THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

In the peaceful town of Little Haven, gearing up for the festivities of Christmas, a deadly Zombie outbreak is about to unfold and change the face of civilisation forever. It's up to Anna and her school friends to fight, slash and - curiously - sing their way to survival as the undead menace closes around them. As they learn that nowhere and no one is truly safe in this new world, the only people they can fully trust, is each other.

MY VERDICT:

First of all, this movie is a musical - yes, you read that right, a musical set in a Zombie apocalypse. This may put some people off straight away but even if you don't really enjoy this genre, you'll still find things too enjoy in this very unusual, very Christmas-themed movie. Overall, I think, the producers of the movie got the balance of light-hearted musical to dark-hearted Zombie apocalypse just right - not swaying too far in either direction. The first thing you'll notice is the acting which is surprisingly good for a cast mostly formed of children and young adults. Next, when the Zombies do eventually appear - and unfortunately, they do take a while to shuffle into the narrative - the "look" of the undead freaks is disturbingly high-quality, the movie not being afraid to splash some gore and other icky bits around. They aren't the mostly friendly, unthreatening dead people you might be expecting either - provided, simply, for some comic fun. While the Zombies are clearly held back from main characters until set points, almost everyone in this film dies by the end; maintaining the true sense of dread a classic Zombie film requires. That said, there are some clear-cut negatives holding the film back. Firstly, due to the nature of a film where the scenes keep moving forward and the many characters required to generate a realistic apocalyptic feel, the space going from fun-loving music to everyday survival in a harsh environment can be slightly jarring. Also the movie does lack much action or hand-in-your-mouth tense fight sections which may disappoint diehard Zombie fans; it can often feel like humour and a dismissive approach to the apocalypse is the main focus. So, while this movie won't appeal to everyone, I would definitely give it a go.