Zombie K-drama All Of Us Are Dead tops Netflix's global non-English chart

SEOUL • Netflix's latest K-drama, All Of Us Are Dead, which has been touted as the next Squid Game, soared to No. 1 on the streaming platform's top 10 list for non-English-language television shows, it said on Wednesday.

The coming-of-age zombie thriller, set in a high school, debuted last Friday and topped the chart for the week of Jan 24 to 30 with 124.79 million hours viewed.

According to streaming analytics firm FlixPatrol, the 12-parter reached the top spot in 58 countries as at Wednesday, including South Korea, Australia, Japan, Kuwait, Germany, Canada and Singapore.

It came in second in 22 countries, including the United States, Britain, Jamaica and Romania.

Directed by Lee Jae-kyoo, the mastermind behind mega hit TV drama Beethoven Virus (2008), All Of Us Are Dead became the fourth Korean-language series to top Netflix's weekly official chart for non-English television series following Squid Game, Hellbound and The Silent Sea last year.

Squid Game holds the all-time record of 1.65 billion hours viewed in its first 28 weeks, but its first week record was 63.2 million hours.

All Of Us Are Dead, an adaptation of a zombie webtoon of the same title by author Joo Dong-geun, presents Hyosan High School students' heart-pounding tale of survival amid a zombie apocalypse.

A virus, originating from the school's science laboratory, engulfs the whole school and the fast-paced story takes viewers on an emotional roller-coaster ride.

The storyline resonated especially with South Korean viewers, many of whom saw parallels to being stuck in the Covid-19 pandemic and the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014, in which many students lost their lives when they were instructed to remain on the ship.

"Splendid use and presentation of space is the biggest factor that electrifies many fans about Korean zombie series," culture critic Jung Duk-hyun told The Korea Herald yesterday, making a comparison with the renowned zombie films of American director George A. Romero, several of which are limited to spaces such as a mall or underground military base.

Much like how hit zombie movie Train To Busan (2016) utilised the high-speed train and Netflix series Kingdom (2019 to present) took place in a Joseon-era palace, the school setting breathed new life into the zombie genre.

THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 04, 2022, with the headline Zombie K-drama All Of Us Are Dead tops Netflix's global non-English chart. Subscribe