Review Rating: 7

A collection of three anthologies from Korea cinema give us very different takes on the potential end of the world!

A Brave New World graces us with the story of blossoming love in the midst of a zombie outbreak in downtown Seoul. Our hero, all he wants is to go out with the pretty girl he has a thing for, not clean up the disgusting his family left behind while they all went on a second honeymoon without him. Yet, like Adam and Eve, all it takes is one rotten apple to ruin your entire existence.

The Heavenly Creature poses the audience the question, what do you do in a world where robots are commonplace, when you think one has attained enlightenment? This particular robot works in a Buddhist monastery, and when the monks think he’s managed just that, they give him a name and encourage him to pray within the monk ranks, but also they call in a company repair man. The repair guy isn’t a philosopher, and since he can’t find anything technically wrong with the robot, this leads to an invasion of the temple by the company echelon and a lot of ranting about how robots should never be allowed to obtain this state of consciousness. I didn’t understand half of the deep thoughts they were spouting, but when the robot chose to end the argument by removing himself from the equation entirely, it was very saddening. Would you want a robot who can reach Nirvana?

Happy Birthday gives us the story of a young girl who orders a new 8-ball to replace the one she broke for her billiards-obsessed father, on her UFO-obsessed Uncle’s computer, from what turns out to be an alien website. This causes an 8-ball the size of a small moon to be delivered, and everyone has to evacuate to underground shelters. Ten years later, our heroine now a young woman, has to rise from the ashes to acknowledge delivery from the alien beyond the stars.

Catch the end-of-the-world trio Doomsday Book on Netflix now!