I wasn't expecting much from this Korean horror movie, but it turned out to be a little more entertaining. The movie starts comically with our protagonist Jaehyk who slaves on behalf of his failing pharmaceutical company and due to his bad choices the future looks bleak. We are introduced to his cute wife and two children for whom he no longer has much time or energy for. The horror aspect begins with people behaving abnormally and some ending up dead and floating in rivers. After that all hell breaks loose and Jaehyk has to start looking out for his family.
This movie is very similar to 2011 pandemic movie Contagion but with a lot more gore, much of the story dealing with how politicians and scientist deal with the disaster, posing a lot of dilemma decisions that has to be made. The other half is dealing with Jaehyk racing against time to save his family. I thought the acting and the chemistry of the family was superb and perhaps the main thing that saves this movie. But the plot seemed to me to be fresh and the pandemic is quite interesting. Unfortunately the movie doesn't seem to have the Hollywood budget and it shows, and it looks like a TV movie most of the time. There are not many movies that scare me and this certainly didn't but it was suspenseful with many race against time situations.
One thing that I absolutely hated about the movie is that they reveal what the pandemic is before even the half mark, after that it is pretty easy to predict why it is happening, even though the characters seem oblivious to it.
But despite its faults I can see a Hollywood remake happening, whether that's in your opinion good or bad. I actually think it would be nice, since I think one of the main downfalls of this movie is low budget.
Pros: Suspenseful, interesting pandemic, cute main actors, interesting difficult dilemma situations, deep moments, OK social commentary.
Cons: Too long, stupid main plot resolution, TV movie like, not scary.
