Fantasia Film Festival Review: The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale

Next up for our coverage for Fantasia Film Festival is South Korean ZomCom The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale

The Korean government have unleashed some sort of infection turning people into zombie-like creatures. After a zombie rises and escapes from a facility he stumbles and moans his way to a small village.

Our zombie first comes into contact with a dog. I thought to myself “nope, I can not handle a dog getting eaten in the first five minutes of the film”. Then, we see the zombie terrified of the dog, trying his hardest to outrun the playful puppy. I knew right then that The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale was going to be somewhat different than our normal zombie movie.

Not long after the zombie crashes his way through the village we get to meet the odd family, a bunch of offbeat characters who run a failing petrol station. After the daughter of the family strangely befriends our new zombie and gives him the name “Zzongbie” we see an onscreen borderline necrophiliac romance start to form. Long-lasting stares into each other’s eyes, it felt so wrong on so many levels. This strengthened my opinion that this was gonna be one hell of a strange movie. I was right.

You see, Zzongbie ain’t like other zombies, instead of flesh, all Zzongbie likes to eat is cabbages. He especially enjoys them if you smother them in some beautiful ketchup. I mean, who doesn’t like raw cabbage and ketchup, right!?.

After Zzongbie accidentally bites the grandfather of the family we Grandad go through an odd transformation. Instead of pulsating veins, eyes turning pale, foaming at the gills, with an uncontrollable craving for human flesh…he wakes up with the energy of a teenager, he hasn’t felt this good in years. He runs down the street, singing and

The family then use this to their advantage, start to capitalise and begin their own biting business. Zzongbie sits on a chair, an arm comes through the wall, ketchup gets poured over the arm and Zzongbie takes a chunk out the paying customer.

To me, The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale was a beautiful blend of The Happiness Of The Katikuri’s (without the songs & dancing) and Fido. It also takes inspiration from movies like Shaun Of The Dead or Braindead (Dead Alive) but in the best possible way.

It is a zombie movie like no other, in fact, the film’s main focus is this dysfunctional family. The zombies are just background characters. I wanted a full-on zombie movie, but not long after getting introduced to such interesting characters, I really didn’t mind if we got any zombies or not. But we did, and it is damn good!.

An exceptional directorial debut from Lee Min-jae. The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale played @ Fantasia International Film Festival 2019.

As always thanks for reading. Make sure to check back soon for more Fantasia Film Festival coverage soon.

Words by Gary Gamble 
Founder/Owner/BigCheese @ Moviehooker
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