Anna and the Apocalypse Review

Picture from Amazon under the creative commons license

Movie poster for this fun zombie Christmas musical!

Anna and the Apocalypse released in 2017 is a surprisingly good mix of weird. Anna, our main character is having one of the worst Christmases ever; instead of presents for Christmas, she got a full-blown zombie apocalypse. 

Now you may be thinking, “A zombie movie, that takes place during Christmas, that’s crazy!” but that’s not all, my friend. It’s also a musical. 

I know some of you just rolled your eyes far enough back to see your brain, but all these crazy tropes actually work really well together! 

One of my favorite scenes in this movie was when Anna took on a whole bunch of zombies wielding a giant candy cane and singing her way through all of it…like a total boss. Or when Anna and John take out their first zombie with a see-saw. 

But I’m getting too carried away. 

This movie follows high schooler Anna and her best friend John (who is totally in love with her) as they try to survive this new horror that has overtaken their small British town. They manage to pick up fellow high schoolers Steph and Chris, and soon realize people, including some of their parents, are hiding out at the high school. 

In their desperate attempt to find their lost loved ones, they come across Anna’s ex, Nick, and his ragtag team of zombie hunters. Besides Anna’s best efforts, in order to stay alive, the two groups have to stick together. But like in every good horror movie, once something good happens, something tragic must follow. 

With all of the fun and great things happening in this movie, there are always downsides. I really only have two bones to pick with this movie. There was very little backstory on any of the characters, and the ending was very unsatisfactory. 

To make good characters and to show why they are doing certain things, it’s nice to have a little explanation into their backstory. Like for example, how long have John and Anna been friends? How long has John been in love with her? Or, why did Anna and Nick break up? How did they end up together? These questions were never answered. They were hinted at, or if they were talked about they were interrupted by a horde of zombies. We really didn’t get to learn about our characters and why they all connected to Anna and each other. 

The ending also left me wanting more. There was no real closure and made me wonder why they chose certain characters to stay and make it out alive over other ones. 

Now I gotta stop talking before I spoil this whole movie because there are tons of surprises scattered throughout that are far too enjoyable for me to ruin by talking about them. This movie was so much fun to watch, and it had my whole family laughing. 

If you’re sick of scrolling through Netflix or any other streaming service, and you want a fun quick movie to watch, Anna and the Apocalypse is perfect. It will make you laugh, maybe cry, and leave you wondering if every pandemic turns into a zombie one.