Director Yeon Sang-ho, known as the 'zombie master,' is raising expectations by prefiguring the evolution of the zombie genre with 'Gunche' (directed by Yeon Sang-ho).
Train to Busan, which announced the birth of Korea's zombie genre, its sequel Peninsula, and the series Hell and The Cell, which capture social chaos and conflict. Director Yeon Sang-ho, who has presented a variety of works and built his own universe 'Yeoniverse,' has returned with the new film Gunche, raising expectations among prospective viewers. Gunche is a film about isolated survivors inside a building sealed off by an unknown infectious outbreak who confront infected beings that evolve into unpredictable forms.
Particularly, because director Yeon Sang-ho has always woven contemporary messages into his films along with genre entertainment, he plans to pose weighty questions to those living in modern society through Gunche. I think communication between people through the internet and social media is getting faster, and the faster communication becomes, the more I felt opinions move collectively. I thought that as society advances, it may be becoming a state of collective intelligence rather than individual entities. Through Gunche, I wanted to address individual human character or cooperation confronting life forms that operate by collective intelligence, Yeon Sang-ho said, explaining his directorial intent. He depicts a society increasingly accelerated in communication and becoming collectivized. He also said that after thinking about what kind of zombie to create, he produced a new species called the "evolving zombie."
The infected in Gunche are beings that repeatedly evolve while sharing information with one another, naturally evoking the image of modern society where information is exchanged and communicated in real time. While focusing on the existing concept of zombies, the film presents a new kind of zombie that reflects the current era, offering a fresh shock.
Moreover, despite having worked on numerous projects, Yeon Sang-ho said that the set of Gunche was a new experience. He said, When you work on projects with creatures, you usually rely on CGI, so during filming you have to shoot when there is nothing there. But with Gunche we could shoot while seeing the zombies right in front of us, so it felt more realistic and that was good, conveying his distinctive impression of the Gunche set where the world he created unfolded right before his eyes.
Based on this sense of realism, Yeon Sang-ho is expected to deliver extreme suspense to audiences amid the infectious outbreak. I hope viewers feel a very intuitive suspense while watching the film. And after leaving the theater, I hope it becomes a film that prompts conversation about individuality and collectivity and the identity of humans, he said, predicting Gunche will offer a new experience not possible in conventional zombie films. It opens May 21.
[Photo] provided by SHOWBOX