Movie fans lined up for hours before the screening began. All 2,300 seats at the Lumiere Grand Theatre were completely filled, and screenings for the 16th and 17th were also sold out.
Director Yeon and the actors were welcomed into the theater by Thierry Frémont, the General Delegate of the Cannes Film Festival. The audience, filling every seat, gave them a thunderous standing ovation upon their arrival. Cheers erupted every time the names of the production and investment/distribution companies appeared on screen. The atmosphere felt more like a popular pop star’s concert than a movie theater.
The movie is set in the ‘Dunguri Building,’ a high-rise in downtown Seoul that combines commercial facilities and a convention center. A zombie outbreak occurs during a conference hosted by a bio-company at this location.
At the center of the chaos is genius biologist Seo Young-cheol (Koo Kyo-hwan), a former employee of the company. Longing for the birth of a new humanity, he declares, “I am going to conduct an experiment today. Oh, not an experiment, but terrorism.” He then becomes a target for both the authorities and survivors after claiming that the vaccine is within his own body.
Biotechnologist Seol-hee (Shin Hyun-bin) tracks the incident with a special investigation team after losing contact with her husband, Han Kyu-sung (Go Soo), who went to the Dunguri Building. She observes the situation from outside the building, viewing the events from a different perspective than the survivors inside.
The zombies in ‘Swarm’ do not simply attack and spread. They share information, learn, and move as a collective. Operating as a single network rather than individual entities, they gradually test the limits of human understanding.
Even in the early hours of the morning, audiences gathered in small groups on the street to discuss the film. Raphael from Lyon praised the movie, saying, “The stunt actors who played zombies, the makeup, and the art were truly amazing. It was full of thrilling action, and a pleasant chaos washed over me like a wave.” On the other hand, Nadine from France mentioned, “‘Train to Busan’ is the best zombie movie of my life,” adding that there weren’t as many scenes that triggered a strong emotional response as that film did.
