SPEAKER_04 0:04

What was it, Ed Growl and Poe, that used to get paid by the word? I want to be paid by the death.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

You're one step away from a hitman.

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hack or Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. Good to have you. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack, a total joke, a waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_02 0:30

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with a perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week, on this very small team, I'm joined by the Cowloo Creeper Ryan. Hi from the Skeleton Crew. And the Scream Queen Paris.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

We are small but mighty.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

We are mighty indeed, and we're bringing another Taste of the Undead this week, this time in the form of a South Korean film currently available on Netflix. Before we get there though, we have to stop at some follow-up.

SPEAKER_02 1:02

We are gonna stop for some follow-up, Chris, and we're gonna make that stop at the Abaddon Hotel, because we recently reviewed a film called Hellhouse LLC 2, and we wanted to know how everybody felt about it. So we asked our friends on social media, and generally about two-thirds of people actually gave it a slash, which does not reflect what our team uh felt about that movie. But we do have a comment from one of our listeners, Rob, who said, a round of applause for the Hackerslash crew for nailing it on Hellhouse LLC2. That movie is a total hack.

SPEAKER_04 1:31

Except Ryan. Which I'm fully aware and acknowledging. Yes, I I know that I was wrong.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Um I also want to give a shout out to one of our newest patrons, Leah. Uh, we are so grateful for your support, Leah. I will say I have a wonderful friend named Leah, so I hope this Leah is just as kind as she is.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Oh, I'm sure she is.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

And that's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

This week we're witnessing another zombie outbreak, this time, though, from the eyes of a young man trapped in his apartment alone. While the rest of his family went out for the day. Armed with limited resources and even fewer survival skills, this man witnesses the beginning of a wild infection and watches as the world crumbles around him, all from the confines of his apartment building. This week we're talking about hashtag alive, released earlier this year on Netflix in the US. But what were you folks expecting from this movie?

SPEAKER_04 2:19

Ooh, what is there to expect other than absolute zombie chaos, oceans of bodies.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

And this is based on Train Dubusan when there was a literal wave of zombies. Uh yep, this is based on that one thing. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 2:31

For me, I did know that it was a zombie movie, so I was kind of like, oh, here we go. Um, obviously not the biggest fan of zombies. Um and then having a hashtag in the title, like being hashtag alive, I was like, uh, okay, because that sometimes makes me think, like, is this gonna try too hard to be like modern and relevant and like use social media? So I had pretty low hopes going into this.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

It's interesting that you note that because I do think that there is something about having a hashtag in the title of a movie that makes me expected to be, I wouldn't even say, oh, I'm trying too hard, but more so just trying to be a little bit more lighthearted in a sense. Oftentimes with zombie movies, right, we're dropped right into the middle of raw human grief and forced adjustments for survival. So I expected to get that to some extent, but that title, it just I had it in my head that this would infuse a bit more comedy and focus more on the action element of zombie movies to break up that darkness. Having expected that, I did feel a wide range of things during this. Um, sadness, stress, and a couple of aw moments. Overall, though, I think it gave me this the setting that I wanted to see in a zombie movie, which is an apartment. And that's not to say that there haven't been that before, right? Like we've seen that in Wreck and we've seen that in Quarantine, its remake. And those are the two that I think are the most successful, but they were found footage films, and the zombies feel different in those. So I wanted trained to Busan zombies in an apartment, and I feel like this movie delivered.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Yeah, when I was watching this, I felt like this movie came out at the perfect time, uh, because everybody can relate to this part part of this experience, uh, not the zombie part, um, but being trapped in your house and like kind of afraid of everybody else outside of your house. Um, so I felt really related to uh the main character that was going through this. Um, and overall I just felt like invested and pretty engrossed in the story because it it played out in a way that I wasn't expecting, and there were so many turns that really surprised me. So I was just kind of like going along for the ride because I I didn't know what I was in for next.

SPEAKER_04 4:32

Man, this is so interesting because I felt so little during this movie. I mean, not that I didn't enjoy the characters or anything like that, but I I kind of felt a longing for something else, I guess. It's the best way to say that. Maybe some trains. I mean maybe some baby daddies, some form of transportation, you know. Just throw it in there. No, I'm not looking for train to boussan, but I don't I'm I I'm not sure. I'll all I'll do my best to elaborate as possible, but it it just I don't know. Some piece de resistance, that's what I was missing.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

I feel like I know what you're getting at, Ryan. Um I've it I felt a little odd reviewing this for the pod. It kind of felt to me like this was this is what would happen if like Sophia Coppola made a zombie movie, or like Wes Anderson if he made a zombie movie, uh, because it was so focused on very few characters, um, and like really highlighted like the human experience element of this as opposed to the zombie element, and the zombie part just kind of like came in in like little like bursts.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

It's like a zombie romance film, except it's not warm bodies.

SPEAKER_04 5:40

Uh yep, so true.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

And that's fair, and it so many zombie movies actually do focus on the human element, but this one does it in a different way. And I think that's one of the things that surprised me, right? It it surprised me how much balance there was in this movie. It's lighthearted, it's got the action, but there are actually very real sobering moments of grief and confrontation of mortality outside of the zombies that it's just there are a couple moments that for me were hard to swallow. Because I think it it put it put into perspective the things that I never want to think about or imagine about a zombie apocalypse, right? Like Night of the Living Dead, you can watch that and you're like, oh man, I could just be out in town and stumble into some farmhouse with some strangers and be stuck together. But this one, it's like, no, your home, you have people in your life that you love. What is happening to them, right? And I think that's one of the things that really stood out to me as different.

SPEAKER_02 6:28

And also just like not having food in the house and not being prepared for something like this. I was just gonna say that.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

Honestly, I can relate right now and don't have food. I during this entire movie was just like, wow, I'm never gonna not stock my fridge ever again, as there's currently like two things to eat in there. It it just there is a stress that comes from this where you're just like, man, you never know when it's the last time, you know? You never know the last uh last chance you get to run to the store.

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Yeah, and I was also surprised with how quickly it went from being just a a mundane day for this this main character, uh, into being just absolute chaos, and now he can't leave the house and is trapped, and suddenly his access to resources is almost entirely cut off.

SPEAKER_00 7:08

Absolutely. And I think that's one of the cool things you're mentioning how much, you know, to a certain degree we can relate. I remember the feeling of like going to sleep one night, my girlfriend just drove back up to Virginia. To my knowledge, everything was fine, and then we find out like, oh no, businesses are shutting down in the US for COVID-19. And then it became really real, really quick. And you think, oh, it's gonna be a couple weeks, and here we are several months later, and I'm still not leaving my house.

SPEAKER_04 7:33

Yeah, Chris, you have such a good point, and I think the way I related to this movie was such a surprise to me. I don't think I really drew the lines between what we've been dealing with versus a zombie movie, which maybe seems obvious, but the way this one is done, it's totally different from like The Walking Dead, where they're just out in the woods wandering, you know? It really does connect to what we've been experiencing. So that was a huge surprise for me. And another big surprise was the zombies that we get in this. Like they are, I'm not gonna say the only types of zombies that I've seen like this, but they stand out and and in a in an interesting way.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

I feel that for sure. When the outbreak first started, I was kind of like, oh, these zombies just look regular. And then you kind of see with one zombie like how it progresses, and I feel like you get a parallel of progression throughout the movie. Um, because in the beginning you kind of just see these like pretty okay looking zombies, and then towards the end you start seeing like the really fucked up looking ones. Um, and I felt like that was pretty well done.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Yeah, you get to see the evolution of decay and just how that sets in over time, and it's really gross. Yeah. And you know, I I think one of the things, and then one of the reasons why this movie is so successful in that is that it it doesn't just focus on lockdown, right? Because for the most part, we on this podcast have been with friends or like a roommate or someone, like so on and so forth. Like we're not singularly alone, locked into our apartment. And this movie really does an exceptional job of focusing on loneliness and what happens to your mind in that loneliness, and how do you combat that loneliness? You know, the fear of loneliness is something to be discussed, you know what I mean? Like it's it's a prominent part of this film. Even despite that though, I mean I wasn't afraid. I was stressed out though. That loneliness did stress me out, and it makes you confront this like potential of people in your life may or may not make it in a situation. And I don't know. Zombie apocalypse, I feel like we'd all generally look at and say, Oh, it's all fun and games until you have to think about how it impacts you. And uh I don't know how I'd feel about how I'd feel about being alone through that.

