Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse
Along with vampires and dystopian society movies derived from teens novels, zombies are another trend in the pop culture world. Sure, they have always been around including the classics of the George Romero films or the Underworld series but also now we have the massively popular Walking Dead series dealing with zombies and they are on another level in the current times. As much as any trend, who knows how much longer this will last and they already seem to be on the downside. Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is a strange but positive addition to the zombie genre.
A comedic movie where Ben (Tye Sheridan), Carter (Logan Miller), and Augie (Joey Morgan) are all best friends who have been cub scouts since they were little. Now in high school and following the various high school cliches, Carter and Ben find it not "cool" anymore to be in cub scouts and want to quit. During a camping trip, the scouts encounter a zombie outbreak in their town where their scouting abilities are put to the test.
If you combine every zombie film from the last ten years and every high school comedy you have ever seen, you get Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse.
The horror scenes are such long scenes where pacing is never on point. Even somehow we are all supposed to believe a big bomb is used effectively as it was by the teens in one of the zombie scene. Still, the makeup is on point and film goes the extra mile using some effective close-up shots during those horror scenes. It give us no clear idea as to how this outbreak happens but it does gives us an interesting scene that gives a string of flashbacks from Outbreak from 1995. Really, no plot is ever developed but with something like this, we shouldn't expect it.
These main characters are likable especially Tye Sheridan (the kid is getting big roles in Hollywood for a reason) and chemistry is there between all of them. The movie follows the cliches of the high school films and a guy trying to win somebody over. For a film dealing with scouts, it's raunchier than you might expect and produces some pretty good laughs at times. Basically, if you are a current boy scout, you probably shouldn't be seeing this. This is such a mindless film with such basic elements with a script at times that feels like it could have possibly made by 15-year olds. Where this film rises so high is the idea of the boy scouts. Where have you ever seen boy scouts as main characters and used in a this way like this one that is so out of left field? It's not at all a shining or positive portrayal of the scouts and it is going to be interesting to see if anything transpires from it. Basically, the scouts are depicted as lame and it gives us no reason for us to look at them positively. Even with this negative portrayal of scouts, this is quite interesting to watch. The story basically blasts a large and influential American organization. Even beyond the issue of the scouts, I can see this film possibly having a cultural or cult-like impact. The third act has a costume design change where the main characters are wearing clothes that could be easily Halloween costumes even though the scouts organization must put a stop to that. The tone presented here has a cult vibe and through cell phones and dialogue, it really wants us to showcase the year 2015 which could really be interesting twenty years down the road. I'm very curious where the film will stand in even ten years.The Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is not the best zombie film of the last ten years but is still very respectable. At least, it is one of the most original films of the year. This movie is an edgy and guilty pleasure and a good time for everyone this Halloween weekend .
