Sweet Home movie meaning
Genre Thriller, Fantasy, Horror
Creator Lee Eun Bok
Cast: Song Kang (Cha Hyun Soo), Lee Jin Wook (Thug), Lee Si Yeon (Firefighter), Lee Do Hyun (Leader), Go Min Si (Ballerina), Park Gyu Young (Guitarist), Kim Sang Ho (Veteran) -inventor), Wu Hyun (shop owner), etc.
Netflix channel
Release year 2020
Series 10
Site IMDb
Over the past few years, there has been a trend in Korea to film popular webtoons (online comics) into series. In most cases, these are stories with a comedy-romantic plot dedicated to the development of the relationship of one couple. In fairness, it should be said that other genres can be found among the adaptations: psychological thriller (the gloomy series Hell Is Other People) and science fiction (the sixteen-episode action film Rugal).
Now they have added the fantasy thriller “Sweet Home”, based on the Sweet Home webtoon by Kim Khan Bi. This is a rather multifaceted story that unfolds gradually, at first posing as another horror about creatures that ruthlessly kill people in a confined space.
The first impression of the series can be very repulsive, since the situation in it is rather painful, and the monsters that are shown to the eye in the first episodes are far from the best embodiment of computer graphics. But it’s worth overcoming skepticism about visual effects (after all, the budgets here are not Hollywood) and give a second chance to the main characters, who with each series will reveal themselves more and more interestingly, not limited to monotonous games of hide and seek to save lives.
The series begins with a young guy named Cha Hyun-soo moving into an apartment complex located in a disadvantaged area. Although residents of different social statuses settle here, in general, the living conditions for an ordinary tenant leave much to be desired – conversations and other extraneous sounds are heard through the walls. True, Cha Hyun-soo does not care at all about what is happening, the guy is a social phobe who spends all day at the computer and plans the date of suicide. Despite being aloof, even he notices that something strange is going on in the house. And when Cha Hyun-soo leaves his room, the hero, like his neighbors, is faced with monsters surrounding people from all sides.
“Sweet Home” is one of those shows where the characters are forced to pull together to increase their chances of survival. However, the company, gathered under one roof, is hardly suitable to demonstrate unity and support. Residents of the house suspect that there is a killer among them, moreover, many do not agree to show sacrifice and obey the new laws. Moreover, in a situation where the heroes are faced with unprecedented horror, many break down and show their worst qualities.
By the way, about manifestations of the worst. All the monsters from the series are people who, for some reason unknown to the characters, begin to turn into dangerous predators. Each of the monsters embodies one quality that once prevailed in a person. This is how Sweet Home introduces a lot of monstrous creatures attacking the locals in different ways, and it’s a big space for visual variety that zombie horror films don’t usually have.
Alas, due to imperfect special effects, sometimes reminiscent of the visuals of computer games (and in some places repeating the graphics of Stranger Things), the series fails to create an atmosphere of a full-fledged thriller that turns into horror. However, this is the case when you can safely do without zealous intimidation, after all, there are more valuable moments in the plot of the series.
These are episodes that gradually reveal the essence of the characters who change their behavior under the pressure of stress. Sweet Home has a fairly large cast and, surprisingly, with so many people, many of the characters have the opportunity to express themselves and address events from the past that greatly influenced them. In the plot, there are many interesting details with full-fledged backstories that help to recognize the reasons for the eccentric behavior of the characters. So complete strangers get to know each other and make compromises, which would be completely impossible if they were not trapped by monsters.
Just as the series seems to be getting monotonous, the script changes direction, bringing up the topic of who might actually be more dangerous – monsters or ordinary people who have power over others. In addition to rich plot twists, in this vein we will learn about the details of the life of Cha Hyun-soo, who in the new reality becomes the central figure – the protagonist, ironically, who no longer longs for death, but opposes it.
For ten episodes, Sweet Home has quite a few incidents, and all of them hold attention until the very end (the finale, by the way, quite openly alludes to the second season). Due to the large number of events, there are some inconsistencies, but they are rather minor and do not affect the overall story. What is good, the creators of the series preserve the local atmosphere of everyday life, not trying to copy American horror in everything, and give up only in the choice of music (Imagine Dragons sounds somewhat inappropriate here, which cannot be said about other songs from the official Korean soundtrack). Also successful seems to be a gloomy apocalyptic picture of a deserted city, in which rather merciless and bloody episodes occur, after which the characters noticeably change.
Conclusion:
the series seems like another horror about creatures ruthlessly killing people in a confined space. In fact, there are many interesting storylines and characters hidden in it.
