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Netflix has a new number one movie - and it's destined for cult status

A new zombie apocalypse movie is a must-watch for genre fans...

Netflix has a new number one movie - and it's destined for cult status
Andrew Williams
29 January 2024

Netflix has a new number one movie right now and it’s certainly one that will appeal to all those action and horror fans out there.

Badland Hunters is comfortably the most-watched Netflix movie of the moment globally according to Flixpatrol, unseating Lift from the top spot.

UK and US viewers need to get up to speed with this one, stat, as it’s only number 7 and number 5 in those countries respectively.

Badland Hunters is an apocalypse movie in which an earthquake has turned Seoul into a wasteland. And it’s a wasteland where zombie-like mutants roam.

This is an ass-kicking and dramatic action movie starring Don Lee (also known as Ma Dong-seok), who you may know from Train to Busan, or as Gilgamesh in the Marvel movie Eternals.

He plays Nam Sam, a hunter who has to save a teenage girl from what Netflix itself describes as a “mad doctor.” Badland Hunters is your B-movie take on The Last of Us, close enough.

Netflix has a new number one movie - and it's destined for cult status
Image Credit: Netflix

Not all of the usual review outlets have caught up with Badland Hunters yet, but it sits at a comfortable 86% over at Rotten Tomatoes.

The critical consensus is that while this isn’t a particularly highbrow or original movie, it is solidly made, fun and packed with great action choreography.

“It doesn’t matter how derivative Badland Hunters might be. It’s all about the action. Lee and Heo made a concerted effort to take the fight choreography to the next level,” says Den of Geek’s 3-star review.

Badland Hunters is the directorial debut of Myeong-haeng Heo, who previously worked as a stunt and fight coordinator, including on cult favourite The Good the Bad and the Weird.

We have a feeling Badland Hunters may go on to become a cult hit itself - and it was one of two new action movies to hit Netflix that we highlighted were ones to watch just last week.