Film Review: ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE (2017)

 ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE (2017) UK 1hr 33mins

Director: John McPhail

"Please remember that hand sanitizer is your friend. Kissing on the mouth is not your friend" - Arthur Savage

"What do I do???!!" - John "It's like the movies... destroy the brain!" - Chris

"I've been calling you all zombies for years ... now fuck off!" - Arthur Savage

It is nearly Christmas in the village of Little Haven but festive cheer is not high up on Anna Shepherds (Ella Hunt) agenda. After her mum died Anna is struggling to convince her dad Tony (Mark Benton), who is also the schools caretaker, to let her travel when she leaves school as he would rather keep her close and see her go to university. It's not just Anna that is having a tough time though. Her best friend John (Malcolm Cumming) is still getting bullied, Steph (Sarah Swire) is lonely, Chris (Christopher Leveaux) is failing school and his girlfriend Lisa (Marli Siu) just wants to be taken seriously and everyone, including Annas dad, are just so sick of the obnoxious and over bearing school headmaster Arthur Savage (Paul Kaye) who makes everyone's life a living hell. This is all by the by though as the school is preparing for it's Christmas show, Anna is still arguing with her dad and nobody is really paying attention to news reports of a flu pandemic taking over or the strange shuffling ghouls wandering throughout the village. The day after the Christmas show it becomes apparent that the zombie apocalypse has really taken over. Holed up in the local bowling alley Anna, John, Steph and Chris decide to make a break for the school in the hope of rescue and finding Lisa and Tony alive and safe.

ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE is a full blown musical first and a wonderful horror/comedy second. It was adapted as a feature length movie from the short film ZOMBIE MUSICAL (2011) by Ryan McHenry. He sadly passed away in 2015 and this movie closes with a dedication to McHenry.

The best thing about this movie is that it has a little bit of something for everyone. Yes there is a lot of singing but how many movies out there have songs, action, zombies, comedy, Christmas, zombies, love stories, rivalry and more zombies?? I'm guessing not many! The main success of this movie is the way it has been written, it is done in a fashion that attracts audiences from a wide variety of genres. The cast and characters are spot on and you instantly route for Ella Hunt and Malcolm Cummings.  Mark Benton is fantastic as Annas dad Tony and Paul Kaye as the incredibly unhinged headmaster Mr. Savage is completely bonkers as only Kaye can pull off successfully. The zombies and the horror element are frequent and really quite brutal. Being a 15 certificate means that they can get away with a fair amount of profanity and gore. Some humourous kills involving bowling balls, see saws, giant candy canes and water melons are spectacular as well as bloody hilarious. The hordes of zombies are fantastic and look brilliant with a combination of prosthetics and great make up. They are the slow shambling types very reminiscent of SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004) but here they have the opportunity to ham it up even more with it being Christmas. The first zombie encounter Anna and John have is with a zombie dressed as a snowman and there are other festively attired undead. Not only that but there are groups of OAP zombies, a stag doo and a netball troupe. The songs are frequent, well choreographed and typically theatrical. Not everyone's cup of tea I'm sure but I guarantee at least one or two songs will tickle your fancy. My personal favourites are "Human Voice" and "Soldier At War" but there are many others such as "Hollywood Ending" and "Turning My Life Around" that will have seasoned musical fans singing along. I'm sure there are people out there that don't get the appeal of ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE but I am so pleased to have read many positive reviews from people who really didn't think they were going to like it. I was dubious about this myself at first as it does take a little while to get going. I think there are at least 4 quite long bold musical numbers before any real zombie action takes place but the humour and character development is compelling enough to hold interest until the zombies turn up. Since it's release ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE has fast become a lot of zombie fans go to Christmas movie. I count myself amongst these fans and often pop it on when the festive season comes around. I whole heartedly recommend this movie to pretty much anyone, I feel like it's a great introduction for younger potential zombie fans to experience the lighter side of zombies before moving on to others in this great genre. I score ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE 4 brains out of 5.

ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE is now showing on Amazon Prime and is available to purchase on DVD and Blu Ray. Soundtrack and paperback book are also available separately.