Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, 2015.
Directed by Christopher Landon.
Starring David Koechner, Tye Sheridan, Logan Miller, Joey Morgan, Sarah Dumont, Halston Sage. Niki Koss, Lukas Gage, and Cloris Leachman.
SYNOPSIS:
Three scouts, on the eve of their last camp-out, discover the true meaning of friendship when they attempt to save their town from a zombie outbreak.
Teenage boys, right? You know, tits and cock jokes. What about Zombie tits, phwoar, look at them, doesn’t matter they’re zombies, still tits. Lets boom out some in descript chart music, phwoar, you wanna see more tits? We have loads, look at that, it’s a slow motion shot of a stripper running, phwoar.
If you dig for long enough through the misogyny and chauvinism, there’s probably a half-decent film within Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, a film with charm, or maybe even actual, proper jokes. This is the type of film in which jokes descend from a torn zombie penis, or a forlorn musical number between one of our cocky leads and a member of the undead.
Tye Sheridan – so brilliant in Tree of Life and Mud – stars as Ben, a shy, but charming scout alongside his cocky prick for a friend Carter (Logan Miller) and Augie (Joey Morgan). On the eve of their final camp out as scouts, Carter and Ben attempt to ditch Augie and find themselves in the midst of the zombie apocalypse.
There are moments of charm, Tye Sheridan-always impressive-tries his very hardest while Joey Morgan brings a much-needed vulnerability to an underwritten and poorly developed role (it seems his main character traits are his weight and his ginger locks). Action sequences, although often tedious are played with enough tongue in cheek that they never feel truly tired.
As with far too many mainstream comedies, jokes descend only from chauvinism and innate sexism. It’s little more than wank-fodder for teenage boys-women are strippers, nymphomaniacs or something to yearn after. It’s a worrying trend of which Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse stands proud, pointing and laughing at a pair of zombie tits.
To the credit of Sarah Dumont who although being forced into high heels, a tight white tank top and high heels, tries her very hardest to play the hero, all this while being shot in slow motion, focus entirely on her chest. Only Cloris Leachman comes off half decently as yes, a crazy cat lady. With all this talk of gender disparity within the film industry, Scouts Guide to Zombie Apocalypse comes off truly terribly.
There’s a good film within Scouts Guide to Zombie Apocalypse. A film of which jokes aren’t played against women, of which it’s charm over the grotesque, this isn’t that film. Teenage boys will thrive on cock jokes, on endless shots of tits, on a zombie penis being torn off.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Thomas Harris