Toronto After Dark Review: 'The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale' Is an Absurd but Fresh Zombie Take Directed by Lee Min-jae
Starring Jung Ga-ram, Park In-hwan, Lee Soo-kyng, Kim Nam-gil
Published Oct 21, 2019
The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale is the type of film that's a mainstay at the Toronto After Dark Film Fest: a gleefully silly, constantly moving zombie crowd-pleaser that's best watched with an audience of other like-minded horror geeks. Part The Host, part Bugs Bunny with a dash of Stephen Chow, there may not be much meat on Zombie On Sale's bones, but it sure is hilarious all the same.It begins, as many zombie films do, with a shady pharmaceutical company. When an illegal medical experiment turns deadly, the body of a deceased test subject suddenly rises from the field in which it was dumped. This hapless young zombie (Jung Ga-ram) begins a slow and very ineffectual walk to the backwater village of Poongsan and eventually encounters the eccentric Park family, grifters who own a struggling gas station and have resorted to scamming wealthy out-of-towners.
After some shenanigans, our zombie protagonist finally manages to bite Man-duk (Park In-hwan), the Park family patriarch, a gambler and a cheat who just wants to win enough money for a trip to Hawaii. Man-duk manages to capture the zombie with the help of his equally useless adult children Min-gul (Kim Nam-gil), recently fired from his corporate gig, Hae-gul (Lee Soo-kyung), sweet and possibly psychotic, and Jun-gul (Jeong Jae-young), the beleaguered oldest brother with a surly, pregnant, frying pan-wielding wife (Uhm Ji-won).
Much to their surprise, the bite doesn't turn Man-duk into a zombie — rather, he becomes robust and virile, spurning the envy of his old gambling buddies. Realizing they can make a profit off a zombie that's essentially a living Viagra device, the enterprising Parks decide to monetize this situation. Of course, it doesn't all go entirely as planned.
It's an interesting and spirited new take on a genre done, as it were, to death, but the plot of The Odd Family often takes a back seat to both broad comedic setpieces (there are more Benny Hill-esque chase sequences than I could count) and moments of character-based humour. While you couldn't ever call The Odd Family "subtle," each member of the Park clan brings unique idiosyncrasies to the table that often manifest in well-timed physical comedy. The Odd Family takes a lot of delight in simply being a bastion of slapstick weirdness, although it has a ball deconstructing well-worn zombie tropes.
The film's central zombie is idol-star pretty, with more interest in eating cabbage heads smothered in gochujang than actual human heads. The Park family doesn't even realize they've captured a real-life zombie until they watch a clip of Train to Busan on a smartphone, but quickly discover standard zombie-handling techniques aren't going to work on this poor sap, who's already attracted the romantic attentions of daughter Hae-gul. It's a bit of a shame the film doesn't decide to run farther with the concept of zombie-based capitalism, as horror about the working poor and the schemes they're forced to hatch for survival are having a bit of a moment in K-horror (see: Bong Joon-ho's excellent Parasite).
By the time the film enters its second act, The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale descends into all-out chaos, with our ragtag bunch of obnoxious weirdos forced to do battle against a horde of horny grandpas. Mostly avoiding excessive gore, it may not appeal to dedicated zombie fans, and it's certainly not thought-provoking satire. But for those of us fatigued by the constant barrage of near-identical zombie movies, The Odd Family: Zombie On Sale is an absurdist, goofy dream.
(Cinezoo)