Lost in Mekong Delta
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 Hết giờ cù lao rồi! (The isle time is out!)
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Lost in Mekong Delta (Cù lao xác sống), alternatively called Zombie Isle, is a 2022 Vietnamese horror film.
Synosis
The film revolves around the journey of a group of people living together and trying to escape the pursuit of the undead to reach the last ferry on an isle downstream of the Mekong River during a zombie pandemic. Công is an Eastern medicine doctor but has gradually lost faith in people. He decided to leave this island with his father and daughter. While on the run, they lose each other. Công searches for his daughter when he accidentally meets other people on the way to regain his life.
Why It Got Lost Indeed
- The entire cast is full of shallow, one-dimensional characters, except for Công.
- Công, while not one-dimensional like the rest of the cast, suffers from having rushed character development. At the film's beginning, he only cares about his family and is suspicious of anyone who wants to help. On the way to escape, he is saved many times, gradually realizing the power of attachment and solidarity. Công's psychological change is too urgent and has not been fully explained. He mainly understands, growing up, thanks to his father's advice, but the scene is also theoretical and dogmatic.
- The two gangsters, the supposed antagonists of the movie, do little to hinder the protagonists.
- Hoàng và Cảnh, the "comedic" duo responsible for ruining all supposed intense situations.
- The zombie pandemic isn't even properly explained in the slightest.
- Zombies in this "flick" are made to be mighty and scary, yet only one has successfully scared the audience due to mediocre make-up. None of them is even remotely strong and is comparable to level 1 zombies from video games. To elaborate, it takes only a hit from a main character to kill a zombie, and the zombie strolls instead of bolting!
- The zombie pandemic isn't even adequately explained in the slightest.
- The acting from most of the cast ranges from boring to extremely wooden[1].
- The worst of all: horrible plot!
- Despite being made as a serious horror movie, it abuses comedic elements by having Hoàng and Cảnh make unnecessary jokes.
- The plot is disjointed from A to Z.
- Below-average cinematography: In the scenes where people are infected with the virus and transform into zombies, the film reveals a glaring technical weakness - a product of sloppy filming.
- Sequel-baiting: The film ends with the protagonist group finding a ferry without a satisfying resolution.
- Overall, it is a horrible execution of a great idea: a zombie apocalypse in the Mekong River.
Redeeming Qualities
- The idea of making a zombie movie set in the Mekong River is novel yet marred by terrible execution.
- Despite their weakness and mediocre design, one of the zombies looks frightening.
- The subplot depicting the conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is adequately exploited, carrying the message: amid a difficult situation, people realize the value of intimacy.
- Tấn Thi and Thanh Hằng act skillfully, but it is inadequate to save the movie.
Reception
Lost in Mekong Delta received numerous negative reviews from Vietnamese newspapers and YouTube channels. Sơn Phước from Zing News rated the movie 5/10, criticizing it for having "a silly script and air-headed zombies". Worse, Tống Khang from the same magazine called it "one of the worst Vietnamese movies of 2022", given its content's "failure to create the necessary frightfulness"[2].
On the other hand, Rạp Chiếu Phim (Movie Threatre) said that Lost in Mekong Island has "quite good" quality in general compared to some recent movies, proving that producer ABC Pictures is "willing to take risks to exploit the new things of Vietnamese cinema"[3].
Trivia
- Lost in Mekong Delta immediately spawned multiple memes, notably "It's cù lao time", a deviation of "It's morbin' time".
- The producer is about to shoot a sequel - Lost in Mekong Mountain, set in Lâm Đồng, revolving around a mutant virus that makes zombies more dangerous.