It’s a six-film marathon of zombie and infected flicks that are a mixture of intense, dramatic, somber, comedic, and action-packed. Let’s find out which ones worked for me.
ZOMBIE APACHE (2025)
This 76-minute indie takes a fun approach to the zombie genre, with some charming performances by the cast. The one thing it’s missing is bulk. It feels like the movie just moves along with little moments rather than any meaty components to carry the weight of any action. It’s like horror comedy lite.
The new sheriff in a small town is adorable, and he’s faced with a major dilemma when a rich family’s plans to build big on a Viking burial ground unleashes a trio of zombie Vikings!
I was reminded of the 80s fave Neon Maniacs as these armored baddies start to go around town hacking off heads here and there. Problem is, they just don’t do it enough, and before long, their ominous presence turns goofy.
See, the leader of their pack plays a primitive woodwind instrument that temporarily possesses living humans. At first it seems like the plot is going to be that the possessed humans become killer zombies, but that doesn’t pan out.
Before long, the possessed people are just doing silly things like dancing wildly. And this is where the bottom falls out of this movie. There’s no fear of the baddies. Not enough kills, panic, chases, or confrontations. The humor is quaint and subtle, but the overall tone lacks excitement, and the final fight is as lackluster and goofy as the rest of the movie.
URBAN FLESH EATERS (2025)
Holy crap, this movie is produced by Rob Base of “It Takes Two” fame. And it’s a blast as far as indie zombie flicks with a splash of comedy go.
In fact, the cast is pretty damn great, with very distinct characters that each have their own special style of humor. Not to mention, the main guy is a hunk who even delivers a nip slip.
The plot is simple and satisfying—residents of an apartment building discover that something in the water is turning people into zombies.
Trying to survive the outbreak that is unleashed inside the building are a mother and her teen son and daughter, the mother’s neighbor/friend, the hot hunk, a religious nut, a gay dude, a funny white super who kind of thinks he’s Black, and several others.
The bland apartment building setting creates an unsettling tone, the zombies look pretty savage, and there are some tense scenes, especially since the survivors discover the zombies can only hear, not see, so you can quietly sneak past them. Eek! Reminded me of the nurses from Silent Hill.
Some highlights include a pussy-eating zombie moment, the gay guy hiding behind the hunk for protection, and the banter and bickering between neighbors once they realize they are dealing with zombies.
In the end, the goal of those that don’t die is simple…get to the roof to be rescued. There’s only one problem. The stairs are filled with zombies. Awesome.
ZOMBIOLOGY: ENJOY YOURSELF TONIGHT (2017)
This Cantonese film is both as odd as an Asian horror flick can be and pretty damn boring at the same time. Maybe it’s a better movie for fans of anime, because it seems to be indulging in that fandom.
The very first scene shows a security guard encountering the live costume version of an anime character in an alley. It shoots some sort of bubble from its mouth that enters the guard and turns him into a zombie.
Then we meet our main characters, a dude and his best friend, total anime nerds who dream of saving the world one day. The dude lives with his aunt when his estranged father, who was just released from prison, shows up, and pretty soon they’re all on the run and hiding from a zombie outbreak.
Problem is, they spend most of their time in hiding rather than actually fighting zombies. The best moment is their first zombie confrontation—a child zombie at a birthday party that they kick across the room. It’s also the funniest moment in what I think is supposed to be a horror comedy but which is way too low energy to be very humorous.
There’s way too much downtime as the characters deal with their feelings. There’s also some underdeveloped plot element about these big eggs that make people’s heads explode, leaving behind just a skull. I have no idea what it all meant, and the film doesn’t explain it.
It’s not until an hour and 26 minutes in that the wannabe heroes finally have an entertaining splatter battle with a bunch of zombies.
It’s short-lived, however, and right after that, the main guy encounters the anime character. There’s a “deep” conversation between them, and then…the final boss battle is an animated sequence. Ugh. I did not get what this movie was going for at all.
GANGNAM ZOMBIE (2023)
Running only 81 minutes long, this Korean zombie film has a simple premise but delivers big time on the nonstop action. My only real complaint is that it pulls the annoying stunt of opening with a hi-nrg sequence that doesn’t happen until much later in the movie before bringing us back to “24 hours ago”, which means we know right away which characters aren’t in any fatal danger for most of the movie.
An interesting way to start a zombie superspreader plot, the movie begins with a thief getting attacked by a cat and then turning into a zombie. He becomes the “main zombie” chasing our leads for the rest of the film.
The leads are a really cute guy and a young woman who work in an office building. After some introductions to the main characters, the cat zombie guy shows up at the office, and before long there’s a whole load of zombies terrorizing everyone in the building. The zombies have black eyes and lots of blood around their mouths, and eventually some of them grow some major fangs.
These are fast, smart zombies. They fight back and dodge bats swung at them and shit like that, so there are plenty of melee battle scenes. There is also a good sense of humor sprinkled throughout the film, so it runs at a satisfying, fast clip, making it a nice quickie if you just need an infected fix.
Also of note is that the film takes place during both COVID and Christmas, although neither aspect plays into the events that unfold.
UNCONTAINED (2025)
The first thing I must say about this movie is that the isolated, rural, snowy setting is stunning, perfectly captures the cold atmosphere, and will chill you to the bone just from watching it, making this a good winter watch.
The writer/director is also the star of the movie, but this in no way feels like a vanity project. Instead, it’s a pretty damn engrossing and intriguing take on an outbreak of infected people, with some great and emotional character development that gives it somewhat of a slow burn until the major unique aspect of the plot kicks in.
We meet a young boy and girl all by themselves in a cozy country house in the middle of the woods. There are creepy hints of infected people roaming around outside to let us know what’s going on here.
The children eventually allow a drifter into their home, which leads to a nice bond growing between them.
Eventually, other characters begin arriving at the house to cause trouble and complicate matters more than any infected people ever do in this film.
One character in particular is significant to revealing what’s really going on in the world that has landed them in this predicament, and this is where the story shows its strength and rises above the usual plot of being trapped inside while zombies roam around outside.
The mood becomes quite melancholy and rather tragic, and we become very invested in the characters, including the dog, who is essential to surviving the outbreak. This is not a cheap thrills kind of infected flick at all, and yet my usually non-existent attention span was present and undivided.
FORGIVE US ALL (2025)
This one has the same kind of tone as Uncontained. This time, there’s a woman and an older man surviving in a cabin in the woods after there has been some sort of unexplained, hostile takeover by the government…I think. Nothing is ever really explained, and there’s the usual “artistic” time jumping narrative (sigh), but the main plot is that people have turned into cannibalistic crazies.
Don’t expect much in the way of these cannibals until the final act of the film. Most of the movie focuses on the woman coping with what happened to her husband and daughter—specifically in two flashback scenes that are horror goodness and show us the infected in action.
The woman ends up rescuing a wounded man from the woods. Her older male roommate isn’t happy about it, because he fears it will lead “agents” to them. These agents look like cowboys, and they do eventually come looking for the wounded man.
The film really doesn’t clear up much of the story, but in the final act, the woman and the wounded man head into the woods to escape the agents. This is when we discover that the cannibals only seem to come out at night.
Their coming out is intense and the highlight of the whole movie. I wish there had been more of these freaky encounters creating challenges for the main characters throughout the course of the film, because the cowboy agents were not all that intimidating.
