My Daughter Is a Zombie (2025) Review

“My Daughter Is a Zombie” Theatrical Poster

Director: Pil Kam-sung
Cast: Cho Jung-Seok, Lee Jung-Eun, Choi Yoo-Ri, Cho Yeo-Jeong, Yoon Kyung-Ho
Running Time: 113 min.

By Paul Bramhall

While surrounded by hordes of the undead in the middle of their Seoul neighbourhood, a father and his teenage daughter attempt to make their escape, the father telling the daughter to stay put while he makes a break for their car parked nearby. Successfully getting behind the wheel, its only while they’re driving that the daughter reveals she was bitten while waiting, the result of which soon sees her start to transition into a flesh hungry zombie mid-journey. Unable to bring himself to kill his own flesh and blood, the father ultimately decides to remain by his daughters side, hence the title for the latest addition to the zombie genre from Korea – My Daughter Is a Zombie. While on paper the plot description could well be taken for a remake of the 2015 Arnold Schwarzenegger starring drama Maggie, that’s as far as the similarities go, with comedy being the order of the day for the latest zombie outbreak.

Instead, like so many Korean movies and series in recent years, My Daughter Is a Zombie is an adaptation of a webtoon, this time taking the same name as the manhwa written and illustrated by Lee Yun-chang. Published across 2018 to 2020, the live action version is actually the 2^nd screen adaptation, with an animated series released in 2022. The sophomore feature length production from director Pil Kam-sung following 2021’s Hostage: Missing Celebrity (which was a remake, rather nonsensically adapting Ding Sheng’s based on a true story crime thriller Saving Mr. Wu from 2015 as its source material), while his debut unsuccessfully flitted with comedy, here he embraces the genre wholeheartedly with much more satisfying results.

Feeling like a spiritual follow-up to the similarly comedy themed The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale from 2019, MDIaZ (as I’ll refer to it from here on in) benefits significantly from casting Cho Jung-seok (The Land of Happiness, The Drug King) as the father in question. While his breakthrough role came in the 2012 romantic drama Architecture 101, in subsequent years it’s been his flair for comedy which serves to highlight his talents best, fully on show in the likes of 2019’s Exit and 2024’s Pilot. Here he once more gets to show off his comedic side, with his zoo keeper turned zombie tamer attempting to re-teach his flesh hungry daughter how to act like a human.

Indeed if Architecture 101 was Jung-seok’s breakout, then hopefully MDIaZ will come to be remembered as the breakout role for teenage actress Choi Yu-ri (The Soul-Mate, Circle of Atonement). Holding what must surely be a record for the number of times an actress has appeared onscreen as the ‘Young’ version of the productions main character (for those who are curious – a total of 10 of her roles fall into this category – including playing the young version of Kim Tae-ri’s character in the Alienoid movies), Yu-ri is a highlight as the somewhat goofy zombie at the centre of everyone’s problems.

Writing at the same time as MDIaZ’s year of release in 2025 Korean cinema is in an interesting place. The fact that attendance has stubbornly refused to go back to pre-pandemic levels has led to bigger budgets more likely to be funnelled into streaming content than cinematic endeavours. With an immediate global audience (thanks to the unexpected success of 2021’s Squid Game putting K-content on the streaming map), in the last couple of years there’s been a slew of Korean shows debuting on the likes of Netflix and Disney+ that clearly have international viewership in mind. On the flipside cinema has continued to struggle, however the result is one that’s seen a rebirth in mid-budgeted productions aimed primarily at a local audience.

While some filmmakers have insisted on ploughing ahead with projects which arguably would have benefitted from waiting for a bigger budget to be available (the Ma Dong-seok vehicle Holy Night: Demon Hunters being a prime example), others have wisely opted to lean into story and characters in lieu of big budget spectacle or polish. As a director Kam-sung certainly feels like he falls into the latter category, and whether it’s intentional or not (and I’d argue it could be, particularly through the prominent use of K-pop star BoA’s 2002 megahit No.1), the result is one that feels like it harks back to the kind of genre pieces that were more prominent during the 2000’s. There’s an undeniably old-school charm to MDIaZ, feeling like it has more in common with similar genre efforts like Sin Jeong-won’s To Catch a Virgin Ghost from 2004 than any recent production, complimented by a game cast who are more than happy to ham it up.

While there’ll be those who wince at the sight of Jung-seok and Yu-ri utilising their shared love of dance to shimmer Thriller style through a horde of undead in an attempt to pass themselves off as fellow zombies, if you can tune into MDIaZ’s wavelength there’s a lot to enjoy. While every zombie outbreaks tends to have its own origin story, here it’s a virus that’s the culprit in question, with the plot given its logic through the reveal that symptoms can be eased by making the zombie remember its former life. It’d be hard to imagine anyone not being amused by Jung-seok cranking up the previously mentioned track by BoA, and watching the undead Yu-ri attempting to imitate the dance moves that she’d been practicing for an upcoming dance competition.

Once the pair make it to the village where Jong-seok’s mother lives, played with cranky gusto by Lee Jung-eun (Parasite, Miss Baek), MDIaZ becomes an ensemble piece, with the village residents resulting in the expected mishaps and blunders. Despite wanting to keep a low profile, it isn’t long before Jung-seok meets a pair of his old classmates, with Yoon Kyung-ho (Revolver, Kingmaker) cast as the local pharmacy owner. Despite his reluctance to keep Yu-ri’s condition a secret, when Kyung-ho learns through his job that a cure may soon be on the way, he agrees to lend a hand in Jung-seok’s wacky training methods until it’s been approved.

Far more problematic is the introduction of fellow Parasite alumni Cho Yeo-jeong (The Concubine, The Target), who recently moved back to become a teacher after being forced to kill her infected husband. Now a dedicated zombie killer in her spare time, the trio of Jung-seok, Kyung-ho, and Jung-eun’s attempts to keep Yu-ri off her radar become increasingly comical, confounded by the villages proud status as having zero infected members amidst its small population.

It’s a distinctive trait in Korea’s comedic output that tragedy and melodrama can often sit side-by-side next to scenes intended to induce laughter, a mix that can be jarring for those not accustomed to sharp right turns (the sudden bursts of extreme violence in My Wife Is a Gangster, or the abrupt turn into tear-jerking histrionics in I Can Speak being classic examples). MDIaZ thankfully stays on the right side of the line, only throwing in some anticipated backstory as to how Jung-seok ended up as a single father to Yu-ri, which as expected has a tragic revelation. Ironically the reveal leads to the only unintentionally funny scene where a character from the past is introduced, only to bite the dust (off camera) in a way which feels like it should have a significant bearing on the plot, but proceeds to barely warrant a mention!

Needless to say, anyone clocking into My Daughter Is a Zombie expecting any kind of horror element will be left disappointed (I mean, who would be with that poster art, but international distributors may have different ideas!), however if you’re looking for a movie that shows how the undead can be brought back through the power of millennium era K-pop and churros, then you’re in the right place. Equal parts funny and heart-warming, Pil Kam-sung’s sophomore feature is well worth a watch.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 8/10