My Daughter Is a Zombie

Much like the characters at its center, the zombie genre can never properly die, with a wide variety of takes on the premise coming out on a regular basis. One such example is Pil Gam-sung’s adaptation of the Korean webtoon My Daughter Is a Zombie, whose blend of family comedy-drama and undead shenanigans has already made it a hit on the festival circuit and will undoubtedly continue to attract audiences worldwide.

The film begins with Lee Jung-hwan, a single father, returning home with groceries, only for his daughter Soo-ah to greet him in an unusual manner. Flashbacks explain that the two escaped from Seoul during the initial stages of a zombie outbreak caused by a virus called GAR, but Soo-ah got bitten en route. Unwilling to execute his own flesh and blood on the spot, Jung-hwan subdued her and took her to his mother’s house. There, having witnessed certain behaviors from Soo-ah, he came to the conclusion that, much like the tiger he was in charge of at the zoo in Seoul, she could be trained to act properly and not bite people unless explicitly instructed.

And so we catch up with them about a month later, with the training going reasonably well. Only two things are of concern to Jung-hwan, his mother and his childhood friend who’s also in on the secret: if they’re caught, the army will kill Soo-ah without hesitation, since harboring an “infectee” – the official term used in the subtitles – is a crime; and one of the people living nearby is Jung-hwan’s old crush Shin Yeon-hwa, who hates zombies with a passion and would like nothing more than to behead one…

To quote Saturday Night Live’s Stefon, this movie has everything: a tiger that has learned how to moonwalk; a cat (arguably the most expressive cast member in the whole film) who changes the TV channels by himself to watch feline-themed videos; a zombie outbreak sequence that answers the question “What if Shaun of the Dead had been a musical?”; an alcoholic grandma who’s also ridiculously skilled when it comes to martial arts and self-defense; and more.

Most importantly, though, it has a properly touching father-daughter at its bond, making this a rare zombie movie that, while not holding back on the blood when needed, also works as a genuine family film. Cho Jung-seok, playing Jung-hwan, carries most of the overt emotional weight and acquits himself admirably, but the real scene-stealing performance – by a human actor, anyway – comes from the young Choi Yu-ri, who spends the bulk of her screentime wearing different layers of undead makeup and still conveys the humanity possibly still hiding underneath the veiny, rabid exterior, not unlike Samson in the similarly themed 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.

The tropes are all there, but handled with genuine inventiveness as Pil Gam-sung walks the fine line between dramatic sincerity and comic-booky action and creates a virtually seamless blend of the two tones that keeps subverting expectations even as logic and genre knowledge kind of dictate where it’s all headed. It’s an exhilarating rollercoaster ride, and by the end you might want to grab ahold of family and friends and suggest a group outing at the nearest amusement park. Provided, of course, none of the cosplayers in attendance are actually ghouls…

Director: Pil Gam-sung
Screenwriters: Pil Gam-sung, Kim Hyun
Cast: Cho Jung-seok, Lee Jung-eun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Yoon Kyung-ho, Choi Yu-ri
Producer: Michelle Kwon
Cinematography: Kim Tae-soo
Production design: Chae Kyoung-sun
Music: Kim Tae-sung
Sound: Kim Suk-won
Production company: STUDIO N
World sales: Contents Panda
Venue: International Film Festival Rotterdam (Limelight)
In Korean
114 minutes