“Sweet Home” Uses an Apocalypse as the Backdrop, Which Adds an Interesting Element to this Netflix Horror Series 

By: Mark Deutsch 

What happens to people in this scary and awesome show. Credit: Trending Update News

“Sweet Home” is a horror show that’s based on a classic end of the world premise that has a squeamish mutating virus. South Korea and presumably the entire world is being destroyed by people suddenly becoming monsters. 

Tenants living in Green Home, a cheap apartment, have managed to survive the first wave, but survival is uncertain. 

However, there’s more to this plot that belies the first description of the show, which is filled with great characters. Some of the monsters even come from the survivors, with the main character being half monster.

The virus doesn’t have a real name but in later episodes it’s referred to as a curse, also known as the “monsterizing” virus. This is because anyone who’s infected becomes any type of monster. 

These monsters are tough to kill conventionally. To make matters worse, these monsters gain physical superpowers, from bulging muscles to extending claws. 

The symptoms leading to turning are sudden nosebleeds and hallucinations before slowly transforming. Besides having to use excessive force, the only way to stop a monster is by killing them before they transform. If a person holds out long enough, they won’t transform and instead gain regeneration with a power. 

So far out of the entire group, there’s only been two people who’ve beaten the virus, one of which is the main character. His name is Cha Hyun-Soo, and he’s the second person to hold out on the virus, which was surprising considering his predicament. In order to fight back against the virus, it takes a massive amount of willpower. 

Cha Hyun-Soon was a bullied kid who lost his family in a car accident and wanted to kill himself. He ended up holding out because there were people who actually needed him, bolstering his weak will power. 

Yet, among the cast there are a few people who’ve shown they already have enough will power, while others are just feeble. 

The leader of these survivors is Lee Do-hyun, who lived in Green Home because he had to drop out of medical school. His sister is also another major character, although all she mainly does is criticize people. The man is cold hearted and he makes decisions that others couldn’t, such as using Cha Hyun-Soon because he’s expendable. 

The second person who has even more willpower is Lee Jin-wook, who gives off the aura of a gangster. His true purpose for being in Green Home isn’t revealed until later, discovering his reason was satisfying. The other major facet besides discovering the characters’ backstory is who’s permanent. 

In almost every episode, someone dies because either they’ve been turned or killed by a monster. The survivors are constantly picked off and it’s hard to tell who is actually going to stay. Even characters who you think will survive ends up not making it to the last episode.

All in all, this South Korean horror tv series was really great with adding fresh aspects of the supernatural apocalypse to this medium. Hopefully Netflix will continue the show even with this pandemic happening.