Operation Undead – Movie Review (4/5)

OPERATION UNDEAD is a Thai War movie with a zombie-monster-inspired plot but a much deeper message than expected. It’s essentially about humanity while also being extremely bloody and violent. Read our full Operation Undead movie review here!

OPERATION UNDEAD is a genre movie from Thailand. On the surface, it’s a movie about a virus that created super soldiers that are essentially undead much like zombies or vampires. However, they also still retain some of their humanity and intellect.

This combination of a character-driven storyline where the people who turn into undead monsters are still actual characters is a real mindf*ck. It results in a movie that may be extremely violent, but it never forgets to focus on its characters and plot. It’s quite amazing!

Continue reading our Operation Undead movie review below. Find it on VOD from March 25, 2025.

Thailand during WWII

Admittedly, I am not too familiar with what various Asian countries had to endure during WWII. What I know comes mostly from watching genre movies that focus on this – along with a few documentaries that didn’t go too much into details.

That’s why I found it fascinating to watch Project Undead and its focus on the impact of Japan on Thailand during this period.

As the movie begins, we’re watching young and rather fool-hearted Thai army recruits in the fairly early stages of their training. Suddenly, things change very quickly (after all, this is during WWII) and they are forced into combat action.

Before long they realize that something very sinister is going on. A Japanese military experiment has released a creature that infects everyone it doesn’t kill. Suddenly, we’re going from one person in an experiment to an army of undead.

But still, the soldiers know who they are and recognize those around them. They’re not quite turning completely which makes them good soldiers, but also emotional and faulty humans.

The super soldier dream

We’ve already covered movies about the desire to create super soldiers. One of the most famous movies is probably the 1992 sci-fi action movie Universal Soldier starring Jean Claude van Damme and Dolph Lungren.

Roland Emmerich’s movie is about soldiers who are killed in action only to be brought back to life as superhuman warriors. All as part of a top-secret military experiment. And, of course, we have RoboCop that also does something similar, but it happens to a cop rather than a soldier.

For Project Undead, the story plays out during WWII which lends a very different vibe to the story and setting. Of course, experimenting on soldiers (or their enemies) is nothing new, but this one takes it to extremes.

Watch Project Undead, if you enjoyed Overlord (2018), another zombie-monster story that plays out during WWII, or the extremely intense Project Wolf Hunting from South Korea.

Just know that what sets Project Undead apart is that there is a strong focus on humanity rather than the monsters we can become. And, as with all zombie movies, the real monsters are always human beings not infected by the zombie virus.

Watch Project Undead on VOD

Kongkiat Komesiri is the writer and director of Project Undead, which managed to surprise me in all the right ways. If you want a straight-up zombie movie then you’re in luck as this is hyper-violent.

However, if you want something deeper and more character-driven, then you are also in luck. Imagine The Cured or Handling the Undead but without the slowburn and dramatic storyline. You’re still getting all the undead creatures you want but with much more depth to the storyline.

What sets Project Undead apart from many other zombie-inspired stories is that they continue to hold on to some humanity. This means they can still work together and have some idea of right and wrong – plus who’s friend or foe, which is especially important during battle.

This Thai zombie war movie sadly has a rather low rating on IMDb, which is a shame, but just ignore that and give this genre movie a shot. It has a lot more to say than you’d expect.

Project Undead is out On Digital from March 25, 2025.

Details

Director: Kongkiat Komesiri
Writer: Kongkiat Komesiri
Cast: Nonkul, Awat Ratanapintha, Supitcha Sangkhachinda, Ararat Nimtchai, Seigi Ohzeki