How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2017 film Anna and the Apocalypse.
Story
I have a massive soft spot for musicals and I’m not a huge fan of zombie movies, so this was interesting. The story itself is cookie cutter zombie genre with nothing new to add other than the music.
Score: 0
Characters
The final girl, the best friend, the overbearing dad, the bad boy, the lesbian, the smoochie couple, and the maniacal . It’s a buffet of zombie, YA, and horror tropes.
They might be tropes, but the actors and writers did a great job and managed to balance the psychological horror of zombie with the almost sillness of a musical.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
Vacillating from corny to deep and touching, the dialogue does a great job in understanding the characters. There’s more than a few good quips too.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
The cinematography in general was okay, the choreography was acceptable, and the gore was well done. My favourite scene happens when the main character doesn’t know there’s been a full apocalypse and is dancing and singing on her way to school with total carnage happening behind her.
The music is excellent and I’ll be humming, “Hollywood Ending” for a long time. Great harmonies, fun numbers, and they work both for a zombie movie or just a high school movie.
Score: 1
Fun
I loved the music, the characters were great, and I enjoyed the movie, but there’s a nihilism to zombie films that just isn’t fun. Nailing the ending to have a little hope but still be dour is hard. There was no hope left in this one.
Score: 0.5
Overall
A fun film with some excellent musical numbers and great acting, but in the end it’s just another zombie movie with nothing new to add.
Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5
