfully married life with Lee Jung-hyun. One of the most enduring entertainers in Korea, Jung-hyun is an actress who makes any movie she appears in worth watching, so whenever she takes on a rare leading role it’s cause for celebration. From her 1996 debut in Jang Sun-woo’s controversial A Petal, to playing the title character in 2015’s equally quirky Alice in Earnestland, and most recently battling the zombie hordes alongside Gang Dong-won in Peninsula.
After she finds a text from what appears to be another girl wanting to know when they can next meet on Sung-oh’s phone, Jung-hyun finds herself hiring an eccentric private detective (played by Yang Dong-geun – Days of Wrath, Fighter in the Wind) to follow him around. When it’s revealed that Sung-oh spends most of his days busting out pelvic thrusts in the gym, galivanting around town meeting various ladies, and most bizarrely, visiting gas stations to chug petrol directly from the hose, it becomes apparent something is amiss. Thankfully this isn’t the first time for such a case to come across Dong-geun’s desk, and he’s seen enough of them to conclude that there’s an alien race of good-looking guys seducing women to take their life force all over Seoul. It also just so happens that he’s seen enough to know how to kill them with minimum questions being asked, so the plan is set in motion which leads to The Night of the Undead.
Like most of Jeong-won’s features, while his latest incorporates elements of sci-fi, murder, and even super powered face offs, it should be clear first and foremost that comedy is the order of the day, and to that end The Night of the Undead makes for a riotous good time. Jung-hyun’s realisation that her dream husband is in fact an adulterous alien sees her team up with a couple of old school friends to do the deed, one an outcast butcher rumoured to have murdered and chopped up her ex’s, and the other a wannabe actress struggling with questionable acting skills. Both roles are perfectly cast, with Soo Young-hee playing the butcher, an actress that for many will likely always be known for her role as Kim Bok-nam in the movie of the same name (more popularly known as Bedevilled in the west). Lee Mi-do plays the struggling actress, recognisable from the likes Beauty Inside and who had a cameo in Jeong-won’s own Ghost Sweepers.
What follows is a manically orchestrated comedy of errors, as the night they plan to terminate Sung-oh happens to be the same night he plans to get rid of Jung-hyun with assistance from the rest of his alien buddies. With neither of them expecting the other to have guests, both parties set about trying to figure out how much the others know, and how best to still proceed with their plans. Cue poisoned wine, electrified baths, attempts at being buried alive, and just about everything in-between. Unfortunately, it turns out aliens aren’t quiet as easy to kill as first appears, which leads to several instances of characters we assume to be dead frequently reappearing at the most inconvenient of times (the scenario is also what the title alludes to).
Throw into the mix a secret agency of good aliens who are looking to track down the rogue ones, and I couldn’t help but get the impression that The Night of the Undead would sit comfortably alongside the likes of Jang Joon-hwan’s Save the Green Planet and Oh Young-doo’s Invasion of Alien Bikini. All take a sci-fi premise, but then proceed to apply a distinctly Korean take on the genre that results in something truly unique, versus the more Hollywood inspired misfires like Kim Hun-seok’s 11 AM or Jo Sung-hee’s Space Sweepers. Watching Sung-oh sitting in the bath with a glass of petrol and nibbling on a sheet of aluminium foil I was reminded of the early days of the Korean Wave at the turn of the millennium, a time in Korean cinema when you never really knew what you were letting yourself in for, but it was usually something good.
Despite all of the extra-terrestrial goings on (as lo-fi as they may be), Night of the Undead’s biggest asset is the chemistry between Lee Jung-hyun, Kim Bok-nam, and Lee Mi-do as the trio of ladies who find themselves put through a series of extraordinary circumstances. Much of the hilarity comes from their different personalities, and the threat that Sung-oh brings gradually becoming more real after multiple failed murder attempts. Some might say the finale overstretches its ambitions with a throwdown between Sung-oh and the head of the secret agency (played by Jang Myung-kap – The Battle of Jangsari, RV: Resurrected Victims), however I found it to be an unexpected bonus to a brisk 110 minutes. Plus, if there’s another movie out there that opens to the strains of Nessun Dorma, and closes to the beats of Bad Guy by Billie Eilish, I’d like to know what it is.
When we’ll next see another movie from Sin Jeong-won feels like a difficult question to answer, however rather than spending time on speculation, the best way to approach his return to the directors chair is to enjoy the fact that he did. The Night of the Undead commits to its wacky premise from the get-go and maintains a manic energy for the entirety of its runtime, steadfastly refusing to take itself seriously or dip its feet even slightly into melodramatic waters, and that’s to be admired. It’s unapologetically about 3 women and an eccentric private detective trying to kill a petrol guzzling alien, and if that sounds like your idea of fun, then it won’t let you down.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10
