Before we get into it I need to make it clear how on board I am with this movie just on paper. A zombie Christmas high school musical had my attention at its premise. So if you’re not sold on just that I don’t know how reliable a source I will be for you.
Given that though, this movie does execute on its premise exceedingly well. The first big sticking point is that the music is good. I liked the songs. Teen Titans Go To the Movies for example was a movie from this year I would have absolutely loved except I think the music kinda sucked. So, that’s a big way the movie could have fucked it up that it avoided.
I also think all the characters are really good and charming, and they work together well. The movie finds the room to give its characters not only their own moments, but moments together. They’re just caricatured enough that you can understand who they are immediately, but they still feel close enough to real people.I cared about them, and that mattered all the more as the movie started knocking them off.
Musical and Horror are genres where sometimes the movies in them seem ashamed to belong to that genre. Anna and the Apocalypse does not shy away on either front. Characters burst into song and dance without any kind of reference or ironic shield. It also doesn’t shy away from that “Apocalypse” in its title. There’s plenty of blood and gore and death to go around.
There are beautifully stupid jokes that I completely love, and there are dramatic moments when characters are stressed about their lives, worried about their loved ones or grieving over their deaths. I love movies that can juggle all these things at once. Those desperate tones elevate each other in my opinion, resulting Grade-A entertainment.
In one of the songs the cast repeats the phrase “No such thing as a Hollywood ending” and the movie sticks true to that idea. As fun and funny it is it’s committed to being a Horror movie.
Also there’s a fish eating rap and a song about fucking Santa. 10/10
Thank You For Your Time.