SPEAKER_04 9:37

I would feel just how exactly how I feel about zombie apocalypses as they are, which is that I don't want to be part of it and I'm not interested in trying to make it out. You're just like, take me out. This movie reiterated it. It's it and and to be worse, my roommate who watched with me was also like, Yeah, I don't want to be a part of this.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

And I was like, See, this is what I'm saying. I watched this with my girlfriend, she's like, I would just like to know I would not survive very quickly because they'd break into the sliding glass door on my first floor apartment.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

And I'm like, Yeah, yeah, you're right. Yeah, she had to make friends with somebody upstairs. She should do that as like her backup plan, you know, just in case.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

I don't know, man. Her neighbors are kind of weird, they make some weird sounds up there.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Oh. I actually recently moved into an apartment building, and this movie made me grateful that I'm on the seventh floor. Um, but while I was watching it, I was also thinking, like, my neighbors could use their balcony to get to my balcony to get to my sliding glass door. Um, so it definitely made me see things a little bit differently. But another thing that really surprised me was that this is a movie that focuses mainly on a male and a female character, and it feels like they deliberately didn't take a romantic approach to those two characters because I kept thinking, like, okay, this is like romantic, this is romance, like obviously, I think because my mind was trained to, but then I was thinking, I was like, actually, that was a pretty platonic relationship. Um, and they were just kind of like connecting as two people that were lonely.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

Yeah, yeah. Two people just out here trying to live.

SPEAKER_04 11:01

Yeah, I agree. And I think that's pretty realistic, which is something that I think really comes into play with a zombie movie, is like how realistic are the things that these people are doing. Oh yeah. And from start to finish, in my opinion, this is a quite realistic movie, but that also takes away from a bit of the fear. Like, we don't get a ton of we get some intense, like, cinematic moments that are obviously meant to be scary. But then we also don't get a lot of them, and maybe don't get as many as you might expect from a zombie movie. So I didn't find myself scared at all. There were certainly some jump scares that maybe would have gotten me if I was sitting in a theater or something, but I I mean, I don't know about you guys. Mac's not here to say that he wasn't scared, so maybe someone was scared. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Oh, yeah, no, stressed, not scared. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Yeah, I'm team that. I feel like more than fear, I felt sad a lot.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I had to watch this twice for reasons I'll explain in a minute. And the first time, there was like a definitely a moment where our character comes to a very important realization and is just kind of like lost in this grief. And that made me really sad. And I didn't cry, but my eyes definitely stung a little bit. It was intense.

SPEAKER_02 12:10

Yeah, there were a couple tugs at the heart strings.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

I didn't have trend dubusan tears. Don't get me wrong. I did cry like a baby in that movie.

SPEAKER_04 12:16

Oh my god, I fully forgot about that. And you're right. This is nothing close to that. I felt nothing during this movie. I have a cold, dead heart.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

I have a side note. This is a movie that is in Korean. Uh, did you guys watch the subtitled version or did you watch it dubbed?

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Here's my struggle. And this is why I said I was gonna talk about why that was in a minute. There's something wrong with my Netflix app on my Apple TV. Even deleting it and reinstalling it does not fix this. It's fine on any other device. I cannot switch on some titles, I can't switch audio, right? So I had to suffer through this with the English dubbing with English captions, which don't match at all.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Normally, like I like to watch it with its normal like Korean language with English subtitles. But no, I had to endure it with English audio.

SPEAKER_04 13:02

I went for dubbing no captions. So the only thing that I would see is the translations of like the written text.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

Ah, okay. Uh for me, my boyfriend and I, we watched this together, and like five minutes in when you actually start getting dialogue, I was like, is this dubbed? And then we're like, oh, this is definitely dubbed. Um, and for me, that's a pet peeve of mine, um, specifically because I once saw a Godzilla movie in theaters and I can never look at dubbing again the same way. So I switched over to the subtitles and I was like, I'll happily read this and hear it spoken in its native Korean, because I also feel like you get the actor's actual audio that they were emoting with.

SPEAKER_04 13:38

I think something that I was like talking about is that watching someone cry and then it get dubbed is like the worst experience, especially when it's like intense sobbing. Someone trying to portray that as a voice actor is very difficult. Um, but uh but I'll be honest with you, I would have said a couple years ago, dubbing is like a hard no for me, but then I got into La Casa de Papel, and uh it's a Spanish show and it's it's all dubbed, and you just get attached to the characters that aren't even the real characters, like the voices are completely different and everything. So I'm fine with the dubbing, and I would have been just as fine with the Korean with subtitles. So I don't think you should count any of that against the movie for sure as you watch it.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

And I think maybe part of me is just also bitter because this issue popped up when I was watching the dark crystal perfectly fine, English with English captions, and then all of a sudden the audio was Spanish and with English captions, and I could not change out of it. I'm like, well, fucking great. Good thing I speak Spanish. This is stupid.

SPEAKER_04 14:40

Just to make you feel better, YouTube only advertises to me in Spanish.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

This does make me feel a lot better. You really are Cuban by association.

SPEAKER_04 14:48

Yeah, I get like Spanish Walmart commercials all the time, like Spanish dove commercials, and I'm like, all right, well, you know, get it however you can.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

I want to watch the Dark Crystal in Spanish now.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Oh, it's hilarious and also way more dramatic than it should be.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

Ooh.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

To hear them saying skexies is fucking hilarious. But anyway, I digress. Yeah, we we talked about that loneliness and just how crippling that feeling can be. And I feel like that is exactly what makes this movie, you know, set itself apart from the rest of zombie movies for me. I feel like where most zombie movies turn to the thrill of survival or the degradation of moral compasses in humanity. This one's well was to focus almost exclusively, like Paris was saying, on you know, two people bonding through loneliness and finding the perseverance of the human spirit and choosing hope, even when it's at its hardest to find. So I feel like for me it still feels different.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

I think the reason I got Sophia Coppola vibes is because the movie Lost in Translation is also very similar to this in that you have two characters, complete strangers, that are feeling both very isolated and lonely, and they're drawn together uh in a way that is mostly platonic and they're like sort of just looking for human connection. And I feel like you're right, Chris, that that definitely allowed this movie to kind of be original in the world of zombie films, even though I feel like they also took like a really straightforward, like cut and dry approach to like zombies in general.

SPEAKER_04 16:09

Yeah, Paris. I agree. I think it this does have a unique feel for a zombie movie, and it's gonna be up to personal preference if you enjoy it or if you don't, but it does stand out. I mean, it's difficult to say that a zombie film is original, but it has some more original elements than other things I've seen. That's pretty it's as far as I can go for a zombie movie.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

I'll tell you what wasn't original though. It was the really cheesy ending, and I think that's actually where I have a lot of struggle with this movie. Ooh, could not agree more. It felt like we need a bow here. Mm-hmm. And I'm not even mad at the outcome, right? Like when you look, if you're to just look at this ending on paper, I'm not mad. Who doesn't make it, who does make it, whatever. What I am mad about is the excessive amount of cheese on the way there that felt like it did not match the rest of the movie.

