Anna and the Apocalypse (2018) Review

"Withdraw your tongues!"
-Arthur Savage



As Christmas approaches, plenty of school drama is unfolding in the town of Little Haven and the students express themselves via song, but everything is interrupted by a zombie outbreak.  Now Anna Shepherd (Ella Hunt) and her classmates have to fight and sing for their lives if they want to make it to Christmas.


What Works:

I can say, without a doubt, that Anna and the Apocalypse is the best zombie-Christmas-musical movie that I've ever seen.  If this type of movie sounds appealing to you, I don't think you'll be disappointed.  This movie is legitimately a blast.  The musical numbers are pretty fantastic.  They start out similar to High School Musical, but as the story gets more violent, the songs get a little more bonkers.  My favorite is reminiscent of the opening of Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead with zombie chaos unfolding throughout a neighborhood, but our hero, Anna, is completely oblivious as she sings and dances her way down the street.  There's also a penguin rap, which is one of the greatest things I have ever seen.

The film also has some solid gore.  It never gets to Saw levels of insanity, but we get a few gruesome deaths and some fantastic zombie kills with my favorite involving bowling balls.  The violence is over-the-top and matches the musical absurdity of the rest of the film.

The characters are also really likable.  Anna is extremely competent and very easy to root for and her classmates are great as well.  Malcolm Cumming plays Anna's best friend and is incredibly likable and Sarah Swire is amazing in the musical numbers.  Paul Kaye plays the school headmaster, Arthur Savage, and is a fantastic villain.  He's constantly chewing the scenery and has a great screen presence.

Finally, Anna and the Apocalypse isn't afraid to get emotional on us.  I kinda figured the film would be pretty light the whole time and I wasn't expecting to see any of our main cast get killed, but the film throws a couple of gut punches at you.  They caught me off-guard, but they had an impact and the movie manages to balance the tone between the emotional moments and the goofy fun well.


What Sucks:

I will say, not all of the humor works.  This is a Scottish film and it's possible some of the jokes I thought didn't work play better across the pond.  I can't say for sure, but there were definitely some that fell flat for me and for the rest of the people in my theater.

Finally, there is the character of Nick (Ben Wiggins).  Nick is a mostly underdeveloped character who is the arrogant class bully.  Nick is really unlikable and just sucks.  They try to develop him a bit near the end of the film, but it feels forced.  None of this would be a problem if it wasn't for the final outcome regarding this character.  It doesn't work and is pretty unsatisfying.


Verdict:

Anna and the Apocalypse is a movie with a bonkers concept that it executes very well.  It's an absolute blast to watch with great musical numbers, fun characters, emotional moments, and solid gore.  Not all of the humor works and the character of Nick brings the finale of the movie down a bit, but this movie has absolutely got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good     

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