Leofwine_draca
SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (where's the apostrophe?) is an annoyingly childish zombie comedy that seems content to riff on what's come previously rather than offering anything witty or insightful. When I compare this film to genuine classics like RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD then I sometimes wonder if cinema's going backwards. Not that I enjoyed ZOMBIELAND when it came out last decade, but SCOUTS GUIDE is infinitely worse. A group of the dumbest and most unappealing protagonists ever go around making tired gags while a zombie apocalypse plays out around them. The emphasis is on the obvious and the gross-out, neither of which hold appeal for me. The FX are achieved via cheap CGI and not particularly believable, while all of the twists and set-pieces are overly familiar. A couple of riffs on the likes of DIE HARD etc. made little sense to me, and overall I felt like I was simply too old to enjoy this one.
thomasjay-52277
As the title probably suggests this is by no means a cinematic masterpiece or what it potentially could've been but regardless the unusual concept of pitting off innocence and evil against each other is quite welcoming and fun as we see three scouts 'corrupted' by the unfolding apocalypse. As I've previously said no classic in the making but certainly a brisk laugh that's very light hearted a good rainy day watch
sol-
Exactly what you would expect from a film with such a title, the plot of this horror comedy has three scouts warding off a zombie plague using their wilderness survival skills. Some of their ingenuity is remarkable and the trio has good chemistry together, as well as with co-star Sarah Dumont who joins forces with them for a brief spell. The film does not quite milk the premise for all its potential; there are far more scenes of the characters discussing friendships, crushes and social awkwardness than there are scenes of them warding off the zombies, and the film misses the opportunity for more laughs by making the testing of friendships theme so prominent and spelled out. That said, when the film is funny, it is very, very funny - and daringly outrageous too. Throughout the course of the film we see a zombie going down on a girl with her legs spread open, a certain part of male zombie's anatomy ripped off, a zombie deer going insane, and in an especially dark comedic touch, the top of a broken beer bottle providing a funnel of blood from a zombie's forehead. Cloris Leachman also turns up (briefly) as a cantankerous neighbour, but Blake Anderson has the most memorable cameo as a janitor in the opening scene with headphones on full blast. Speaking of which, the film has very nifty pop song soundtrack and there are a couple of very funny, twisted moments involving songs from Dolly Parton and Britney Spears. In an era of countless zombie movie variants, this film stacks up pretty well even if it could have done more with the premise.