SPEAKER_04 16:59

It was a a cheesesteak with some extra cheese, was it was gooey. It was a lot of cheese going on at the end here.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

Oh yeah. And it it happens so quickly that you're like, what is this? It's like if you know you you bite into something where you're not expecting there to be cheese, and all of a sudden your mouth is just like being burned by this hot cheese pouring out of the food.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

Okay, I just want to confirm. Are you guys talking about like the end end? Because I feel like they were laying it on thick then. But like the the climax end, I was into the whole wrap-up. Okay, yeah, I think I think I agree.

SPEAKER_04 17:30

I'm talking about the end end. I'm talking about everything as altitude increases.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Ah, okay, perfect. Uh yeah, that was that was a little like uh okay, fine, it's it's over. Did we have to do that? Uh I guess sure. But I feel like the climax leading up to the end, uh, when we uh have sort of a different setting and cast of characters for a minute, I feel like that part got me real good.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

That part is a solid part, and I feel like if the had the movie concluded at that part, it'd be fine. Yeah. But it didn't, and it went on a little bit too long. Yeah. The real test though is gonna be seeing how this impacts our scoring, and I'll tell you that I, for one, am having a little bit of a hard time with it because it was such a a whiplash effect on this movie for me, but we'll get there in a bit while I collect my thoughts. Ryan, in the absence of Alexis, we have some some tallies we have to make here. So I know it's a zombie movie, but what do we have in terms of the uh amount of death we see on screen?

SPEAKER_04 18:28

So on a global scale, or maybe even a national scale, because it this kind of seemed isolated. We only had 50,000. Uh that was what we mentioned at some point as the number. Very small percentage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really not that much for especially like a metropolitan area. It's a lot of things. So so not that many for zombies, no waves of zombies, but what we see on screen is 10.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

10 like significant human deaths.

SPEAKER_04 18:54

Yeah, yeah, not ten, not ten zombie kills. There's a lot of those as well, but yeah, ten people that we once knew and loved and now are gone. Honestly, like what was it? Ed Gral and Poe that used to get paid by the word. I want to be paid by the death. If I'm counting zombies in a zombie movie, I need money.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

You're one step away from a hitman.

SPEAKER_04 19:15

Of those deaths, Renyon them animals. Well, fortunately, we're all good on the animal report this week. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 19:22

Yeah, which is a surprise in a zombie movie. You would expect some small casualty to be in the frame.

SPEAKER_04 19:27

Yeah, they sometimes go rogue.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

There's no need. We don't need to zombify animals. We can just let them be. Absolutely. Well, let's go ahead and start getting into our ratings then. Hashtag alive from 2020, now showing on Netflix. Was it a hacker slash?

SPEAKER_02 19:41

Okay, this is hard. And even as I'm starting this sentence, I'm not exactly sure where I will end.

SPEAKER_00 19:48

Okay, Michael Scott.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

So overall, I liked this movie quite a bit. I really enjoyed the characters, I enjoyed the development, I liked the way it was filmed, a lot of visual elements were appealing to me. And as far as zombie movies go, uh, this is definitely one of the better ones that I've seen as somebody who isn't a big fan of the genre. But I had a hard time because everything I enjoyed about this movie did not like classify it as a horror movie. I was like, yes, this is horror because I looked it up and it's categorized as like drama, action, horror. Um, but it felt more like an indie like drama to me. So I find every week the the binary of hack or slash gets more and more difficult to navigate. Like, if the question is, is this a good movie? The answer is yes, you should watch it.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

That's what the question is.

SPEAKER_02 20:41

But I don't think this is a great horror movie.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

You're adding layers of complexity here where there ought not be, but it's okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:48

Uh, I okay, so then I guess I'll just not overthink it and I will slash this movie because I liked most things about it and I enjoyed it. And if you haven't seen it, give it a watch. So I'll give it a slash.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Man, Paris is feeling generous. I like it. I thought for sure that was gonna go another another way.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

But just know it's like not a it's not like a horror movie, really.

SPEAKER_04 21:07

I'm not gonna lie, Chris, you kind of uh campaigned for that one there. You really made that happen.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

I was easily swayed.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

If that if it's a good movie, it's a good movie. And I think if it's a little less horror, that's probably why Paris is struggling to hack it as much as he was, because he did enjoy it.

SPEAKER_03 21:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:23

So for me, I do rate based on if it's a horror movie or not, if that's what it's meant to be. And and I would agree that this is maybe not meant to be the scariest movie, but it is a zombie movie. I think a lot of I agree with a lot of what you said. Like the visuals are pretty amazing for a movie that mostly takes place in one setting, in one room, more or less. And there's a lot of uh a lot of emotion, a lot of feelings, a definitely a different approach to a zombie movie, which I enjoy because I'm I'm kind of over the like, like I said, like that walking dead thing where we're just trying. To survive, like okay, like sure, but that's not realistic, you know. I'm not gonna make a fire in the woods, I might try to stay in my apartment for 20 days. So I enjoy some things in this movie, but it's a hack for me because I didn't feel that much, I didn't care that much. And it was like when it went off, I was like, I'm not mad that I watched it, but it I'm not excited that I watched it. I don't feel joy in my heart. I wouldn't recommend it. Like afterwards, someone asked me if they should watch it, and I was like, Well, you won't regret it, but it's really like eh. But if you're like not that into horror and want to go for a a cool zombie film, and maybe you just really like drama and action, it's not bad. But even with the action, I feel like there's not that much, and I think if I had a little bit more of that, then maybe I would have liked it a little bit more. I don't know. I don't hate it, but it's a hack.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

That's totally fair.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

I think one of the fun things about when our when we have a skeleton crew on the podcast is because the last vote ends up being the tiebreaker. And I struggle with this movie because I mean for for many reasons, right? There is more of a little bit of like a the drama element to it, but the ending did so much to leave a bad taste in my mouth, and it just undercut all the stellar development we had all the way through. Here's the thing about like, is it horror or is it not horror? You know, you do this show for like over a hundred episodes and you realize horror is a wide-ranging and very vast encompassing umbrella, and there are degrees of horror out there for everyone. This is an example of a great horror movie that focuses less on brutality, despite there being zombies, so you can watch it with someone who isn't as into horror, right? Like this belongs in like that bucket of movie. There's only been one zombie movie I've ever seen that I was like straight up not a horror movie, not even close. And that ironically was World War Z. Only because it felt too action-y, and also I can't imagine Brad Pitt actually in a horror movie, besides like Interview with a vampire, which I also struggle to classify. Normally, zombie movies are like a good way for me to like shut my brain off, sit back, relax, enjoy, because for the most part, they tend to feel more like the action movies of the horror genre. Night of Living Dead was different because he got context, Train DuPussant was different because it gave you terrifying zombies in close quarters and main characters that were really easy to be afraid for. And then you have this one, which is different because it's impossible to view this film and separate it from the context of lockdown that we've all become so familiar with. This movie has its moments of fun, it has moments of darkness, which I like, moments of complexity, which I also like. It's not the best zombie movie I've ever seen, especially with that ending. I feel like that ending knocked it down like two solid grade levels, but I would say it's certainly of a higher quality, so it's a slash from me.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

I'm surprised. I was afraid I was gonna be alone on this hill that I don't want to die on.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

No, no. And again, like you get that setting that you want. I think because I spent so many years living in an apartment in Virginia, I was like, man, I don't feel comfortable with the idea of being in an apartment for a zombie outbreak. The closest you get without being like wreck and quarantine is zombieland when they have like the dorm room scene, but that's about it.

SPEAKER_04 25:12

But to be fair, you're almost a little bit more protected in an apartment building, assuming you have supplies and stuff, because there's only a few ways in and out. Whereas you a house, you have so much around you, so much that can be infiltrated. You know, you ain't really getting into my apartment unless you come through the front door, which you know, to be fair, there's also gonna be a bunch of zombies out there.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

So also consider how many, how thin those walls are in your apartment.

