I’m a huge fan of director Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan, the instantly iconic zombie film set on a bullet train during a deadly pandemic. And while its sequel, Peninsula, never lived up to the high standard set by that debut, Train to Busan showcased his eye for hugely effective horror. Parasyte:The Grey, a manga adaptation blending invasion sci-fi and body horror, has many singular moments that feel similar to Sang-ho’s previous outings, yet as a whole, it’s nowhere near as effective as it could be.
Set in present-day Seoul, Parasyte begins at an EDM rave, where an invasion force of aliens wreaks havoc on unsuspecting partygoers. Flexing the same muscles that gave us Train to Busan, director Sang-ho crafts an immensely disturbing opening sequence, complete with his trademark body horror as the aliens take over their first host.
On the other side of the city, a young woman (Jung So-nee) is assaulted by an angry incel, driven to violence by his equally despicable internet peers. She wakes up the next day, uncertain how she survived, and is told the man responsible is missing, and she is miraculously unharmed. It’s not long before the truth dawns on her. Something else attacked her that night. Something out of this world, and with bigger plans for both her and the planet.
From there, Parasyte spreads into a mosaic of invasion thriller peppered with the occasional burst of action as newly formed tribes of invader and defender clash on the city streets. There’s a chief of a specialist squad who lost her husband in the first wave of the invasion, now hellbent on taking out every single Grey that comes in her way. The young woman faces off against internal Grey politics, as even the invaders can’t quite agree on how best to take over their new home.
Not all the stories are equally captivating, and Parasyte suffers from a lack of cohesion. At times, it almost feels like this is two separate seasons, or even shows entirely, cut together at the last minute. The action beats, like a desperate raid on an apartment block early in the series, stand out as especially effective. But whenever the show slows down to talk politics, it grinds to a screaming halt.
Luckily, at just six episodes, the series has a stead enough pace that even the stilted moments don’t last long. I haven’t read the manga that Parasyte is based on, but it does feel like we’re watching a speed run of the material. Especially towards the end, where the series packs in way too much content for anyone but the truly devoted to keep up. You’re left with a show that’s fun to watch, but I’ll be damned if I could recite what actually happened in it.
Sang-ho remains a talented director whose works I will always seek out. Even when Parasyte takes a misstep, his eye for unnerving terror remains unmatched. I love his ability to create unease in the background, and slowly allow for the escalating dread to seep into the mundane. There are moments in Parasyte that are better than any full seasons of other shows. It’s just they’re too far apart, and the connecting tissue between them isn’t strong enough this time around.
Perhaps, if the series gets a second season, Sang-ho will break free from the constraints of his adapted material. I’d love to see what he can do with a clean slate.
Until then, Parasyte is a decent enough invasion horror, and that’s all. It could be much more, but isn’t. At least not now.
Toisto 