All of Us Are Dead is South Korea's latest entry into their increasing array of zombie productions. The hype surrounding this drama since its teasers and trailers was real, further proven by the amount of enthusiasm shown by worldwide viewers as the drama was finally released on Netflix. I, myself, was among those who were excited for this drama's release, but after watching the entirety of its episodes, I found it disappointing to say the least.

The main problem I had with this drama is its writing. It has major issues— full of plotholes, repetitiveness, inconsistencies and wasted potential. I was most disappointed with how they didn't utilize Nam Ra's abilities as a half-zombie well enough. Instead of letting the group face the same pattern of finding a safe place to hide, having them argue with one another and moving to another safe place over and over again which eventually got really tiring to watch, they could've made room for a more dynamic plot by having Nam Ra use her abilities to help them escape the school earlier. This would've allowed some extra time that can be used to further develop the characterizations which fell shallow for some of the characters. Until the end, I wasn't able to sympathize with a lot of these characters despite having went though 12 whole episodes full of tragedy and loss alongside them. I had a big problem rooting for the female lead in particular due to her general blandness. Her character wasn't interesting nor engaging enough even compared to several of the supporting characters, such as Jang Ha Ri and Park Mi Jin.

There was also a lot of pointless plotlines throughout the drama. To name a few, Gwi Nam's revenge against Cheong San (did he seriously think the police were still going to sit behind their desks processing reports when the entire city has gone to hell ?), the assemblywoman who served absolutely no purpose whatsoever, the hunt for Lee Byeong Chan's laptop because he claimed it contained the key to finding a cure when it turned out to only be a recording of him saying there was no cure, and even On Jo's father's dramatic yet HIGHLY PREVENTABLE death.

The drama also tries to address real life issues such as bullying, sexual harassment, academic and social pressure in attempt to create a woke statement of some sort but it doesn’t add to much. It’s just there to be there. I think having Eun Ji epically stand off against the bully, both as half zombies, would have helped in this aspect, as little as it might.

It wasn't all that bad, though. I enjoyed the action sequences. It's obvious they spent a lot of effort and budget into creating those scenes. The props, makeup, and choreography for the zombies were amazing. Though having some noticeable mistakes and inconsistencies, the action was gripping and suspenseful enough to push you to continue watching. Characters such as Nam Ra, Su Hyeok, Cheong San, Ha Ri, Mi Jin, detective Jae Ik, his partner, and even Na Yeon at times helped made this drama more lively.

The acting range of this drama was mixed. As expected, it was a total delight watching Lee Kyu Hyung's onscreen performance. Several of the younger actors did a great job as well, namely Jo Yi Hyun (Nam Ra), Yoon Chan Young (Cheong San) Yoo In Soo (Gwi Nam) and Lee Yoo Mi (Na Yeon). The rest were either okay or lacking.

The finale sort of picked up the drama a bit. It's because they finally utilized Nam Ra's character properly, having her fight in the frontlines instead of standing around in the back.

All in all, All of Us Are Dead is quite mediocre. It was a fun watch to kill time, but nothing more.