SPEAKER_04 25:39

Yep, they're thin.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

Would you want to be in a house? It depends on how that house is built. If I'm in a house like my childhood home in Florida, built entirely out of like cement and built with to withstand hurricanes. If we board this up and there's only one front door, one back door, very small windows, I'd feel okay with that. But some vast country home, uh, I'm not doing that. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 26:02

Like I said, I'm good on all of it, to be honest. I see how long I can stick it out in a closet.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

I'm sure Alexis will join you there. But there we have it, folks. Hashtag Alive from 2020 has earned two slashes and one hack. As I mentioned earlier, you can find this movie streaming on Netflix. So check it out and join us in the second half so we can get to talking about all the zombies. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

Signal for Kimmy's Delivery Service and have your order sent via zipline to your window or balcony. Kimmy's Delivery Service offers food items like Sleepy Spam, instant zombie noodles, and Nutella. We also offer more than just food, including essentials like two-way walkie-talkies, three and a half millimeter auxiliary cables, and laser pointers. You're never really alone because with Kimmy's Delivery Service, everything you need will arrive in a zip.

SPEAKER_00 27:02

Welcome back, folks. You are now entering the spoiler zone for hashtag alive, which earned two slashes and one hack. And let's be real. Paris, are you sure about that slash?

SPEAKER_02 27:11

I just don't know.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Well, we'll see. We have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, we do have to get to the gore, even in the gore lover's absence. So, Ryan, would you do us the honors?

SPEAKER_04 27:22

Yes, and as always, I'll never be as good as Alexis, but I'm gonna do my best. And the gore in this movie is it's fairly high as far as movies go, but when you look at it in the realm of zombie flicks, I think that it's kind of average. Like we get some pretty juicy bites and um some pretty, you know, gnarly kills, some some severed arms and other limbs. So you definitely get gore. You're not gonna miss gore in this, but to me, what stands out more than like how bloody it is or something like that is how these zombies look. Because I loved it from the very beginning. The first few we see, well, of course, we see like some chaos. There's always a a beginning chaos scene of a zombie movie, right?

SPEAKER_03 28:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:08

So we get some some really intense stuff going on there, but then the first one that we see up close is the neighbor, and we hear the description of the symptoms. And I think everyone knew at the time when he w when he was in there trying to stay in the bathroom. Everybody pretty much I think could predict that he was bitten. Yeah. So we start to hear these descriptions of like, oh, they start to do this and they start to do this, and their eyes might start bleeding. And then you look at him, and his eyes just go from plain eyeballs to some blood coming out, and then they're just completely bloodshot, blood dripping down his face from his eyes, which like bloody eyeballs is like quite a disgusting visual. Eyeballs are actually one of the only things that I'm like squeamish about, not like and I'm like cool with like blood and guts or whatever, but and it's it's not like eyeballs in a sense of like contacts, like I'm cool with like contacts and stuff like that. But if you've never watched a LASIK eye surgery, you should watch it and see if you're okay because it's intense. I don't wanna, it's intense, man. I I um eyeballs are the one thing that like get me. Like you could slice a stomach open and I think I'll be fine, but eyeballs are tough. So we get these bloody eyes, and it's just uh it's just a lot to look at. And of course, they um they they as they animate the way these zombies move, or I guess as they reanimate, they it's so intense. And um, I think Chris was saying, like it it seems like they had to have brought dancers in, like crumpers or something for these parts because they were they were moving.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

For sure. The ability to seize and control very specific singular muscles in their chest, in their abdomen, in their legs, like the way they moved was so unnatural, but natural to people who are gifted enough and and work hard enough to be those kind of dancers, right? Like that's the only time you see that.

SPEAKER_02 30:03

Yes, the Jabbawalkies were in this movie.

SPEAKER_04 30:05

Yeah, it it was uh that that's something that like we I guess you always kind of get a little bit of like creepy movement from zombies, but it's usually more of like a you know tr snapping back into life, or I don't know. It's just different from this. It's like contortionists, yeah. Absolutely. So I love the zombies here. I as you go through, you get like these really intense some of them are some of them are almost like a green blue color. Some of them have like a lot of vein veinage happening. Um, I just think they're not all the same. They're not the same as what we see all the time, which is what I want if I'm watching a zombie movie in 2020. Because honestly, just like a half-melted face. Like, I'm over it. I don't want to see it. I don't want your drag your clothes that instantly look like you've been through a trash dumpster. Like you've lived there for three years and now you're out. Like, I don't know. I'm just over that type of zombie. So this was refreshing.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

Oh yeah. I actually really enjoyed the the snap and no I have in security guard zombie that was walking around. He was like, Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 31:13

We love a uh a wolf-esque zombie, you know?

SPEAKER_00 31:16

But I also appreciate it because they specified these zombies, and I think it's it's we had a moment that was similar to Night of the Living Dead where on the news they're revealing they have cannibalistic tendencies, and it's like that is an uncomfortable thing. Could you imagine hearing that on the news? Spooky. But additionally, they went as far as to identify that these zombies aren't crazed animals, so they don't have heightened senses, so it also gives this level of plausibility to be able to survive and escape.

SPEAKER_04 31:44

And then that moment where they mention how they might remember some some behaviors from before, which is so scary. And also like it explains a little bit and gives these zombies a character that uh other zombies don't have because sometimes I'm just like, okay, sure, he remembers how to climb buildings, sure. But this one it worked.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

Yeah, like these zombies had jobs.

SPEAKER_04 32:03

Yeah, they were working folks just trying to make a make a check, you know.

SPEAKER_02 32:06

I felt like uh, like you guys are saying, these zombies felt very realistic. Like if there was a zombie breakout that I had to watch from my apartment balcony, I imagine it would be a lot like this, um, which is scary. I think what really worked for me with the the gore in all this was like during these transformations, they did a really good job of matching audio to the like body contortions that we're talking about. Um, and it really sounds like like bone, like granular, like um, those are my sounds.

SPEAKER_00 32:35

Those are great sounds.

SPEAKER_02 32:36

Thanks. Watch the movie and you'll you'll hear the sounds, and it really adds to like how visceral and like how painful of a pandemic or disease that this is that's going on. Um, so that like for me was like very like uh squeamy.

SPEAKER_04 32:49

Yeah, I totally agree with that. There, I mean, there's so much to these zombies and the way they shot them and everything. I I can't wait to talk more about it. Um while we're talking gore, my favorite kill is honestly a real short and sweet and simple one, and maybe even like a forgettable one, but it just I don't know, it just set the tone for me at the beginning and I enjoyed it a lot. And that was the girl running up to her mom in the middle of the street, and yeah, Chris is making the saddest face.

SPEAKER_00 33:20

So sad.

SPEAKER_04 33:20

Yeah, it was just like chaos, and you know, everything seemed fine. They just ran up to each other and hugged each other, and then you get a chomp out of that, out of that like shoulder neck area from the daughter, and I was just like, Oh, it's a wrap, things are not going well, and these are not chill zombies, these are not like I'm just gonna mope around while you do your thing. Like, no, no, no, no, no. She ran up there, this happened quickly. Uh, that for me was the one where I was like, all right, I'm I'm on board, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

And that was also interesting because to that point, the only thing he had seen on the TV was ultra fine dust levels or at an all-time high. And that little girl, you know, if she had a wound, it it must have been on the other side of her body because it looked like a perfectly normal child just snapped.

SPEAKER_04 34:05

Yes, a perfectly normal little monster child.

