'Anna and the Apocalypse' (2017)



My ongoing quest to watch all the zombie movies took an unexpected turn yesterday when I watched 'Anna and the Apocalypse', a zombie movie with a pretty big difference to the zombie films that I'd normally watch. This one's a musical.
To be honest, I'm not all that big on musicals so this one passed me by when it first came out (and 2017 was not a year for making it to the cinema) but a little time spent on Amazon left me intrigued when I saw this movie. Like I said, I'm not a big fan of musicals but I was up for trying something new and I had just been paid so... Here I am to tell you all about it.

A zombie apocalypse threatens the sleepy Scottish town of Little Haven, forcing Anna (Ella Hunt) and her friends to fight, slash and sing their way to survival, facing the undead in a desperate race to reach their loved ones. But they soon discover that no one is safe in this new world, and with civilisation falling apart around them, the only people they can truly rely on are each other.

Before I watched 'Anna and the Apocalypse', I wasn't sure if zombies and musicals were two things that would go together. Having sat through the movie, I think it could work but 'Anna and the Apocalypse' doesn't, not quite. I mean, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed watching it as a zombie movie. It has everything that you'd want with people being caught out by the undead and having to make hard choices. There's an evil villain and a suitably bleak ending where you know that things aren't going to get any better. That's what zombie movies are all about and 'Anna and the Apocalypse' is all about that. I also loved the way that the movie really didn't play any favourites with the cast, people were getting eaten left, right and centre regardless of importance and that is what the zombie apocalypse is all about as well. The film is ultimately about teenagers having to make sense of the adult world and their place in it, even when that world is going to hell. On that level, 'Anna and the Apocalypse' works really well and I watched it the whole way through (and it's not often these days that a film works like that for me).

What didn't work for me though were the songs which didn't quite gel with the bleakness in the rest of the movie. I think that was probably the point of it so not the films fault then, more me for not getting it (although I laughed out loud at the song sung during the Christmas show, that was brilliant). It didn't quite work for me then but it may do for you if you like your musicals.

I reckon a second watch might make all the difference but 'Anna and the Apocalypse' didn't quite do it this time round. It's a perfectly serviceable zombie movie but not a great musical, not for me anyway.

Comments

  1. Nis28 June 2020 at 19:47

    One to avoid then for me! Not particularly big on musicals as it is

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Graeme28 June 2020 at 23:06

      Fast forward the songs and you've got a half decent zombie movie... ;o)

      Delete

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