Alive (2020 film)

#Alive (Korean: # 살아있다; RR: #Saraitda)

is a 2020 South Korean post-apocalyptic
action horror film directed by Cho Il-
hyung.[2] Starring Yoo Ah-in and Park
Shin-hye, it is based on the 2019 script
Alone by Matt Naylor (itself becoming
another film), who co-adapted his script
with Cho. The film revolves around a
video game live streamer's struggle for
survival as he is forced to stay alone at
his apartment in Seoul during a zombie
apocalypse. It was released in South
Korea on June 24, 2020,[3][4][5][6][7] and
globally via Netflix on September 8,
2020.[8] Critics generally gave positive
reviews.

Plot
Oh Joon-woo is alone in his family's
apartment when zombies begin to attack
and infect people outside. When he
inspects the apartment hallway, a
neighbour barges in. He begs to stay, but
becomes a zombie and attacks Joon-
woo. Joon-woo pushes him out and
locks the door, then watches a large
zombie attack his neighbour through the
peephole. Joon-woo then receives
messages from
#Alive
his parents telling
him they are safe.

Joon-woo blocks
his front door with
the fridge and
posts a rescue
Theatrical release
request on social
poster
media. By
attaching his Hangul 살아있다

phone to a drone, Hanja 活著

he scouts his Revised Saraitd
neighbourhood Romanization
and realizes it is Directed by Cho Il-
now overrun. hyung
Though the
emergency power Screenplay by Cho I
stays on, Joon- hyung
woo gradually Matt

loses access to Naylo

phone networks, Based on Alone

the internet, and by Matt

Naylor
running water.
Produced by Eugene
One night, Joon- Lee
woo sees zombies Saemi
taking down a Kim
police officer Saerom

outside. He Kim

screams at them, Starring Yoo Ah-

leading a zombie in
Park
to break into the
Shin-hye
apartment and
knock over the Cinematography Wo
fridge, destroying ho
the food. Joon- So

woo lures it into Edited by Min-

falling off the kyeong

balcony. He Shin

resorts to drinking Music by Tae-

liquor to survive, seong

but hallucinates Kim

about his family Production ZIP Cine

companies
due to hunger and Perspec
Pictures
thirst. When the
phone network is Distributed by Lotte

momentarily Enter
Netfl
restored, Joon-
(Intern
woo receives a
voicemail from his
family recording Release June 24, 20
date
their refuge being (South Kore
overrun. His rage Running 99
time
causes him to minutes
leave the Country South
apartment and Korea
attack zombies, Language Korean
but when a horde
Box office USD$14.7
attacks, he flees million[1]
and barely
manages to sneak back inside.

Joon-woo attempts to hang himself, but

stops when he sees a laser pointer's
light. The signal comes from Kim Yoo-bin,
a survivor living in the opposite
apartment building. Yoo-bin tries to set
up a zip line between their apartments by
tying a cable to her table and throwing
the other end to Joon-woo, but it lands in
the street. Joon-woo uses his drone to
set up another line successfully, but an
infected firefighter pulls on the first cable,
causing Yoo-bin's table to fly across her
apartment, knock her out, and lodge into
her balcony railing. The zombie starts
climbing the cable. Joon-woo distracts
him by sacrificing his drone, giving Yoo-
bin enough time to wake up and kill the
zombie.

Joon-woo raids his neighbour's unit for

food, clothing, and walkie-talkies,
narrowly avoiding his zombified
neighbour. He sends a walkie-talkie to
Yoo-bin, and the two talk and bond.
Suddenly, the infected hordes become
agitated and a nervous Yoo-bin
accidentally knocks over a shelf. The
noise causes zombies to converge at her
door. Joon-woo distracts them by calling
the unit adjacent to hers.

Yoo-bin says the 8th floor of Joon-woo's

apartment looks empty. The pair gear up,
rappel from their balconies, and fight
their way to the 8th floor, but the doors
are locked and the zombies have
followed them. Suddenly, a stranger
emerges from the last suite on the floor
and saves them. He gives them food and
water, but it is drugged, and Joon-woo
falls asleep. The stranger binds the pair's
wrists and locks Yoo-bin in a bedroom
with his restrained, infected wife. Joon-
woo wakes up and threatens the
stranger, but he releases his wife's
restraints from outside the bedroom.
Once Yoo-bin goes silent, the stranger
opens the bedroom door, only to find
Yoo-bin having wrapped the infected
wife's head in fabric. The infected wife
attacks her husband, and Yoo-bin shoots
them both.

The gunshots attract more zombies. Yoo-

bin asks Joon-woo to kill her before they
get in. As he hesitates, they hear
helicopters outside. The pair rush to the
rooftop, chased by the infected. Just
before they are overwhelmed, an army
helicopter holds off the zombies and
carries the pair to safety. A voiceover by
an anchor explains wireless networks are
being restored and the military is
rescuing survivors who made social
media posts. The film ends with Joon-
woo's social media post's hashtag
"#StayAlive" changing its wording to
"#Alive".

It is heavily implied that the government

restored control successfully, as only
50,000 infected remain, and were
isolated in a zone of the capital through
closed bridges. The virus remains
confined and it is likely that the infected
were then terminated and a cure was
found.