SPEAKER_02 34:09

Yeah, I feel like we definitely watched that transformation in real time. And I feel like the mom did too. She was like, Oh, my baby. Oh, my baby. Oh, I'm dead now.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

My baby.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Um, I will say my favorite kill uh was a little more, uh had a little more buildup to it. Um, and it was the husband that we're introduced to uh once we get to the eighth floor of the building, and partially because I really obviously that character is pretty much an antagonist in that moment, but I also like I felt for him and I kind of thought it was a little romantic that he was like keeping his zombie wife alive and like trying to feed her so that they could still be together. Um and that's a little crazy of me, but maybe Alexis would also think it was romantic.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

It's understandable. I don't see it in so much as romanticism, but it is this like he loved her and in this in this life now without her, he's fighting against loneliness by tricking himself into thinking this isn't the end for her.

SPEAKER_04 35:04

Yeah. You know, there's always like this scene of like the people that can't uh like grasp the concept that they're gone and and just because their body is here, they're not alive anymore. That's always a part of, well, frequently a part of zombie movies, and I just I don't know what I would actually feel like in that situation. I always contemplate like, would I be okay? Would I understand, or would I just be absolutely delusional, like the love of my life is now a zombie? Like, I'm probably not gonna be able to kill them. I'm probably just gonna have to, like, in in The Walking Dead, we have some some chained up zombies for a long time, and I feel like that's what I would do.

SPEAKER_00 35:41

Yeah. I mean, I don't think I'd be able to either, because the reality is even up to that point, they're still reporting them as the infected, and they're reporting it as a virus. They're not saying yeah, they are dead, the undead, the dead have now risen. It's like these are people who are sick and there's no cure yet, but maybe there could be question mark.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

Yeah, if you keep your zombie wife alive long enough, maybe you can get her help.

SPEAKER_04 36:04

Last thing you want to do is act too quickly when it comes to a possibly curable disease.

SPEAKER_00 36:09

Oh, yeah. Please, Lord. I think my favorite death, it it's hard because there's so much that goes into this one, but it's a policewoman that is busting her ass, fighting her way through zombies, and then she falls and then gets swarmed. It's so hard to watch, but I think there are a couple reasons why it stands out as special to me. And it's one, it stirs our main character to action, and he's like, he's seen the craziness evolve, and now he's actually saying something, and like seeing a single person lose their life, you know, out ripped apart from the context of like everybody's running around wild. And then two, it has like this stunning cinematography. So being dragged, then the camera shifting to her perspective, turning upside down while she's being taken away. It's just like this really cryptic look at her final moments, and it's both in terms of the chaos and aggression of the zombies, and then the deliberate depiction of just how topsy-turvy everything is now.

SPEAKER_04 37:03

Yeah, I agree. That kill, uh, the way that kill was shot, it was like almost mesmerizing. And I almost like lost track of what was actually happening, not because it wasn't clear, but just because I was just so into like every element of it, and then like you just think that there's a little bit of hope, and it's not. It's not, there's never any hope, you know.

SPEAKER_00 37:26

Yeah, it's so hard, and it's like you know, as soon as she gets grabbed, she got got, she's not gonna survive, but he still thinks there's a chance to save her if he just distracts them long enough.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

I totally felt that too. Like, you see what's going on, and you have a great view of the situation, and you know in your mind, like she's done for, but part of me was still like, she can make it out. There's something that can happen here. Uh, but no.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

This gang of zombies just taking her away. Well, to be fair, she did make it out as one of them. My favorite zombie kill was the firefighter. I don't know how you guys felt about him, but I love the subtle nod to like some of them have the ties to their their memories of their jobs, and you know, it looks pretty lightweight, but she did throw down a rope that's used in in rock climbing, so it has to be able to support some amount of human weight. But ignoring the logistics of the rope, the idea of a fireman zombie climbing his ass up and using these tactics and just knowing that like it doesn't matter how high you are, this guy's gonna come and he doesn't get tired. That's terrifying.

SPEAKER_04 38:29

Yeah, I totally agree, Chris. That one was insane, and I do have some issues with the the rope physics, but it's okay. I'm alright with it. Um, it it's like there was certain parts of this movie that felt like there were almost like leader zombies, like especially when they would start almost like crowing and like screaming and kind of like calling the rest over. That it almost felt like they're some leaders of the pack, you know? And he felt like one of those where he was like, Oh, you don't know who you're dealing with here. You think I'm just some regular zombie? Like, uh-uh, this ain't it. And it was, I mean, uh, to be fair, also kind of infuriating because I don't understand how she passed out by getting hit in the stomach by a table, but that is what it is.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

I think she got like hit her head when she hit the floor. Yeah, yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_03 39:15

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 39:15

It was a stressful moment, that's for sure. It wasn't long, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just long enough to scare us. Um, but that zombie is like real intense. And also his splatter was great.

SPEAKER_02 39:26

I totally agree. There there were definitely like some boss monster zombies in the in the pack. Um, and I feel like what made that one so suspenseful is that up to that point we had this comfort of knowing like we're on the seventh floor of this building, the door is boarded and the balcony is fine because the zombies can't get up here. Uh, and that zombie was like, hey, I actually can get up here. I was trained to do things just like this, and I still remember how to do them.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

I'm a professional, okay. I've been waiting my whole life for this. Thank you so much. Really, when you find out he was just some rookie firefighter who never got the chance.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

It's like imagine a firefighter coming up to kill you instead of save you.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

Ooh. I I think one of the more concerning zombie kills though, and this is one that like made me stop and think, I would not feel comfortable as proficient as she was with that little hatchet. I would not feel comfortable smacking a zombie in the head with that and the blood spraying. I'd be so paranoid that some of that's gonna accidentally flick on my face or in my eye or something.

SPEAKER_02 40:20

Yeah, it was a little loose with that.

SPEAKER_04 40:21

Yeah, it's a small weapon, but also very precise, you know. But if a if a if one of the zombies was like seven feet tall, I don't really know what purpose it would have served.

SPEAKER_00 40:30

I mean, she was really good at setting a trap. That's true.

SPEAKER_02 40:33

Oh, I totally thought that trap was gonna like come into play later and like maybe uh the main guy would go to her place finally and then get impaled by a chair.

SPEAKER_04 40:41

I'm glad that it didn't, but same. I will say, on a completely unrelated note, when he called the the the apartment next to her to to lure the zombies away, I was like, um, one, how did you just randomly come up with their phone number? And then also, are phones working? Because why are you trying to use your cell phone if a house phone is working?

SPEAKER_00 40:59

Yeah, I thought it was the intercom system, like when you can where you can buzz to be let in.

SPEAKER_04 41:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:05

One of my apartments in Virginia had that where if you just knew the unit number, you could dial the unit number and it's gonna flash.

SPEAKER_04 41:11

From your unit though? Because I've only ever seen that from like the front door, you know, like when you're going in. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 41:17

Okay, here was my perception because uh he was using a like a weird like landline phone when he did it. And at that point I had thought that they were in two separate buildings, but then that made me think, like, oh, maybe it's the same building and it's like a U shape, and she's just on the opposite side of it. But truly, I have no idea.

SPEAKER_04 41:33

I don't know either.

SPEAKER_02 41:34

I would love like a blueprint of the layout of this scene because they they utilize this space really well.

SPEAKER_00 41:38

I'm fairly certain it was just like that Paris because the two buildings have the exact same design.

SPEAKER_04 41:43

Yeah, yeah, true. Hi, can we have blueprints next time we release a movie? Thank you so much. We can't we can't properly assess this without that.

SPEAKER_00 41:51

Layout of the apartment aside, I do think one of my favorite scenes was the moment when Yubin jumps from her apartment and runs through the plaza. So just seeing that and like knowing the buildup of like she is afraid of heights, she is afraid, like she doesn't want to die, right? Like she has this like sense of self-preservation, and there's just no where like she gives the last bit of her water to the plant, hoping like it's either we're gonna find stuff on the eighth floor or we're gonna die anyway. But to see her just surprise him and then rappel down the side of the building and then just kick ass all through the plaza, I love that.

