Sweet Home (2020) Series Review

The Evil Dead meets Resident Evil in SweetHome, an action-packed horror series from South Korea. As much I despise Netflix as a company - and I do - they actually do a great job of making foreign language shows more accessible.

Bastards.

This review will absolutely have spoilers so head back now if you don't want to know.

The first episode is a slow burner, but it has to be because Sweet Home is an ensemble show with a lot of characters to introduce. You meet the residents of Green Home, a rundown apartment complex, getting small pieces of their puzzles. As the show progresses, the residents - unexpectedly thrown together as the building in put under lockdown - get to know each other and form relationships because... you know, it's no fun killing them off unless it'll make everyone cry, right?

(Or, in the case of Woo Hyun's greedy misogynist, Seok Kim, freaking cheer.)

While most of the story revolves around Cha Hyun-su (SongKang) as he battles the monster growing inside him, many of the other residents have their own trauma, heartbreak, and complicated relationships. Take An Seon-Yeong (KimHyeon-Ok,) the long-suffering wife who eventually gets justice in the nastiest way, and paid killer, Pyeon Sang-Wook (Lee Jin-Uk) who’s more than he seems. My favourite character has to be the cheeky, disabled Han Du-sik (Kim Sang-ho) who whips up badass weapons for the others with whatever he can find laying around while cracking horrible jokes.

Sweet Home has all the post-apocalyptic fun and none of the tedious zombies – although, as usual, what the end of the world shows us is that people are more troublesome than monsters. Speaking of monsters…

You can’t fault the production value of this one. It has a deliberately kooky air that lightens what could be an otherwise depressing atmosphere. The CGI on the monsters, which are born from our desires and can only be killed if they’re incinerated, is well done. The Sweet Home monsters provide good jumps and plenty of gory deaths but can also be downright funny. The Tongue Monster has to be the most disturbing monster for me (because *shudder* fucked up mouths just creep me out,) while The Eyeball Monster earns the biggest chuckle.

Unlike most of the other infected, our hero, Cha Hyun-su, manages to regain control from his monster, which he finally unleashes to save the others. In the webtoon, Hyun-su turns into a “dark knight” figure. In the Netflix adaptation, on the other hand, his transformation is mostly limited to the arm that bears the scars of his self-harm and becomes what looks like a weaponized wing of blades. Instead of a dark knight, he looks more like a dark angel.

Whatever you want to call it, it looks freaking cool.

Sweet Home is a gritty, entertaining ride from start to finish, with characters (who, yes, sometimes border on stereotypical, but) you actually give a damn about. With surprises and monsters galore, it’s more than worth a binge. Even better, there are two more seasons coming (already filmed, in fact) so Sweet Home doesn’t have that one-and-out disappointment that too many Netflix shows are tainted by.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some Korean manhwa to find…

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)