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Cast: Jang Hyuk, Soo-Ae

Director: Kim Sung-su

Genre: Drama/Thriller/Action

Year: 2014

Rating: NR

A deadly virus is unleashed on an unsuspecting public in the intense, violent disaster thriller FLU. It all starts when a human trafficker is infected with an unknown virus and dies in a Bundang hospital, covered in oozing red rashes and coughing up blood. Within hours the virus spreads all over the city and death goes viral as the body count rapidly rises. Medical professionals are in a panic over the mystery killer virus and soon the government orders the military in to quarantine the entire area -- no one gets in, no one gets out. Desperation and violence grip the public as the infected and non-infected struggle for life and everything begins to spiral out of control.

The worst epidemic ever seen is sweeping through Bundang, the suburb of Seoul. After smuggling illegal immigrants into the country, Byung-woo dies from an unknown virus. Soon after that, the same symptoms are plaguing scores of residents in Bundang. People are helpless against the airborne disease and the number of infected increases quickly, spreading chaos. As the worst-case scenario precaution, the city of half a million people, just 19 kilometers from Seoul, is about to be sealed off. The government orders a complete shutdown. Meanwhile, infectious disease specialist In-hye and rescue worker Ji-goo go into the closed city to find the blood serum of the index case, a crucial part of developing the vaccine.

For once there is a movie about people becoming infected from a virus that does not have zombies in it, what a breath of fresh air this film was for me. "Flu' takes place in a small suburb of Seoul called Bundang. The virus is spread from a human trafficker who is some how infected by the virus and later dies but it is too late because it has already spread causing hundreds upon hundreds of sick people to seek help at local hospitals. And then there is the government who decides to shut the town down in order to prevent the virus from spreading into Seoul and possibly beyond.

I was looking forward to checking this film out but I was expecting a slow moving drama, a character driven story. Boy was I wrong, sure there is plenty of drama and excellent character development but there is much more than that. For starters this is a realistic thriller that was about as frightening a film as you are going to find. The film also has edge of your seat suspense and adrenaline pumping action scenes that were done on a much larger scale than I expected.

Forget "World War Z" this is the pandemic film to see. Disturbing and scarier than any zombie film you will ever see. This film shows what a wide spread pandemic might look like and what your own government might do in response, pretty alarming to say the least. The story is pretty simple and easy to follow and it even has a bit a humor tossed in to help lighten the mood at times which I thought was clever.

"Flu is available on DVD with Special Features that include:

Making of Flu

Concept Art

Deleted Scenes

Language: Korean

Subtitles: English

Dubbed: English

You can order it HERE.

"Flu" is a must-see, it is a great disaster film that impresses on a large scale. The film offers a bit of everything from drama to humor, to brutal violence and some very impressive effects that rival anything Hollywood has done. I must also mention that the cast did a fantastic job playing their characters in a realistic and believable way. The film packs a wallop and I for one was definitely floored by it.

Released by CJ Entertainment<

***** Out Of *****