Sweet Home (2020)

Tenants Unite!

For a while I viewed "Sweet Home" on Netflix but I kept passing it up and moving on to the next series. I guess I have seen a million zombie (creature) shows to the point that I no longer place priority on these shows. After the opening of season 2, I decided to catch up.

Sweet Home takes place in a dystopian world where some humans have developed supernatural "curses" or infections that transform them into monsters. The story follows Cha Hyun-soo, a young man who finds himself stuck in a deserted apartment complex after a mysterious incident. Through the complex, Hyun-soo encounters several individuals who have become infected monstrous creatures.

A little of what makes this show interesting is that it allows you to get to know most of the characters before they are infected. In addition, they are infected in different ways. Neither the look nor the outcome is the same for all of them. Cast members are numerous in the apartment complex, but this number steadily diminishes as events unfold.

In terms of actors, Song Kang (Cha Hyun Soo) stands out. I almost didn't recognize him from "My Demon". Also, Lee Do Hyun from "The Glory", Go Young Jung from "Alchemy of Souls", and Park Gyo Young from "It's Okay Not to Be Okay". It is an interesting and diverse group of people living in the complex as they navigate the complex and struggle to survive while dealing with the hard fact that each one is becoming infected one by one.
In order to survive and uncover the truth behind the apocalyptic event, they must work together. The strongest and most compassionate of the infected is Cha Hyun Soo. His character brings depth to an already twisted atmosphere.

Visually, "Sweet Home" is pretty well done. Though the CGI is not exactly top-notch, it is acceptable. Set production design involving the complex has an eerie rugged immersive atmosphere.

I think "Sweet Home" is an impressive addition to the K-drama genre, it's definitely different. It delivered a thrilling and emotionally engaging story that kept my attention throughout. A compelling plot, outstanding performances, and visually stunning presentation make for an entertaining viewing experience.

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Entertaining survival drama with a good cast but some defaults in the writing and production

I quite enjoyed this drama but was a bit disappointed by its ending and some storytelling elements. It makes sense that the show has an open ending given the fact that it is planned as a first season with a second season coming up end 2023 (as well as apparently already a third season scheduled for 2024). Nevertheless, I was a bit frustrated by the fact that overall this first season is only a big introduction which does not provide any answer to anything really.

Given the low number of episodes and the numerous protagonists, I appreciated their characterization but I would have loved to see more development for most of them. Story-wise, I also found some of the choices made by a few of the characters lacking of logic and seemingly were there more for theatrical effect and impact rather than making sense from a survival point of view.

The casting and acting is the strongest point of the series in my opinion. It was my first time seeing Song Kang and I found him great and touching in his role. He had really a strong charisma who was necessary to carry a part that could otherwise been seen as quite bleak and not as interesting. Similarly Go Min Si is a great discovery for me: she made an impactful performance, making a character that could have been detestable, a relatable and endearing one. It was also a real pleasure to see Lee Do Hyun as well as Go Youn Jung among the cast members even though they were a bit overshadowed by other actors/actresses with more flamboyant roles.

Production-wise, the series is a mixed bag. Sometimes the horror is good with some effective jump scares but a lot of time as well it is kind of a miss. I enjoy the almost circus / freak elements of some of the monsters (it felt a bit like Beetlejuice / Tim Burton style in a way) but some of the monster design choices are so over-the-top with questionable CGI that it become therefore much less frightening and more comical than anything. The soundtrack was good with some deep beat that really brought a lot of atmosphere to the drama.

I would recommend this to people looking for an action survival series with some horrific elements. Despite the flaws in the writing as well as some misses in the making, it is an entertaining show, very binge worthy and carried by a good cast. If you enjoyed the manga Attack on Titan, the Kdrama Happiness or some of the seasons of American Horror Story, you will likely appreciate this as well. In terms of gore and horror, they could have gone further but it was still pretty strong, so be mindful if you have any trigger.

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I finished this in a day

I'm 16, and not used to watching horrors, so before I'd watched this drama, I was kind of unsure whether I should actually watch it. Up until then, I'd only ever seen dramas based around romance, so I wasn't sure if I'd like this drama.

Oh boy, was I wrong.

I actually started watching this drama because I love Song Kang and my friend had recommended it, so I really love the character that Song Kang portrayed. It really showed his duality because I was so used to seeing him in romance.

The first episode kind of shocked me, because this drama does contain horror scenes, and if I'm being honest with you, I'm not one for horror, even if this isn't really as horrific as most. There were a lot of scenes where it had me on the edge of my seat, and it literally had me screaming half the time(not out of fear, but just because some scenes are so cool).

