Film Review: ‘Anna and The Apocalypse’ is UnDead on Arrival

CHICAGO – Arriving a few years too late after the great movie mashup craze, “Anna and The Apocalypse” is a zombie Christmas musical. The signature (and only) joke is that teens are dancing and singing amid the blood, guts, and gore spurting in gushers around them. But it’s less a feature film and more akin to a late run episode of “Glee,” when its creators had clearly run out of any ideas.

Rating: 1.5/5.0

The film is set at a high school in Scotland on the eve of the big Christmas pageant, when a plague of the undead descends upon the production. Anna (Ella Hunt) is the daughter of the school janitor and decides she wants to see the world before heading to University. Her best friend John (Malcolm Cumming) is clearly in love with her, while she’s enamored with a thoughtless school bully Nick (Ben Wiggins). There’s also American lesbian transplant Steph (Sarah Swire) doing battle with petty tyrant school principal played by Paul Kaye. It’s fairly simple John Hughes type high school drama here, without any of the fleshed out characters.

“Anna and the Apocalypse” continues its nationwide release in Chicago on December 7th. See local listings for theaters and show times. Featuring Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Ben Wiggins, Sarah Swire and Paul Kaye. Written by Alan McDonald and Ryan McHenry. Directed by John McPhail. Rated “R”