Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (Cinema Screening)

(spoiler free)

A million miles away from the more emotional zombie drama, Maggie, earlier in the year, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is a more comical look at the genre. However, with average to negative reviews I feared that Scouts Guide would be an unoriginal and unfunny rehash of all the zombie tropes we’ve seen over and over again.

Despite my worries, I was pleasantly surprised as I had an absolute blast with this film! The premise for the film was amusing from the get go, a group of friends in a Scout group suffering from a lack of members. The scouting element lent itself well to comedy and whether this was in the form of a cheesy scout recruitment video or banter round a campfire this set the tone well before we had most of the zombie action! Being a scout myself I really appreciated a lot of the elements here and it was a clever part of the story as it’s quite apparent that many of the Scout skills are transferable to killing zombies! The group of lads who we follow are characters we’ve seen a million times before. We have the sex pest, the weird one and the natural leader of the group. However, there is a reason that these characters are used so much and it’s because when combined there is so much potential for comedy so the unoriginality with the characters was not a flaw in the slightest. Tye Sheridan, Logan Miller and Joey Morgan are very convincing as best friends Ben, Carter and Augie. The chemistry that these guys have is great fun to feel a part of and they are very likeable as a result. The supporting cast do their part too fulfilling their roles well, most notably was Scout Leader Rogers played by David Koechner.

I’ve touched on the comedy slightly but I have to say that Scouts Guide is quite possibly the funniest film that I’ve seen all year. It really was laugh out loud hilarious and I was surprised at just how much I was appreciating the comedy. The comedy came in the form of characters, moments and the script which was very amusing. It’s just a shame that the film felt like it needed to include a couple of more vulgar moments. For me this cheapened the film and as it was already hilarious it didn’t need these moments, although this just comes down to a matter of taste and some people will find these moments the funniest of the whole film! The film was so inventive too, I thought we’d seen it all in terms of the zombie comedies but Scouts Guide continually impressed me through its creativity. The pace of the film was fantastic too, helped by all of these positive elements. The film also boasts a fantastic soundtrack which fits the vibe of the film perfectly. From the first scene of the movie, where we witness a janitor singing along to a popular chart hit whilst going about his work, I knew I would enjoy this element.

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is the best zombie comedy there’s been since Shaun of the Dead and it’s possible that it could be even more fun! The actors bring to life a wonderfully funny script and with tried and tested characters the chemistry is on point throughout. Constantly inventive and always funny Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse was one of the best times I’ve had at the cinema all year and I know this film will be one that will become a favourite amongst my DVD collection.

Rating – 9/10