SPEAKER_04 42:28

Okay, I need to completely agree with you, Chris. That scene was amazing, she was awesome, and the the the little bit of his personality that we get, which he is does have a great personality through this movie, and he's like, dude, who is she? Like, it's perfect.

SPEAKER_01 42:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:45

Also, though, I'm sorry, I just have to do this again. Watering a snake plant three times in a month is absolutely insane. Okay. I'd I realize it's for the movie, but like when she watered the snake plant the first time, I was like, first off, don't be dumb. And then when she did it uh like second and third time, I was like, literally, your snake plant, it doesn't want to be watered. You're good, dude. Just drink the water. I this is not your friend. It's a plant and it actually likes to die. Okay. That's basically what a snake plant wants to do.

SPEAKER_00 43:15

So, like, stop. Thank goodness you're here to educate us on plants because I didn't see I don't know anything about it, but I just saw it as she wanted to care for something other than herself and keep something else alive.

SPEAKER_04 43:25

Yes, you got the gist. I am here to ruin all the fun in the movies always. Suck the fun right out of it. Yes, snake plants want to be forgotten. That is how they thrive.

SPEAKER_02 43:35

Plant people everywhere are thanking you for bringing that up, Ryan.

SPEAKER_04 43:38

It's the only thing I know.

SPEAKER_02 43:39

That also felt like one of those touches that was like impractical from like a survival sense, but like more like cute and like quirky kind of, which is why I also got like Wes Anderson vibes, because there were a lot of things that didn't have to be done, but were done because like it could have been like a cute moment. But I'll say my favorite scene was actually when Euben saves to. Jun Wu and he's like killing himself and he's hanging from the ceiling, and you just see that like laser pointer because you have this like realization like I've been alone this whole time with this character, and at this point it's hopeless. What are we gonna live for? And then you're introduced to another character who has, in my opinion, like a really hilarious personality. Her sense of humor and her timing and all of this was like brilliant. She saves him, and then they start communicating, and then later you see that she also tried to kill herself, and you see like a noose up above in her apartment. And for me, that was just like such a heart-wrenching moment because it was it was like two people that literally needed each other to survive. Um, and I felt like that was just so touching that she saved his life when there was actually nobody there to save hers, or maybe we don't know, maybe she like saw him through her window when she was killing herself and was like, wait, there's somebody else. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 44:46

And she points to Dumb on the wall.

SPEAKER_02 44:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:49

I love it.

SPEAKER_02 44:49

She was just dragging him the whole way through. She was like, Why are you an idiot?

SPEAKER_04 44:53

One of the scenes that I really enjoyed um from like an intense standpoint was going over to the neighbors and eventually like finding all like the the camping gear and everything like that. That was a really cool moment, but the dead zombie in the bed and then the attack, oh my gosh, those were intense. Those were definitely some moments where they were going for like uh a a jump scare that I think didn't didn't quite land, but it was uh it's like they tried to do a jump scare with volume if if such a thing exists.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:28

They were very heavy on the the acoustics, increasing at certain moments, but like that whole intense moment of v venturing out finally and wrapping his feet in in towels to be quiet and stuff like that, that was something that I enjoyed. And that was something that that that I wanted more of in this movie. So I I love that scene.

SPEAKER_00 45:47

I think the other reason why the intensity of that works, even if the jump scare itself wasn't the most effective, it's because he's wearing a headlamp and all you can see is his face and then just darkness behind him. So it could be easy to expect a zombie to come out at any other point, but he's just sitting there in this moment, like confused, but then also set like relieved, only to just get got from behind. And I think that was a really good moment. I looked at my girlfriend when we were watching it together, and I was disappointed that she didn't move a muscle, and I'm like, come on, you don't even watch horror movies. How did that not get you? Well, even a little bit for me.

SPEAKER_02 46:23

It didn't scare me because I I think we're we're led to believe that the neighbor's brother is the one that's underneath that blanket and you see their feet. Um, but I noted that that feet that that foot had nail polish on it, and I was like, that's probably not the brother, and that's maybe like the girlfriend or something. So he's probably somewhere in this building. So as soon as he made himself known, I was like, and there he is.

SPEAKER_00 46:42

Yeah, I knew it was coming. I think one of my other favorite scenes in it, it's really just a moment of sadness that I think adds to this. It's feeling Jun Woo's grief when he first imagines that he's seeing his family, and just like the idea of hugging his mom again and her saying, Hey, have you eaten? It's just this really like you know, drunk as hell, wishing your family was there. But then to also hear a voicemail of his family being slaughtered.

SPEAKER_02 47:10

Oh, that was hard.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

That was heavy as hell, and I think one of the things that this actor did best, despite his goofiness and despite his clumsiness, despite so many other things of this of the of his personality, it's it just expresses grief.

SPEAKER_04 47:26

I agree with that, and I don't want to take anything away from the writing or the acting or the way these moments were built because that was a very intense moment, and and the destruction and everything is all warranted, and I understand it, and I I just didn't feel anything. And I think part of it is like the the lack of real fear that I feel about zombies. I think it just removes me, and I'm just like, yeah, man, that's a bummer. And it's because you're like, yeah, see, I can't even imagine myself there because I would have been gone. Yeah, other people would be sad, they would be sad about me being gone. I would just be fine.

SPEAKER_02 48:10

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I was like, this movie isn't really scary, um, but it also made me think about like what would my parents do in a zombie apocalypse? Like, what would would my mom be okay in a zombie apocalypse? And that's not something I had ever considered before. Sorry, Mom.

SPEAKER_00 48:23

I know. These are the things that keep me up at night crying when I watch horror movies.

SPEAKER_04 48:27

So my favorite visual element builds off of yours a little bit, and it's it's actually just an overall uh feeling, like the the the way they shot the apartment that he spends all of his time in, especially the living room, the way it like goes through different feelings, and like we get the early morning sun so many times where he's asleep on the couch, and it seems like everything is almost okay right until he wakes up, and then he's like, Oh my god, and and just all these little moments, even just down to like cooking noodles, and we get like uh kind of unrelated to what is my favorite, but just another scene that I liked is the split screen of them cooking the noodles together, you know? Like it's just the way this movie is shot is so good, and to shoot so many different things and so many different feelings and uh emotions and all of that in one apartment living room, it's just so good. And I I will say that one of the biggest things that was hard for me to hack about this is how good the movie's shot.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

Oh, absolutely. I think that was actually my favorite visual element too, just the cinematography alone is outstanding. I also loved the subtleties of their lighting. So there's a moment when the first zombie turns in the inside the apartment and you see it come down to like his perspective, and you follow like the cameras attached to his body following his head jerking around. And then you have when he finally gets him out of the apartment looking through the peephole and the peephole shining light because the sun's on the outside of the glass windows on the other side of that. I absolutely love the way like I know I said it in my favorite Death with the Policewoman. This movie is just beautiful to look at, despite how much carnage is in it. One of the other things that stood out to me visually, it's not that I loved it, not that I even disliked it. It's a random thought. It must be the Twilight Marathon I had the other day. Because when they have the opening credits, like after the chaos, and you see like these zombies twitching and like almost being created, and you see like inside their bodies and stuff, all I could think about was Bella's insides during her vampire transformation and breaking dawn. That's literally the only thing I could think of.

SPEAKER_02 50:36

Oh my god. Wait, that actually I now that's all I'm thinking of as well. Um, I remember at the time I was like, is this a movie or is this a series? Because it felt like a title sequence for like a mini-series or something. But now you're right, that's exactly what happened when she transformed.