Cast
Yoo Ah-in as Oh Joon-woo, a gamer
who struggles to survive a zombie
outbreak.
Park Shin-hye as Kim Yoo-bin, a female
tenant of Joon-woo's apartment
building who helps him survive. She
frequently kills trespassing zombies
using a hand axe and booby-trapped
door.
 Jeon Bae-soo as a masked man who
saves Joon-woo and Yoo-bin but
wants to feed them to his zombified
wife.
Lee Hyun-wook as Lee Sang-chul, the
infected tenant whom Joon-woo lets
in.
Oh Hye-won as the policewoman who
is turned into a zombie by the infected.
Jin So-yeon as Elena Kim
Lee Chae-kyung as the zombified wife
of the masked man

Production
#Alive is a zombie thriller[9] based on the
original script "#Alone" of Hollywood
screenwriter Matt Naylor, who worked on
the American documentary series Small
Business Revolution: Main Street and the
short film What It’s Like. Director Cho Il-
hyung (also known as Il Cho) and Naylor
adapted the screenplay together for the
Korean market.[10][3] In 2019, ZIP Cinema
and U.S producer, Perspective Pictures,
joined the production with Lotte
Entertainment distributing the film.

On July 11, 2019, Yoo Ah-in and Park

Shin-hye joined the cast,[11] followed by
Lee Hyun-wook on September 16.[12] The
read-through of the script occurred on
September 27, 2019.
Principal photography began on October
1, 2019. Filming took place in Gunsan
and wrapped up on December 12,
2019.[13]

Music

The full musical score was composed by

Kim Tae-sung which he co-arranged with
Choi Jung-in, Shin Hyun-pil, Park Sang-
woo and Yoo Chae-young.[14]

Songs not featured on the official

soundtrack:[15]

Break by Beenzino
Sail by Inni
 #Alive by Inni

Release
The film was released in South Korea on
June 24, 2020.[16][17][18] In May, an
Instagram account for the character Oh
Joon-woo was created to promote the
film.[19] In August, Netflix acquired the
international distribution rights to the
film, which was later released worldwide
on September 8, 2020.[20][8] Following its
release, #Alive entered the all-time Netflix
top 10 non-English language movies but
has since dropped out with 54.62 million
hours watched in the first 28 days.[21]
Reception

Box office

On its opening day in South Korea, #Alive

drew in a total of 204,071 viewers and
took 62% of the box office, marking the
highest first-day viewership of any film
since February 2020 after the outbreak of
the COVID-19 pandemic in South
Korea.[22][23][24] It held the highest number
of first-day admissions next to The Man
Standing Next.[25][26]

On the fifth day of its release, #Alive

surpassed 1 million admissions, and
during the first weekend of its release, it
garnered 1,001,802 viewers, securing the
first place at the box office for its first
weekend. It became the first film to
surpass 1 million since February 2020.[27]
It also ranked first at the box office for
the first three weekends, and has
achieved over 1,903,992 admissions in
South Korea as of December
2020.[28][29][30]

The film premiered on Netflix on 8

September 2020, and two days after
release, it achieved global first place on
the platform. #Alive topped the Netflix
daily chart in 35 countries, including the
United States, France, Spain, Sweden,
Russia, Australia, Pakistan, and Canada.
It became the first Korean film to top
Netflix Movies Worldwide chart.[31][32] By
December 2020, #Alive was in the top 10
list in 90 countries, making it one of the
most-loved titles globally on Netflix in
2020 and also the most popular horror
title of 2020 across Asia.[33][34][35]

Critical response

On Korean review aggregator Naver

Movie Database, the film holds an
approval rating of 7.09 from critic
reviews.[36] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film
holds an approval rating of 88% and an
average rating of 6.6/10, based on 24
reviews. The consensus says "Well-
acted, genuinely unsettling, and
occasionally even funny, #Alive proves
the crowded zombie genre still has fresh
stories to tell."[37]

Marian Phillips from Screen Rant wrote,

"#Alive accurately captures the same
panic, fear, uncertainty, loneliness, and
isolation experienced by many during the
pandemic's early days. [...] By taking a
concept unfamiliar to the sub-genre,
#Alive transforms how zombie movies
can be handled as well as providing an
exploration of the different
circumstances individuals find
themselves when dealing with the
apocalypse."[38] Anthony Kao from
Cinema Escapist suggested, "#Alive is an
entertaining zombie flick that seems
tailor-made for the time of coronavirus.
[...] On top of its empathetic and socially
relevant depiction of the Korean
millennial condition, #Alive presents a
narrative that feels unpretentious and
accessibly entertaining."[39] The New York
Times' Elisabeth Vincentelli concluded,
"#Alive is a nifty little thriller that proves
that you can always find signs of life in
the most undead of genres. And the
finale, far-fetched as it is, suggests that
even a society atomized by isolation can
find a connection".[40]
Awards and nominations
Awards Category Recipient Result Ref.
[41]
2020 Cine 21 Awards Best Act or Yoo Ah-in Won

See also
Alone (2020 horror film), based on the
same script

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External links
Alive (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10
620868/) at IMDb
Alive (https://www.hancinema.net/kore
an_movie__d_ALIVE.php) at
HanCinema
Alive (https://www.kmdb.or.kr/eng/db/
kor/detail/movie/K/22534) at the
Korean Movie Database

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