Movie Review: Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

I knew the Boy Scouts taught you to be prepared, but even for a zombie outbreak? In October 2015, I found a whole new respect for the scouts.

Directing this 93 minute comedy/horror is Christopher Landon.

Some of the cast is: Tye Sheridan as Ben, Logan Miller as Carter, Joey Morgan as Augie, Sarah Dumont as Denise, David Koechner as Scout Leader Rogers and Cloris Leachman as Miss Fielder.

Ben, Carter and Augie are highschool sophomores getting ready for their last Boy Scout camp out. Unfortunately, Carter and Ben have been invited to the big Seniors party that same night. Carter thinks they can do both and talks Ben into going. As Carter and Ben are leaving the camp out, Augie
realizes they're ditching the camp out to go be "cool", which makes him question their friendship. The night quickly takes a turn for the worse when the town is over run with a zombie outbreak. Now, the scouts have to find a way to patch up their friendship and work together if they want to survive the night.

There are some movies you watch because you hear great things about them. Some because (as a fan) you've been waiting for it to come out, while there are a few flicks you watch just because of the title, this... was one of those movies. Once the title caught my eye I knew I had to see what the deal was with this flick. Yeah, from the title I pretty much knew what I was getting into, but was it going to be "cheesy" good or B grade bad? Now, over time I've come to collect many unanswered questions in my life. Like why is the sky blue, is there anyone out there that can sneeze with their eyes open, and why does Megan Fox keep getting acting jobs? Seriously, if anyone can answer that last question I would deeply appreciate it! Back to point, I have enough unanswered questions, so why let one I could answer escape my grasp. So, I began my journey to find the answer... how bad was this movie? 

Writers Lona Williams (story), Carrie Lee Wilson, Christopher Landon and Emi Mochizuki (screenplay) took me on an unexpectedly fun journey that turned out not to be B grade bad at all. Instead, the story they came up with had a lot of humor (some low brow and gross) that kept me laughing throughout the film. They even managed to throw some coming of age angles into it as the boys deal with popularity and friendship issues while fighting for their lives during the zombie throw down.

The playthrough was good and held my attention the entire time. The opening scene catches you and you're pretty much hooked from there on. The story follows four individuals running for their lives and trying not to join the ever growing zombie hoard. It's filled with sight gags, dark humor and (what every good zombie flick needs) some gory moments. Now, a lot of the jokes tend to be low brow or crude sexual references/gags. So, don't expect anything going on in this movie to challenge your IQ. The main stars are three kids in high school. Keeping that in mind, try to remember what was "important" to you back then and fill that memory with zombie and you've got the gist of this flick. Now, if you were the perfect student that only worried about your grades... then I guess watch the movie and see how the other half lived?
                                                                 

The effects looked good, but some of the CGI moments didn't mix well with the film. It was kind of weird because some moments of CGI fit in great and made for some great scenes but then came a scene that would stand out really bad. Otherwise, the zombie make-up looked good and they did a great job on Koechner's character as the movie went along, thanks to Alterian, Inc. who also did the animatronic work. 

I liked the cast and thought they did pretty good. Logan Miller's character, Carter, quickly became my favorite. Amongst all the chaos going on around them Carter was still more concerned with the less important things concerning the situation they were in. I think the reason I liked Miller's character is we've all had (or have) "that" friend in our lives that when you're trapped in a burning building they are more worried about not making it to the party, or think that moment is a great time for a photo opt. Yeah, you know that friend is a pain in the ass, but still always there when you need them. As for Sheridan's character, I can't say his performance was bad necessarily, but it just didn't win me over for being a main star character.  It was awesome to see Cloris Leachman in the flick. Leachman seems to pick some odd and fun roles as she continues her career, and so far I've loved every spot she's popped into. 

Overall, if you're looking for a funny zombie flick that's a bit lighter than your typical rotting corpse filled films with some gore mixed in, then here you go. Just don't take it serious and you'll have a good time. 

It's rated R for language, violence and nudity.

4 stars


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