- Directed by John McPhail
- Written by Alan McDonald, Ryan McHenry
- Stars Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Sarah Swire
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 33 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfWIfwKJ7vA
Spoiler-Free Judgement Zone
If you didn’t realize this was a musical, well, you’ve been spoiled. But it is. It’s not exactly what you’d call scary, but it has all the usual zombie movie tropes and a lot of songs. We both enjoyed it, which is surprising for a musical.
Synopsis
The CDC announces over the radio that the pathogen that was predicted to be a major plague wreaking havoc across the globe has mutated into— then they switch it to Christmas music instead. Anna and John have to work tonight, so they can’t do anything with her dad. She wants to go to Australia instead of university, and her father does not approve.
Anna, John, and Steph then sing about being a high school student and common troubles of that age group, “sooner or later, we all have to break away.” During the song, we also meet Lisa, Nick, and Chris.
Mr. Savage is planning to become the new principal. He’s also organizing the school musical. Anna hears zombie-noises from behind her, but it’s just another student who has asthma. They all go to lunch, which brings about a song that whines, “there’s no such thing as a Hollywood ending.”
Steph gets locked out of her car and complains that she’s got no one to help. Anna walks past a guy who, this time, is clearly a zombie.
That night, it’s time for the Christmas musical. It’s definitely not like the musicals they had at the school I went to, that’s for sure.
The next morning, Anna walks and sings on the way to school. There’s a zombie calamity going on behind her at every step, but she’s too busy singing with her earbuds in to notice. She meets up with John, who’s coincidentally singing the same song. They finish the song and run into a zombie in a snowman costume. “Anna, that guy’s a zombie,” says John as the man’s decapitated head growls at them.” Then they notice the explosions and sirens in the background.
They meet up with Chris and Steph and watch the news on the Internet, which isn’t good; this thing is worldwide. They hide out in the bowling alley. They speculate on whether various celebrities are alive or zombies. Zombies finally break in, and they do battle.
Meanwhile, Anna’s father, Mr. Savage, and Lisa are trapped inside the school. The phones, even the Internet, go out, which is worthy of a song.
The next morning, all the soldiers are zombies now too. Anna and John still want to get to the school to rescue their friends. Nick joins them; he’s been looting supplies and killing the undead. Nick wants to fight back; he sings his hero song. They decide to take a shortcut through the Christmas Tree Emporium. John gets bit and sacrifices himself to save Anna.
They arrive at the school, where Savage locks them in a room with the teachers, who are all zombies now. This betrayal is, of course, worthy of song. They find Lisa, but Chris’s grandmother is dead. Anna goes off to find her father, and the others make an attempt to find Steph’s car keys. That goes badly, and both Lisa and Chris are bitten.
Anna finds Savage again, but this time, he has her father as a prisoner. It’s time for Anna’s big zombie-killing song. This goes badly for Mr. Savage. Unfortunately, Anna’s dad has been bitten.
It’s looking pretty bleak as Anna sings with Nick about losing hope while we see a death montage as we revisit those who have been bitten. They’re both cornered, and it looks like the end. Steph shows up in her car, and Anna and Nick drive away with her.
Commentary
We never actually see anyone turn into a zombie. The gore is more on the comical side than scary stuff, but there’s a lot of blood here.
OK, there’s also “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” but I don’t see a lot of similarities here. There just aren’t a lot of horror movie musicals out there, so there’s not much to compare it to other than that one episode of “Buffy.” It’s like someone watched that episode back in the day and said, “What if this was a full-length movie in about eighteen years?”
It’s fun; there’s a lot of songs, which are actually pretty good, and there’s a lot of humor, which is absolutely necessary for something like this. There’s plenty of the usual teen angst, but in a musical, it all kinda works.