DailyView: Day 274, Movie 384

This has been referred to as Shawn of the Dead meets La La Land, but I got a lot more of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s musical episode, Once More with Feeling, vibes during the Christmas zombie musical, Anna and the Apocalypse.

Yes, I said “Christmas zombie musical.”

This is quite the mashup film, with the three genres slammed together. I enjoyed this film and it was more than a straight comedy. There were some great emotional moments for our main characters and all while singing.

With the arrival of a zombie apocalypse in the small town of Little Haven during Christmastime, Anna (Ella Hunt), a brash young woman who had just told her father (Mark Benton) that she was not going to college, but was going to travel, and friends had to struggle to try and survive. While many things were played for comedy, there were distinctive moments of pain and anguish facing our characters, and they all had to deal with the dangers of the new world.

And, of course, do it while singing.

The music was entertaining and fun. Again, some of the songs really had a Buffy the Vampire Slayer flare to them. One of the teachers at the school, Mr. Savage (Paul Kaye) found himself freed by the chaos in the school and became a epic villain in the film. He was not a zombie, just a man who had found that the zombie apocalypse had made him into a worse image of himself. Much like the Walking Dead, the most dangerous villains on that show were the humans, much like Savage.

Like all entries in the zombie genre, there are sad moments when some of our favorite characters are revealed to have been or are shown being bitten. There are a few moments like this in Anna and the Apocalypse and they pull on all the proper heart strings.

And, by the way, they did it while singing.

Have you got that yet?

I thought this was great and gave us the best moments of all of the mishmash of film genres in one. Anna and the Apocalypse was one that was not on my radar and a film I never would have seen without the DailyView, so I am very pleased that this binge has been such a success.