'Zombieverse' invites viewers into alternative reality world

Kakao Entertainment producers Park Jin-kyung and Moon Sang-don hoped to attract global viewers by combining two things that Korean shows are known for – K-zombies and Korean reality shows.

Producers Moon Sang-don, left, and Park Jin-kyung, right, behind the new Netflix reality television show ″Zombieverse″ [NETFLIX]

Kakao Entertainment producers Park Jin-kyung and Moon Sang-don hoped to attract global viewers by combining two things that Korean shows are known for — K-zombies and Korean reality shows. “Zombieverse” is their new eight-episode reality show released on Netflix on Aug. 8 and it already has mixed reviews globally.

“Even the negative reviews are very dear to us,” Park said during a group interview with local reporters last Friday. “Some reviews even went as far as to say that our show is like trash, while the positive reviews are saying we tried a completely new genre with ‘Zombieverse.’ We are learning a lot from this different feedback.”

“Zombieverse” stars 10 celebrities who have to escape a zombie-ridden Seoul to an island without getting attacked. The celebrities include comedians Ro Hong-chul and Park Na-rae, television personalities Jonathan and Patricia, singers Din Din and Tsuki, former special forces soldier turned YouTuber Dex, YouTuber Hong Seong-woo, baseball player Yoo Hee-kwan and actor Lee Si-young.

Main poster for ″Zombieverse″ [NETFLIX]

Despite the mixed reviews for “Zombieverse,” the show was the most popular series on Netflix in Korea last week while being the tenth most popular series on the streaming platform globally, according to aggregator FlixPatrol.

One of the most frequent criticisms that negative reviews highlight is that it is unclear what genre “Zombieverse” falls under, since it on claims to be a reality television show but has a hoard of actors dressed up as and acting the part of zombies on set. The possibility of a script for the show has been raised.

“So many people have asked us if there is a preconceived script for the show,” Park said. “The [non-player characters] have a script to follow, but the 10 main cast members did not. We told them the basic concept for the episodes and let them interpret it.”

In ″Zombieverse,″ 10 cast members have to escape a zombie-ridden Seoul and get to a remote island to survive [NETFLIX]

“It is impossible that there was a script involved because we took a whole day to film each episode,” Moon added. “For the audience, the show is only 40 to 50 minutes long, but behind that were hours and hours of preparation — there is no way that we could prepare a script for everyone in that amount of time.”

With “Zombieverse,” the producers wanted to make a reality television show that is different from the mold, according to Park and Moon.

“We wanted to create a new reality show genre,” Moon said. “So we filmed using the format of a typical reality show but edited the post-production to make it almost resemble a theatrical play. This could be hard to digest for audiences who are used to conventional reality television shows, but it is definitely the direction we want to take.”

The producers praised Dex for going above and beyond what was required to give his all for the show.

A scene from ″Zombieverse″

“Half of what Dex showed us was what we hoped for him to deliver in the show, and the other half was entirely unexpected, in a good way,” Park said. “We had cast him before his appearance in the hit show ‘Single’s Inferno’ via which he became a household name. I think his appearance in that show has also brought in viewers for us as well.”

The hidden heroes who made “Zombieverse” possible were the actors who played the zombies, according to the producers.

“The actors who played the zombies were the ones who played zombies in the Netflix series ‘Kingdom,’” Moon said. “They said that this was the first time that they had played the parts for such a long time and up close. They were the ones who made ‘Zombieverse’ come to life.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]