Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

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.

Director: Christopher Landon

Writers: Carrie Lee Wilson (screenplay) (as Carrie Evans) , Emi Mochizuki (screenplay), 2 more credits »

Stars: Tye Sheridan, Logan Miller, Joey Morgan | See full cast and crew » 

 

 

 

Storyline

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.

 

User Reviews

 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.

When treated as a B-movie in the zombie sub-genre there is a lot of fun to be had with Scouts Guide. Are the jokes juvenile? Are their utter lapses in zombie logic? Is their ridiculous acting? Yes to all, but if you go in expecting these things you're in for a hell of a good laugh and at times deeply satirical take on the zombie-genre.

Tye Sheridan has proved himself to be one of the most talented up and coming actors of his age, with heavy hitting performances in 'Mud' and 'Joe'. Why shouldn't he be able to do a fun b-movie if he wants, he doesn't have to spend his youthful years diving from one emotional complexity to the next, of course he is terrific in these roles but it should also be encouraged for him to change it up. He is undoubtedly one of best parts of this film and is a relatable protagonist throughout the story. His co-stars include the at times annoying 'Logan Miller' doing his best Jonah hill in Superbad impression, and the amusing Joey Morgan who has some of the funniest moments of the film. Sarah Dumont is the stereotypical 'hot girl who is good with a gun' which is quite frustrating as many movies these days lean to the trope of a female character who can shoot a gun is somehow a strong female role.

The visual comedy is boundless and has a surprising amount of unpredictability, scenes have a way of subverting zombie tropes by bizarre occurrences that make them quite hilarious to watch. Also the zombie kills themselves are outrageous, owing inspiration from the likes of Peter Jacksons 'Braindead'. The gore as with a number of satirical horror flicks is excessive to say the least and many of the zombie kills are inventive and at times utterly outrageous.

This film meets its struggle on an emotional level, the friendship subplot is a disappointing disconnect from the film as a whole, the poor script makes it impossible to latch on to this conceived friendship on any level, which makes the film proposed emotional core fall flat. Also on many levels this film aims for the success of Edgar Wrights 'Shaun of the Dead' and fails to achieve any of it, mostly because Edgar Wrights film is much more intricate in nature because of the direction, script, characters and comedy.

However, judge this film on what it is, an absurd and quite outrageous satirical take on the zombie sub-genre and you might just have a fun time with it, I know I did. I am going to give Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse a 7/10.