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As the title might have implied, Apocalyse Z is based on series of books centering around a zombie apocalypse. The series now gets the theatrical treatment, but it seems like this type of material would be better suited for a video game. This isn’t meant so much to slam the story, which is sufficent for this horror sub-genre, but to highlight where the real strengths lie. It’s not in the central character’s struggles with grief and finding something to live for, playing like a lesser iteration of The Last of Us. No, the real appeal is for the tense action sequences staged with grand scale and violence. There might be some draw for the protagonist trying to save his cat (FYI, the cat survives).
Another reason this might’ve made a better video game is that the hero is not all that compelling. Manel (Francisco Ortiz) just sort of goes through the motions of this type of film. The loss of his wife in a car accident makes him more isolated, generating indifference to Spain’s slowly-developing zombie virus outbreak. That said, when it comes time to evacuate, he still goes through the motions of packing up his cat and traveling to his sister. But when the zombie outbreak spreads quickly, he adopts the survivor template quickly. He runs from the fast flesh munchers and narrowly avoids the government trying to cleanse the area. He fights off the attackers and barricades himself in his home, trying to keep his cat safe as he struggles to get back to his family.
From there, the film pretty much writes itself. Manel searches for supplies and comes across people who have given up hope, killing themselves before the zombies get a chance. Makeshift armor and weapons are crafted as Manel navigates through hordes of the undead. Terrorists take advantage of the chaos and become the new mob of this zombie world. Innocent people hiding in a hospital will have to depart fast when the gun-toting mob comes knocking. Desparate phone calls are made as Manel makes a fruitless attempt to reconnect with his family to see if they’re still alive. This isn’t so much growth as it is a series of scenarios for zombies to be obliterated and humans to be brutalized.
On that level of action, however, the film functions fine. The many action scenes are not all that clever and will likely make one recall a host of better zombie movies and video games. But they get the job done of building up the intensity and making the rise of the zombies have a sense of urgency. There might’ve been a better story to tell if Manel’s grief and desire to survive manifested in more than just a series of flashbacks. The drama as it’s presented feels more like the obligatory narrative lattice to thread a video game, where the player is eager to skip that tragic cutscene to play the exciting sequence of escpaing in a helicopter.
Apocalypse Z delivers the expected zombie action, but not much else in terms of human drama or undead kills. It’s not gory enough to be a blood-soaked bonanza, nor is it well-written enough to care about the characters beyond all the familiar tropes. There’s a Goldilocks Zone the film reaches with these balancing elements that make it more mindless than what was probably the intent. The film’s ending leaves plenty of room for a sequel as the zombie threat expands. What will follow in the next film? It will most likely be more attacks from zombies and gun-wielding mobs. Hopefully, the cat still survives.
