Looking for a movie we could all enjoy in my family, I ran across one of the most ridiculous descriptions one could imagine:
A zombie apocalypse threatens the sleepy town of Little Haven - at Christmas - forcing Anna and her friends to fight, slash and sing their way to survival...
What could go wrong...other than everything, right?
Turns out that when you put Shawn of the Dead and West Side Story in a blender, set the whole thing in Scotland, cast it with attractive singers, and demonstrate the correct way to kill Zombie Santa and use giant candy canes as weapons you get a silly, exhilarating, very very fun winner!
I will not give too much of the plot away other than to say that, as you might expect, there are zombies. There is blood splatter. Some of your favorite characters will be devoured. There is youthful love and spurned feelings. Some of the zombie chase and fight scenes are reminiscent of the most hilarious scenes from Zombieland, but there are also touching scenes as well, and the cast puts their heart, soul, vocal cords, and backs into each scene.
This movie does all its parts very well. Maybe not perfectly, but very well. The fighting is nice and scary, the songs are nice and catchy, the plot is nice and absurd, the zombies are nice and gross, the set pieces are nice and original. Overall, if you are a comedy or musical fan and can stand a little blood spatter, you will find tons to love in this movie. If you are a comedy and horror fan and can stand a little singing and romance, you also will find tons to love in this movie.
I think it takes a lot of commitment to try to pull off something like this! I mean, there is not a ton of overlap in the fan worlds of zombie movies and musicals. If they half-assed it, it would have been a disaster and perhaps destined for Mystery Science Theater 3000. Instead, you get a little gem of a spectacle that will make for an extremely unlikely holiday classic.
For lovers of, well, almost any kind of movie who don't mind a little gore, I rate this movie 8/10 - run and find this movie as if Zombie Santa was on your heels!
(all images are from the movie, Anna and the Apocalypse)
