Writers: Ryan Lieske, Matthew O’Day, Ryan Thompson, John Tillotson
Director: Ryan Thompson
Our future is dead
Zombie Horde (aka Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption) is a cross between the zombie and the post-apocalyptic Mad Max style genres. Unfortunately the two don’t blend smoothly; the result is definitely more Mad Max than zombie. Instead of the zombie threat being omnipresent they only turn up when dramatically convenient for set piece scenes.
So what we get is a fairly standard piece about macho men and women in a post-nuclear desert. When the zombies do turn up it feels like they’ve wandered into the wrong film.
There’s also a definite religious subtext. The main character is called John Knox. He gets into an argument with people led by Rome who are having too much fun in an old cathedral. He then joins up with Moses who is leading his people across the land. See what they did there? Apart from the names this theme is never really elaborated on, which is probably a good thing.
Acting varies tremendously. Fred Williamson is pretty good as Moses but Johnny Gel didn’t convince me as Knox. Jerry Lynch as Rome is deliberately going over the top and chewing up scenery, so it’s difficult to judge his acting.
As for atmosphere, there isn’t any. Perhaps even more of a problem is that there doesn’t seem to be any humour either apart from the aforementioned Rome’s comic-book villain.
Zombie Horde is a second rate movie with a generic plot and no individuality. Maybe that’s what you should expect from a film with four credited writers and six producers.