I really enjoyed the acting and the story, as I think the characters development and progression throughout the plot did improve greatly. The way the drama started off was good as well, how it had shown a scene from later in the show, before coming back to the beginning and how it had all started. That part kind of got me through episode one, because I wanted to see how it happened (which is technically the reason they put that part at the beginning I think). I really enjoyed the casting as well, and the fight scenes. I enjoyed the music too, mainly because I love imagine dragons which was the song I heard more frequently then the others, and I think the song really matched the feeling of the show.

Overall, I would recommend this for anyone, no matter if you only watch romance dramas, or melodramas or thriller. this is a good watch for everyone, and I desperately need season 2 A.S.A.P!!

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Worth watching

It was pretty amazing. Nowadays in K-dramaworld, Jst a few dramas are made of this genre and even if they make it , the casts are usually some action-based actors. But in this one they casted Song Kang and Lee Do Hyun , both of them are my favs and I've always watched their romance-genre dramas... So it was really a thrilling experience for me, watching them in this series. And as usual, both of them proved their worth, by acting perfectly.
Since i haven't read the webtoon yet. So ,the story was really good and interesting . But as the episodes goes , somehow when it reached at the middle of the story, the monsters were gone. And there it focused mostly on themselves fighting with the bad guys/enemy(whatever) and the ending left me on cliffhanger.
So Im obviously in need of another season so that it can explain me -
1. Why and how Do hyun/Eun hyuk was killed (as he could've gone to that tunnel again)
2. Why did the Si yeong/firefighter girl changed herself with the millitary?
3. Song kang was saved by that another monster friend?
4. What happened after Song kang/he was taken away?

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Have you watched Strangers from Hell and decided that you need more? Or maybe you think that this drama would be much better with, I don’t know, mutated monsters? What if beyond completely weird tenants, the building would be isolated from the outside world? If you thought all of those things and wanted to watch something like that, I have a good news for you, somebody thought about it as well, and here we have: Sweet Home.

Right off the bat in the first episode we’re introduced to some of the characters and we get to know surroundings. So we have this shabby old building filled with weird characters that we don’t know what they’ll do next. They are absolutely white cards and often they turn out to be not what we first think them to be. All characters are a bit (or actually very) weird and honestly, it’s hard to trust anybody, even when we get to know them a bit better.

This drama is equally amazing as it is confusing. We don’t get the whole spectrum of informations, we don’t know what’s going outside of building, what’s the reason for monster invasion, what is the reason not everyone turning into monsters. This is the reason why this drama is so unpredictable.

And let’s talk about special effects. They’re not perfect but they’re enough to get the atmosphere absolutely right. Sometimes they look like a stop motion animation but they look very good. Together with lightning and scenography they give us the feeling of an old fashioned gore horror.
Plus music and we have a perfect combination. The soundtrack will stay with me for a long time, especially Warriors by Imagine Dragons. Even though it’s my husband’s ringtone, from now on, I’ll only think about those epic episode ending scenes that this song was a perfect background music to.

And let’s talk about acting. Because Song Kang, among others does such great job here, that I had to actually google him to check where I’ve seen him before because his acting was just so different here comparing to Love Alarm that I haven’t recognise him right away. Along with him we have Lee Do Hyun, who even though very young is already a recognisable face in drama world, and also does amazing job. Them both plus couple of other actors (if I had to list all good actors here, this review would turn out to be too long) and we have very good, very balanced cast where all members create very unique characters.

So if you like monster horrors, are not afraid of blood and intestines basically everywhere and have like ten hours of your life to spare I guess you should definitely watch Sweet Home.

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The lack of constiency between the Webtoon and the Drama was sad

It was great if you hadn't read the Webtoon, which was very different. They changed and added major characters. I was confused when I saw some of them like ??? I don't remember that. Also, the order of events is very different from the Webtoon, as well as the wasy certain characters died, became monsters, or both. The thing that upset me the most was definetly the whole elevator part, it was very good in the comic and the reason for the shutters being down and them being locked in Green Home connected and made a lot of sense, but in the drama it did not. It was also kinda anticlimactic like man just kinda died?. (trying to avoid minor spoilers :)) I found it VERY upsetting that Jae Heon's part with the shield Du-sik had made (the one that was also a flame thrower) was not there and his "AND GOD SAID.. *flames spout from shield* LET THERE BE LIGHT", which was my favorite part in the series was not there. Overall, I was very sad that the events didn't match with the Webtoon and many things were different, if i hadn't read the Webtoon or known about it, I would have had no complaints. (Sorry for the horrible grammar its literally 1:34 AM and I'm too lazy to proofread)

