“This fish is fine.” [It was, in fact, not fine.]

Story: Climate change causes “a major elemental crisis”. Food shortages. Riots. Luckily, the citizens of Thailand are surviving (though not actually thriving) thanks to breeding insects for food, and lots of black market trading. When a strange looking fish is caught for a bunch of powerful businessmen to enjoy, what starts out as dinner turns into a sickness that puts anyone not infected on the menu. Can former Muay Thai fighter Singh rescue his doctor girlfriend from a hospital overrun with hungry ghouls?

Scares: Dread and such.
Splat Factor: As The Traveling Willburys sang, you got it.

Subgenre: Zombies And Muay Thai
Year Released: 2025
Remake, Sequel or OG (Original Ghoul)?: Original, but if this film is anything to go by? The start of a fun series, she said hopefully.

Trick or Treat?: Ziam combines two of my favorite genres; horror, and martial arts. So obviously I had to dig into this one. And I had a blast. Blood, gore, and great Muay Thai? This one’s definitely a Hallow-week re-watch.

As with typical zombie tropes, these zombies turn very fast, unless they’re a character that needs to drive the story a bit further. That said, the first turn – the businessman who swears this fish is “fine” – is paced well, and inter-cut between other characters that are doing typical character-building stuff, with no idea what’s coming ’til it literally crashes through the window and onto the pavement. The government/police state run by businessmen try to play down the severity of the situation, with radio announcers urging calm as people are swarmed by zombs in the street. Subtlety? We don’t know here, we don’t want her here.

The cast is stellar, giving everything they’ve got. Prin Suparat as Singh serves up emotions and great fighting style while moving through the apocalypse. And Nuttanicha Dungwattanawanich’s Rin is given a full-ass subplot of her own, rather than simply being the Princess Peach of the story. She’s in charge of a top businessman’s Vasu’s wife’s case, with wife suffering from the dreaded Plot Device Disease. And it wouldn’t be a true asian film without an annoying “Kenny” (see – Brandon Tenold and MST3K) and of course he’s asthmatic. Yeah his name in this movie is Buddy but? I’m calling him Kenny. I’m sorry, my people. I just call it as I see it. Kenny is appropriately annoying and drags the main characters down. But he’s cute, so he’s gotta be saved. (BTW, Kenny’s mom has a scene where she turns, kills all the babies in the NICU where she was bitten. We don’t see it – she just runs to the sound of crying – but damn this film goes hard.)

The cinematography is better than a straight-to-Netflix genre film has any right to be. Equally well done set design with bloodied walls, hospital equipment in disarray, shattered plexiglass, and lots of unknown substances all over the floors. Plus, that musical score is amazing. A fun bass-driven score during the action scenes amps things up nicely with a “this is happening baybeeee” vibe. (It also serves to help the scaredy cats in the audience focus on the fight choreography rather than the gore. so everyone in the room can enjoy.) The excellent gore FX are on par with Train to Busan. That’s a compliment by the way. There are also a few transformations to be had, as the infection starts to change things around in zombie bodies. YEAH I KNOW THEY’RE NOT ZOMBIES THEY’RE INFCTED. Roll with me, ‘kay?

As Singh, Rin…and Kenny (sigh) try to escape the hospital, they have to deal with both zombies and police who have orders to kill anything that moves. Luckily our trio have Vasu’s helicopter waiting for them at the finish line. Probably, right? Things end on a note that wraps things up nicely, yet still leaves things open for a second film. (Looking at you, post-credits scene.)

BTW, if you’re a science nerd like I am? Check out Roanoke Gaming (a real life microbiologist) for a dive into the science of all this. And lots of anglerfish slander.

Score: 4 out of 5 pumpkins.