Film of the Week: Anna and the Apocalypse

What would happen if High School Musical had zombies? The answer is in the form of Anna and the Apocalypse, and the blend of the two genres is seamless. I became instantly intrigued by the notion of two very different genres coming together. How can you make a musical featuring zombies? Up until this moment, I firmly believed the two shouldn’t have been put together, but after watching the film, it certainly bitten me. It’s not a musical about zombies, it’s a musical featuring zombies. The happy world where people spontaneously start singing and music starts from nowhere has now been infected with zombies.

It also cunningly weaves a slight self-awareness and parody of the musical genre, by not entirely taking itself seriously, whilst at the same time dealing with the serious case of an apocalyptic situation, full of loss of loved ones and the ever impending doom of not making it to safety before the zombies get you. One of the main songs stats that there’s no such thing as a Hollywood ending. It’s almost as if it’s not only describing the situation about how the male lead feels at the time, but also describing how the whole film is going to play out from that point onwards, whilst also teasing character’s. A fleeting moment showcasing how it’s perfectly aware of the musical moment that’s happening – when one of the characters tell one of his friends to sit down and not partake in the song.

The next song features the two main characters, Anna and John in a duet, completely oblivious to what’s going on around them, singing how it’s a brand new morning and everything’s perfect in their own worlds. I was literally asking how could they not notice at least one thing that’s going around them – people screaming, people running away, cars crashed into lampposts, people acting strange and walking funny – yet that’s the point. It’s a happy musical world that becomes infected with zombies.

Throughout the film, it’s inevitable that some characters are going to get infected and turn into zombies. Unfortunately, despite the inevitability, I was reacted with genuine audible disappointment when some characters did get infected – they are happy characters from a high school musical.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when going into this film, but what I got was probably better than what I could have imagined, as my version of a musical featuring a zombie apocalypse might have included a zombie singing – and the fact that it doesn’t makes this film better on principle.

Oh, and did I mention, it’s also a Christmas movie. Yep, it’s set around Christmas, and has Christmas songs playing over the credits. So, not only is it not a traditional zombie film, or a standard musical film, but also not the happy go lucky Christmas movie either. Makes it all the more tragic when certain characters get killed off and added fuel to my reaction of disappointment when they were. Of course it’s not exactly the film your entire family can sit around on Christmas day after having a massive roast dinner – but it’s certainly one I recommend watching any other time.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)