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better than the webtoon

I have read the webtoon before watching the drama, there are some differences between the two in some details of the story, but for the first time in the webtoon adaptation history the drama was better than webtoon mainly because I found myself emotionally invested in it also the acting was so good that it made me cry in some sense.
another reason why I found it better:
ji-soo is not the love interest of hyun-soo, I mean she is cute and everything but he is a minor and she is not so it was kinda weird in the webtoon
the only reason why I couldn't give it a higher rating was because of CGI I think it wasn't the best.

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J'ai regardé ce kdrama sous la recommandation de mon fils car il a lu le manga et l'a trouvé vraiment super. J'ai trouvé, en effet, que l'histoire est intéressante, mais les effets spéciaux sont bof. Il manque d'action, de plus, c'est parfois ennuyeux.
Sinon, j'ai tout de même envie de regarder la saison 2 car sur les deux derniers épisodes, c'est redevenu intéressant. En attendant de voir la suite, je vais peut-être le lire dans quelques temps afin de me faire une idée un peu plus approfondie de cette histoire.

Bref, j'ai bien aimé mais sans plus ; je ne pense pas le revisionner un jour, mais je pense que ça peut bien plaire à d'autres.

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Confused and shocked at first, but I really got into it

I really liked it. To be honest, at first she was confused, I didn't know what she was watching... it was difficult for me to adapt. But little by little, I got hooked, and I couldn't stop.

The entire cast is great, SongKang...omg... I already liked him, but in this series I really fell in love with his work. WHAT AN INCREDIBLE ACTOR. I really enjoyed the soundtrack too.

It's not my usual kind of thing, it's not for everyone cuz it's quite raw and rough....but if you give it a chance you'll discover a great work. The next seasons are really promising. It looks like they will be wild and insane.

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Resident Evil with a hint of The Walking Dead

This was a pretty good watch for me. It reminded me of the Resident Evil games and if the failed Resident Evil Netflix show was done right. It definitely has a slight hint of The Walking Dead with the story plot of you turn even when you die because it’s inside of them. I worry about Season 2 and that the story’s direction will change too drastically with the introduction of new characters and no real end in sight.

The Good

The acting was very good amongst the entire cast. No one person had to carry the rest. I also enjoyed the production value since they seemed to put some effort into the blood, gore and CGI creatures. Also, there was a lot of action even though it’s being filmed in one location. At times, it felt like they were in different locations because of how large the apartment complex was. They were never truly safe and it was all about survival.

The Bad

Too many characters. A lot of dramas of this nature suffer this same problem with too many characters and not enough time to focus on each. I would have loved more of backstory on some of the characters but with so few episodes, there wasn’t time for that. Also, Song Kang was the number one lead here but it’s hard to tell at times because he sometimes gets little screen time. More focus was placed on the rest of the leads. Not sure how many seasons this will be but there wasn’t much movement in the plot in this first season. Would have liked to see more on the creatures, motivations, potential cures, testing, etc.

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finished a long long time ago (twice at that) idk why i’m just now writing the review for it but it’s SO SO SO good !!! definitely recommended, not scary at all :) the acting was superb, the plot was great & the casts’ chemistry just put it all together !!! my favorite female character (i may be biased) was definitely jisu. park gyuyoung played her SOOO well. my fav male character was eunhyuk, his leadership skills were WOW.. the only thing i was upset with was the fact that in the webtoon, hyunsu ended up with jisu, but in the show.. they gave jisu another lover, which didn’t even get anywhere, & then so obviously made eunyu crush on hyunsu.

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a unique drama about Monsters and people just as bad

It has a good plot during the beginning and middle of the season but I feel like it gets lost a little at the end, I haven't read the webtoon but I feel like in the drama a lot of things had to be done during the end and the last episodes ended up being rushed. But because On the other hand, the plot leaves us entertained, curious and makes us wonder if everything will work out, something that should also be congratulated are the characters who are captivating and easy to like. We vibrate with every thing that happens and we become deeply attached to the characters. .Maybe not all, but I feel like most of the characters had decent development to the point where we connected with them.
The acting also doesn't leave anything to be desired at any point. The only negative point would be the special effects, which at times seem strange, but this doesn't bother you enough to take you away from the plot.

Therefore, in my opinion, it is a good drama that fulfills its role of entertaining and makes us curious about this new world shown!

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