Malaysian Zombies: KL24

I confess a fascination with how non-Western cultures approach the zombie narrative. I happened upon this one via YouTube, an indie film from Malaysia called "KL24: Zombies." The plague of zombies pushes the story to some interesting insights (for someone outside of Southeast Asia) into familial struggles and communal issues among the wealthy and working classes in Kuala Lumpur. 

One example stands out: In a subtle bit of comedy rife with commentary, a man's many wives rise as zombies. The main wife (the first and oldest) is eager to kill her husband's newest wife, but the man and her son are unwilling to do so because she died pregnant. When all the wives are "turned," the matriarch rises and growls "I want my divorce" before leading the women against their husband.

The link above opens the full film, with English and Chinese subtitles available.

Humans are More Terrifying than Zombies

“Every auteur writes his point of view into a zombie film. When you start to write a zombie film, you realize you’re doing a social film, a political film. … This is my most political film, my most social film, because my zombies are a reflection of what I think about humanity.”






From The Verge interview with Canadian filmmaker Robin Aubert, who wrote and directed the French-language movie Les Affames (“The Ravenous”). The film is available on Netflix.