Director: John McPhail
Writers: Alan McDonald, Tommy Reilly, Ryan McHenry
Stars: Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Sarah Swire, Mark Benton, Paul Kaye
It’s probably fair to say that Anna and the Apocalypse is the best comedy-horror-musical ever made, with the possible exception of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (a cult favourite which I’ve never been particularly partial to). Admittedly, it’s a limited field, but even so it’s a surprisingly likeable affair which is far, far better than it could have been. Anna Shepherd is a typical sixth form student, head full of dreams about going travelling – something her father disapproves of – and with a gang of close friends, most particularly art-student John, who is in love with her but too afraid to admit it. All her plans, however, are rudely interrupted by the occurrence of a zombie outbreak, which leaves her trapped in a bowling alley while the flesh-eating undead overwhelm the town. Worried about her father, she decides to try and make her way to the school, where he works as a maintenance man and where a handful of other survivors have holed up, awaiting a prospective rescue by the military.
It certainly doesn’t overcome the innate pitfalls of such a project. There is a degree of drama school project about it all, a kind of smug pseudo-Glee-ness which is particularly evident during the occasionally amusing dance routines. Equally problematical is the question of audience: the mixture of musical and horror is done with astuteness but the simple fact is that the songs are liable to be a turn off for horror fans – especially as they’re the kind of bland, noxious compositions that would be more at home in High School Musical – while it’s hard to imagine the surprisingly heavy gore going down all that well with the teenage girl audience. As such, while you can admire and enjoy it as a film, it’s unlikely to become a firm favourite for anyone.
But, hey, I’m a nearly-fifty something bloke and maybe I just don’t get this kind of stuff. There’s certainly a lot to like about it. The jokes hit as much as they miss and are sometimes enjoyably gruesome (I particularly liked the seesaw decapitation and the Shaun of the Dead style dance routine in which the participants fail to notice that a zombie outbreak is going on around them). The performances are particularly good, with all the leads being surprisingly likeable, which isn’t necessarily an easy task with this kind of thing. Paul Kaye has great fun as an officious deputy headmaster, Marli Siu performs an eye-opening, innuendo laden Christmas song; but the real standout is Ella Hunt (of Robot Overlords) as the titular Anna, who makes for a very engaging and expressive lead.
Rating: 6/10
