Ziam, Netflix’s new contribution to the one-man-army genre, would probably be more fun to watch in a theater. However, the original, but very familiar, take on the zombie narrative still packs a punch, even from the comfort of your own home. Delivering the blood, gore, and guts you would expect from the classics of the genre, Ziam has no intention of reinventing anything, unabashedly leaning into the tropes of these stories that audiences know well. However, the Muay Thai fighting style accompanies the post-apocalyptic setting and tone with ease, with a clear love for its predecessors.

Directed by Kulp Kaljareuk, Ziam had plenty of inspiration to draw from in both the films that have brought increased awareness to Muay Thai, like the Ong-Bak franchise, and the litany of zombie films that are everywhere these days. With a simple, straightforward premise and slowly rising stakes, Ziam takes some time to set up its world and the emotional appeals that ground the narrative in reality. However, it’s obvious from the beginning that the point of Ziam is to be swept away by its action, as the fight scenes are good, if not genre-defining.

Ziam’s Action Does The Talking, But It Doesn’t End Up Saying Much

The Movie’s Many Emotional Appeals Attempt To Give The Story More Weight, But It Doesn’t Always Work

Ziam is led by Mark Prin Suparat and Nychaa Nuttanicha as Singh and Rin, a couple struggling to hold onto their lives as the world deteriorates around them. Singh’s past as a Muay-Thai fighter is almost immediately put on display in an entertaining opening fight sequence that sets the stage for his unbeatable strength and skill. His singular goal throughout the story is to rescue Rin after the hospital where she works becomes ground zero for a zombie outbreak, whose origins are murky at best.

Like most post-apocalyptic stories, the true antagonist of the story is the greed of the ruling class. However, Ziam makes this a tertiary thematic element at best. A totalitarian government and rich moguls who have privatized survival are implied to be responsible for the outbreak and the horrible quality of life. However, Ziam takes no steps to reflect on this; it’s simply a background fact about the story. It would be too much to make the narrative a pure morality tale, but a closer look at its themes could’ve made the project even better.

Additionally, Singh is strong, fast, and loves Rin, but that’s about all we know about our protagonist. Singh is a personality-less vessel who defeats the bad guys and wins some of our affection by not being heartless enough to leave a child behind to die. Rin makes up for the Singh’s lack of character, serving as a much more compelling lead character because the question of her survival is real. Conversely, there’s little doubt that Singh will do anything but bash zombie brains in until he saves the day, which does have an element of comfort as the body count rises.

I wouldn’t think twice about Ziam being thin on plot if it wasn’t for the fact that I was expecting more action in response to this. If it were a pure thrill-ride, I could let it slide that the fish-borne zombie virus, whose rules are decidedly unclear, makes no sense and is an obvious plot device. However, the fact that Ziam slows its story down to accommodate these story developments and more emotional moments makes its shortcomings clear. Ziam comes close to hitting upon something new, but it retreats back to safer territory every time.

It’s fine that the story is formulaic and predictable, but I wish the fight sequences had been a little more thrilling. Suparat executes his fight choreography well, and when it’s time for him to fight another person and not a zombie, things ramp up a bit. Though the design of the zombies is certainly scary, they struggle to overcome the mundanity with which more audiences now view the flesh-eating monsters. It’s not fair that zombies are commonplace now, but the fact is that Ziam needed to give Singh more impressive opponents to take his abilities to the next level.

Ziam Makes Good Use Of Its Setting & Resources

The Contained Location & High Stakes Keep Us Interested In Ziam

Ziam has a lot of interesting ideas, and it’s clear that Kaljareuk worked hard to make the scale and stakes of the movie as compelling as possible within the project’s limitations. Almost exclusively set inside the central hospital, Ziam has fun playing with the ways that the setting and props can be used to their fullest extent. Additionally, the way the obstacles in front of Singh and Rin grow in each section, never relenting until the end, will hold even the shortest attention spans.

At just over an hour and a half long, Ziam isn’t a huge commitment, even if the story crams a lot into this runtime. However, sometimes this is the kind of story that’s perfect to throw on during the summer heat when only some good old-fashioned bone-crunching excitement will fit the bill. Ziam won’t break your heart or take your breath away, but it will provide a few hours of enjoyment and well-crafted action; just don’t expect too strong a story.

Ziam will be available to stream on Netflix on July 9th, 2025.