'Ziam' Review: Netflix’s New Thia Zombie Outbreak Meets Mortal Kombat
- Shauna Bushe
- Jul 17
- 3 min read
By Shauna Bushe - July 17, 2025
Director Kulp "Tent" Kaljareuk brings a dystopian zombie horror, featuring a former Muay Thai fighter battling infected in a near-future, post-apocalyptic Thailand. The film utilizes 3D In-Camera VFX technology for a more immersive experience and is part of Netflix's broader strategy to produce more Southeast Asian content, including other zombie-themed projects. Ziam aims to blend the thrill of zombie narratives with local storytelling and culture.
What is Ziam about?
In a world succumbing to food shortage, and restricted by a greedy government, one man desperate for his wife to wake up risks the entire population by tempting a food source to a starving district, unaware of the disastrous results that await. Hoping for a miraculous cure, in-fact turns everyone into flesh eating zombies. But, with a twist to their appearance, sets this film apart from the usual zombie flick. At the centre of the chaos is Singh, a former Muay Thai fighter thrust into hero mode when his girlfriend Rin, a nurse, becomes trapped at a hospital.
Ziam flows with a fast pace, straight forward action, is bloody, gory and includes some rather distressing images for some viewers. The hospital setting is key to the films overall tone and feels convincingly claustrophobic. One of the films high points is the creative camera usage.
Stylish, immersive and gratifyingly moves along seamlessly as the outbreak unfolds. The special effects are gnarly to look at, with a very unique resemblance to the fish that caused the outbreak in the first place. One of the stand-out scenes explores this more, when the infected are covered in water, this proceeds to excel their transformation. It changes the rules surrounding the infected, leaving you to your own interpretation.
What is very apparent is the director’s priority of creating a well-choreographed combat piece, with his attention solely focused on this element it causes his main antagonist to fall flat. A lot of emotional beats fail to have any impact; Singh is idealised as the hero yet comes across cold and detached. Areas that need him to show compassion, loses its validity. Beyond saving Rin, nothing else feels immeasurable. However, when you are following Rin through the outbreak, she provides a delicate touch, vulnerability and more so the heart of the film. The dynamic between them both on screen is where the emotional impact makes its way through the torrent of carnage.
Alongside the relentless bloodshed, Ziam dabbles in some rounds of humour. For instance, a zombie tries to take a bite out of a child’s leg, and as the child starts to panic, the infected turns out to have a set of dentures. There’s also some tongue-in-cheek nods to other horror films, such Cabin Fever, Diary of the Dead, The Sadness and more. These flashes of humour are well timed and help add a lot of fun into the mix.
In conclusion, Ziam doesn’t break ground, or change the genre in any way, as far as zombie flicks go it plays it safe. Nevertheless, its fast, bloodthirsty and punches zombies in face. And the ending is for sure to turn some heads.
Ziam is now streaming on Netflix
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