SPEAKER_04 50:50

They're all fucked up vampires. To me, the title sequence felt like someone came in and they were like, Hey, can you make a title sequence for a zombie movie? And they're just like, Yeah, can I see the movie? And they said, No. So the guy just made a general zombie title sequence, and that's what they do in here.

SPEAKER_00 51:05

Yeah, for sure. Because that title sequence definitely creates the illusion that you're gonna find out it was a government plot and these zombies were homegrown.

SPEAKER_02 51:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:12

Yep, it kind of doesn't relate, but it not it's not bad.

SPEAKER_04 51:15

It just feels separate.

SPEAKER_02 51:17

Yeah, they went broad with that intro so that whatever the movie ended up being could fit into it. I think it's really hard to choose a favorite visual element in this movie because there's so many strong ones. Um, like you were saying, Ryan, I really loved the interior of Jinwoo's apartment, um, especially after he like put up those like plastic bags or like whatever to like block the windows, and then all the light that came in was colored. Um it was almost like a like a stained glass effect uh that was just made out of like plastic and tape. There's so many other elements in this movie that and I think the cinematography is probably this movie's biggest strength because it felt like it was done with such care and attention to detail. So I don't think I can pick just one element.

SPEAKER_00 51:55

Yeah, not bad for a rookie director.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

Oh, rookie?

SPEAKER_04 51:57

I would say not bad at all.

SPEAKER_02 51:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 51:59

I would watch more from the same director for sure. Maybe different writers. Same director.

SPEAKER_00 52:04

Yeah. And speaking of directors, writers, etc., I just can't help but consider what I feel to be the worst part of this movie, and it's the end end. It is the get to the chopper moment. It is the the chopper's not here. We're up on this roof, and I felt like okay with that. At that point, I felt at peace with them dying. But then the chopper comes out of nowhere and like they didn't even hear it. What? Yeah. Absolutely ridiculous.

SPEAKER_04 52:31

This is the end of a of a video game. Like you've completed this level, and now you gotta have this chopper take you to the next place where there's more zombies. That's exactly what this is. You play this game at Dave and Busters. 100%.

SPEAKER_02 52:44

Wait, Ryan, I've actually played that game. You're completely right. The one where you have to like be with somebody else and you shoot stuff. This exactly this exact thing happens at the end of that game.

SPEAKER_04 52:51

I mean, they're all pretty much the same, but yes, I kind of said this before, but it's like they took a little, a little bow and they were like, Well, we just need to wrap this up. And they just stuck a bow on the end of it. Yeah. It did nothing that had any value.

SPEAKER_00 53:05

Yeah. If they would have ended right after they killed the husband and the wife zombie in there and like heard the choppers off the distance, like, we're gonna be surviv if we're gonna survive, I would have been okay with that. But as soon as they open the door, like that moment they open the door, it just goes to like this weird slow-mo that it looks like it wasn't shot in the right frame rate for slow-mo. So it's just like really choppy and just like disoriented. And I fucking hated it.

SPEAKER_04 53:30

That was the worst slow-mo I've ever seen. I was like, why is this slow-mo?

SPEAKER_02 53:33

They probably just did it in post.

SPEAKER_04 53:35

It's kind of like when people shoot slow-mo videos on the iPhone but don't edit it so that the only only the important part is in slow motion. Yeah. And then you just spend like two minutes watching a video of someone like running before they fall. Like, you know, you don't even get the good parts in slow-mo. That's what this felt like.

SPEAKER_00 53:50

Yeah. And it's like as much time as they took to assemble that shopping cart wagon of death. Like that, of course the choppers are gonna be gone. Do you know how fast they are? Oh, yeah. Yes, yes, choppers are fast.

SPEAKER_02 54:01

My uh worst part uh kind of sandwiches yours, Chris, because it's also related to the ending, the ending. Um, but it for me at the end, it felt like they were giving up. They gave up like multiple times when I was like, You're gonna give up now, and then they were like considering shooting each other, and I was like, I don't know about this. Um, you guys have been really crushing it so far. Uh this doesn't seem like an appropriate reaction or decision, uh, which eventually they didn't follow through on. Um, but then after the the helicopter moment, when we get like the all like the social media element where it's like there's a social media movement uh and everyone's using hashtag alive to let us know that they're in a building and we can save them. I was like, uh, that's kind of very lame to me. Um and then they had like little graphics come up for everybody's like social media posts around the city. Um, I could have definitely done without that part.

SPEAKER_00 54:52

Okay. I wasn't mad at that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:54

Oh, I thought that's the cheese you guys were talking about.

SPEAKER_04 54:56

No, it was the choppers.

SPEAKER_02 54:58

The chopper was the cheese.

SPEAKER_04 54:59

The choppers, the thing the pretending like they were gonna shoot each other. Like it was all just that was the cheese for me. The the social media part, I won't say that I loved it, but it feels real enough to let to not be annoyed by it. Because I mean, what do we do every time something is going on in this world? We all start posting about it. Now, I don't know how these posts are getting through or how these phones are staying charged. That's a whole different, you know, that's a different conversation to have because we're like a month in at this point. Also, is it feasible? And I'm not trying to come at the movie for this, I'm just like wondering for my own personal uh awareness. Is it feasible for the water to go out so much earlier than like power and stuff? Like, what is required for water to not come through my pipes anymore? Is this a ridiculous question?

SPEAKER_02 55:47

I don't know the answer to it. I don't understand how like water vanes work.

SPEAKER_00 55:52

Yeah, that would be a great question for our listener because I've only known water to not be there when you know the people come outside and shut it off.

SPEAKER_04 55:59

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_00 56:00

Anyway, well, if you know how water pipes work, don't worry because the water company is gonna notice that you're not paying your bills during the zombie apocalypse and they're still here to collect their money.

SPEAKER_02 56:12

You're not wrong. Actually, wait, I used to live in an area in the Gulf Coast of Florida where if it rained too much and things flooded, something would happen related to like sewage and like the water that would go to people's houses where they would tell you either to not do anything with the water coming out of the faucets or you had to boil it first.

SPEAKER_04 56:28

Yeah, so I know about that. It's the like no water coming out of the drains. That's like a pure fear for me. Like why it's just dried up? Yeah. I guess faucets, not drains, but you know what I mean. Uh for me, for my best part since I did hack this movie, I'm gonna unfortunately just reiterate a couple of things that I've already touched on. And my two favorite, absolute favorite things about this movie is the cinematography, the way it's shot, and the all the different awesome angles that we get of all these different scenes with little bits of detail that really give value to things in this movie. That and the zombies. The zombies are amazing. These might be my favorite zombies that I've seen.

SPEAKER_00 57:09

Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 57:10

I'm not sure that I've thought about that long enough to stand by that statement, but I'm gonna go with it. I think they're my favorite. Okay. They're pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_00 57:16

Well, you know, you're gonna have to revisit at the end of this year. We'll have a favorite zombies section.

SPEAKER_03 57:21

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 57:21

I do think one of the other things that stand out significantly about this movie is just the quality of the performances that we get from our two main, from our two leads. I feel like I've never seen a zombie movie where I've related and also not relate at the same time so much to the main character. And I love that they made the decision to not make him a badass. Like he was just this average ass guy who's sitting in his apartment playing video games and has to be told by his mom to buy groceries.

