Review: Sweet Home Netflix Original .

Cha Hyun-soo is a troubled teen, and new to the Green Home apartment complex. As humans start turning into monsters Hyun-soo and his neighbours fight to survive and struggle defining what it means to be human.

I loved this series. It’s weird. It’s bloody, but not gorey… though depending on who you ask, those things are the same. It’s acted wonderfully by everyone in the cast. The monster designs are incredible and just as varied and unique as their human counterparts. Sets are believable and I’m pretty sure there’s very little green screen in terms of setting. The special effects, I think, are excellent, but also unique to South Korean movie making. The monsters sometimes don’t look like they belong in the scene… sort of cut and pasted in, and they move a little janky and spooky but it improves, or you get used to it as the season moves along.

Where this show shines for me is the characters and the dialogue. Every character has a role/archetype to play, but they give life to these basic archetypes, allowing you to connect with them on a very human level.

The dialogue is great. I wonder if it’s because something is lost in translation, but it’s frank and to the point. Everyone pretty much says what they’re thinking all the time, which is great, because given the fact they’re attacked by monsters constantly, it helps that you know, for the most part, how everyone will react.

That being said, characters do have secrets and pasts that are slowly revealed over the 10 episodes.

My biggest issue with it were the last two episodes. They’re still good, but they lacked that punch you expect in a North American finale. I suspect this is due to Korean story telling tropes/methods and was grateful to experience a different way of telling a TV narrative.

It’s violent, it’s bloody, it’s tense, it has monsters in full shots and well lit. There’s a little swearing, no drug use or nudity. A little drinking. Children are put in peril, but are ultimately unharmed. If you’re looking for something horror but different – I highly recommend. It is subtitled, but I didn’t find I missed anything on screen.