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Horror stories have been abundant in 2025, providing a cathartic outlet for processing contemporary stress. One of the latest contributions to horror’s zombie sub-genre is a new Netflix short series from Thailand. Zomvivor is the story of several groups of college students trying to survive a zombie outbreak on their locked down campus while trying to uncover and understand the true nature of the infected people who are trapped there with them. With plenty of blood, zombie bites, and moderate gore, the series works well as an entertaining succession of jump scares and survival stress, despite the fact that the larger story arc and backstory are much less satisfying.
The show begins in the midst of a zombie outbreak on a college campus in Thailand. Hordes of flesh-hungry, infected humans attack the remaining survivors on the campus. Once bitten, the victims also turn into a ravenous, vicious, but seemingly mindless, zombies. As students flee the escalating attacks, the survivors settle into several groups including a group of cheer squad guys in a greenhouse and a group of alpha personalities and their minions in a library. In an ironic flashback we see a student film project about a woman who has been turned into a zombie and is now tied to a chair as her colleagues figure out what to do with her. The student actress, Lily, agrees to the student director’s request that she cry tears in her bound zombie state and Lily ponders whether a person so damaged and infected would have the capacity for that type of self-reflection.
A central plot point involves a genius student Ning who accepts an offer to work with a nervous Professor Wiroj on a project that may cure her comatose mother. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn that Ning and her younger brother Non were raised by their single mother in a working class household. Ning and Non are both students at the university where Ning is a promising honor student on a scholarship. Their mother becomes unexpectedly ill and eventually comatose. Professor Wiroj recruits Ning to help find a cure by working on a body-preserving project for rich people called Anisong. The project is funded by the mysterious benefactor who funds the university. However, through a series of unfortunate and deeply upsetting events, the benefactor’s awful son and heir gets infected with a defective serum and the research pivots to a cure to revive and regenerate his body and that of Ning's comatose mom. As part of the test trials, Dr. Wiroj targets poor, vulnerable, working class workers on the campus to be the test subjects. He feels bad about this, but not enough to stop, especially because he is secretly in love with Ning’s mom. As it turns out, the variant serum is volatile and the test subjects begin to display some very odd behavior. Meanwhile, back in the present, a group of students try to make a stand against the growing hordes of zombies. On group is focused on compassion and the other is focused on violence. Complicating things are the military / private security who want to kill all the students to contain both the outbreak and the secrets behind it. Some of the survivors are also impeded by an uninfected but delusional student who sabotages their safety. They are also hampered by power dynamics among the alpha leaders; and by many students’ feelings of guilt at having to kill their fellow classmates.
Zombie stories have so many commonalities that viewers often know what they're getting when they start to watch. Zomvivor adds some interesting twists to the usual zombie drama which make it quite entertaining, despite the predictable elements. One useful twist is having the story take place in an elite college setting. This allows the characters to have a more strategic engagement with the zombie outbreak since many of them are science students who can theorize on how the zombies behave and can try to create biological and chemical based options for responding, rather than just fighting, running, and hiding.
Another interesting twist is the contained nature of the outbreak. Many zombie horror films involve a zombie apocalypse where entire countries are devastated and only pockets of survivors remain. In Zomvivor, the zombie outbreak is essentially confined to the campus. The surviving students are unable to leave but so are the zombies. In the series, the rest of the country is theoretically still living a normal life while the survivors and zombies remain caught in a confined, locked room adventure.
The story is also told from multiple points of view rather than focusing on a single, lead character. And, Ning, the character who has the most camera time, is an interestingly unreliable narrator and ultimately unlikeable character as she processes new revelations about her morally gray science project. There is, in fact, no central, pure heart hero with whom viewers can emotionally align themselves. The very large ensemble cast makes it hard to bond with a particular character. This is surprising given the show’s survival story concept but it also adds tension to the story by emphasizing the general sense of uncertainty. On the other hand, the series does a nice job of showcasing kindness, through the altruism and compassion the cheer squad boys show to an infected friend and with each other. The show also briefly addresses class disparities and the way the working class people are treated as disposable, even by the lead characters. In a creepy twist, the zombies, particularly the original cleaning and custodial workers, continue to incoherently follow their pre zombie life routines on the campus, compulsively and sloppily mopping or sweeping with vacant eyes and bloodstained hands. The effect is nicely poignant.
However, despite these interesting elements, the larger sinister background plot feels a bit convoluted and ultimately not emotionally engaging. Key moments of revelations about the villains are hurried through, larger motivations are unclear, and the show ends on an incomplete cliffhanger. After so many satisfying, intense, and entertaining moments throughout the series, the finale is a bit frustrating and leaves viewers without closure. Instead, the ending intentionally leaves us with more questions. For those who like a twisty ambivalence, the adventure may be worth it. For everyone else, it may be a thoughtful and enjoyable ride with an unexpectedly abrupt exit.
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Nerd Coefficient: 7/10
Highlights:
- Entertaining jump scares and intensity
- Appealing side characters mixed with negative or unreliable narrators
- Leaves viewers with more questions than answers