SPEAKER_04 57:47

Yeah, these characters are pretty incredible and they they are both so unique, but then the way that they're, you know, when they have the walkie-talkies and they kind of align up and he knows exactly what's going on, basically, without even realizing it, it's it's kind of brilliant, honestly. And he's obviously not from a poor family. Uh he's, you know, he's got this like, I'm an influencer, uh, gamer, streamer, like whatever type of thing going on. And it really makes it relatable, not necessarily because I relate to a streamer-influencer type of person, but just because we see so many of them. So that it may not be us, but we see so many people that are like this, where you know, his family didn't seem to be struggling, and yet he's, you know, in the situation where he doesn't have a luxury around him. He doesn't have food, he doesn't have water at a point. And so no matter how much he's had throughout his life, or maybe if his life has been easy or anything like that, he's he's here now. And then she's kind of the opposite. She seems like she had a little bit more of like rough and tumble upbringing, and she's been through a little bit more, and she's got these spheres and she knows how to climb and all these different things, a completely different personality from him, and she's in the same situation. She's a little bit better off, she's got food, but they're both stuck here and so different, but so similar. And honestly, the only reason I kept watching this movie is because these characters were great, and Chris would fire me. I don't know about firing you.

SPEAKER_02 59:13

I love that, and I also loved these characters. Um, Jun Woo was super relatable. Um, he wasn't like too like talented or successful at anything he did. He was he felt like um a very believable character who I think everybody could find something to relate to in them. And then Yu Bin, when she came into play with her bangs and her binoculars, I was like, oh thank God. Like, one, we're getting some female energy in this cast. Two, her dry delivery of those like humorous lines like really made my heart happy. Even when we get the moment where they're like doing that split screen that you mentioned, Ryan, where they're having dinner together and they're like kind of arguing about like the best way to make these noodles. Um, just like seeing them have that moment like made me like giddy inside. I was like, oh yay, they're getting like a shred of normalcy when the world is collapsing around them. Because that's something we can all uh relate to needing.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:02

Can you even make instant noodles?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:04

I know. He's like, why wouldn't she pour the water out? That's insane. Um and it's just like these things that people do differently that you don't realize until you have to do them together. Um, something I'm learning now that I live with my boyfriend. But I also I love these actors so much that I followed them both on Instagram because they're also beautiful and so talented. So I'm like, yeah, I want to see what else you guys do.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:22

You want to see what else they do, but would you see this one again?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:24

Honestly, probably at some point. I might watch this movie like two more times before I die.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:30

Interesting. I will easily never see it again. I wouldn't be mad if I did, but I I could go my entire life without even thinking about this movie again.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:42

Damn. That's intense. It's a hack, okay? I get it. If you said anything different, I guess it wouldn't make sense. Yes, exactly. I do want to watch this at least one more time when I can resolve the issue of audio. I just want to see this movie without English dubbing. That's really all I want at this point.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:59

It was good. I'll tell you it was good. Uh, and even though like I did slash this movie, I recommend it as a movie, but I don't really recommend it as a horror movie. So take that for what it's worth.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:10

It's okay, we're outside of October now. Stop trying to defend yourself. Be proud of your slash even when others don't stand with you, okay? It's alright.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:18

I have to justify this slash to my other slashes.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:21

I promise. Our listeners won't hate you. It'll be okay. But let's see if you'll be okay with our factor fiction. You folks ready? Born ready.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:28

Head to head.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:29

Here we go, your first one up. When the actor who plays Jun Woo began his work in production, he actually came to work with a black wig to help distinguish his character. He'd previously shaved his head for another role, and it wasn't gonna go back in time, of course. And since he was gonna wear a wig, he thought he might as well bleach his hair blonde. Eventually he took the wig off for a brief moment at the shooting set, and the production head saw his bleached hair. They had a vote on the spot, they all declared his short hair was better. And this was after he got the part? This is like while shooting. Okay, fiction.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:58

This is hard because this is so long. Um, I know in Eastern culture men wearing wigs is much more common. Uh, but I feel like that also is something that you would want to have for like your character that's like a streamer for like gaming.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:12

Um, so I'm gonna say fiction as well. I feel like they wanted him to have that blonde hair.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:16

Well, it's a fact. So sorry. Whoa. And he had actually even considered pitching that idea, like, hey, let's make this this guy's hair. But he was concerned that maybe the filmmakers weren't progressive enough, and luckily they were, and uh decided on the spot.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:31

Can we just note that it is completely um out of the realm of possibility to go that long without bleaching your hair and not have visible roots by the end of it? So true.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:43

Glad you're here to be the authority. Now moving on to number two. Part of the reason they felt it was better for that hair was it allowed them to give a subtle nod to the character Jun-wu was based on. You see, this movie's screenplay is adapted from the Konu Tatsumi story in the complete edition of Max Brooks' novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. Tatsumi was also described as previously being a skinny, acne-faced teenager with bleached blonde highlights. Fiction.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:08

I'm gonna say fact, Ryan, so that at least one of us can be right.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:10

Well, it's a fiction. Now, that character does exist in World War Z, but this movie isn't based off of it. Hashtag Alive is a zombie thriller based on the original script, hashtag alone, of Hollywood screenwriter Matt Naylor.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:22

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:23

Such a such a slight change in title there. Almost irrelevant. Now, moving right along, as you may have noticed, Jun Woo is particularly clumsy. This actually frustrated the actor who played him mostly because he was accustomed to more serious roles and being slightly more sophisticated. He was originally intended to stay up in his balcony while Yu Bin made her way to him, stunning him, leaving him in shock. She'd eventually climb up the sheets he dropped over the side. His arrival to help her in the plaza and fight the zombies was the sole concession the director gave him to his wishes. Oh man, I want to go fiction.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:54

This I don't know. I've said fiction everything, and I'm wrong a lot.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:58

I'm gonna say fiction as well, Ryan, so don't worry. Um I feel like this set felt collaborative, so I feel like there that wouldn't be the only concession that was made.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:07

Well, it's fiction, but his clumsiness was actually motivated by the actor who portrayed him. He wanted to give something that was a little bit more lighthearted and different from his other roles. And he even said, Sometimes they ask me, don't you want to have a nice fight scene with the zombies? And I said, Not at all. I've already had so many sword fights before, I want to do nothing. See, that's why clumsy Jun Woo needs you've been. That's so true, and I love it. So real. You know, we're not zombie fighters out here. Absolutely. Now, wrapping this up, despite having so many parallels to the COVID-19 lockdown, this whole production actually wasn't influenced by it in the slightest. In fact, principal photography began on October 1st, 2019 and wrapped up on December 12th, 2019, without incident. I want to go fact here.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:50

Yeah, I'm gonna say fact too. That tracks.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:52

Well, that is a fact. Uh in fact, COVID-19 didn't make its way to South Korea until January 2020. So they j they got out just in the nick of the time.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:00

And again, excellent timing for a movie like this.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:02

Absolutely. Well, there you have it, folks. You did pretty well in fact or fiction, not bad. Uh I got like some 50-50, maybe, you know, kinda.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:09

I did terribly.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:10

It's okay. We'll we'll think back on you fondly. But there you have it, folks. Hashtag Alive2020, now available on Netflix, has earned two slashes and one hack. Of course, there's gonna be a lot to talk about with this movie. Uh, this movie is one that's gotten a lot of high praise, or it's been said that it's the most boring zombie movie ever, so it seems kind of polarizing in that way. So we want to know your thoughts. Remember that our discussion doesn't end here. Keep in mind there are a number of ways to reach out to us, starting with our website, hackerslash.com.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:37

You can also hit us up on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at Hackerslash. And if you know how plumbing works, please hit us up at our Hackerslash Hotline. Our number is 757-606-0128. You can text us, call us, leave us a voicemail, or an awesome audio message.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:53

And if you're like me and you feel bad that Mac wasn't here to review a zombie movie, you can send us an email to feedback at hackerslash. And if you particularly enjoyed listening to our podcast, you can even consider becoming one of our patrons. You can visit patreon.com slash hacker slash to earn cool perks for as low as one dollar a month.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:11

We'll see you next time.

unknown 1:06:12

Bye.