A ChucksConnection Film Review

 

Logan Miller wears red high top Converse “Chuck Taylor” All Stars in the film.

 

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

by Jack Hunter

 

Scout Leader Rogers, Augie, Carter, and Ben at a scout recruitment event.

 

Let’s face it, zombies are the new vampires. There’s a figurative zombie apocalypse going on in entertainment as The Walking Dead is one of the most popular shows on TV and zombie movies are more prevalent than ever. As a result of this, adding something new and fresh to the genre is quite the task and Scout’s Guide to The Zombie Apocalypse is not up to it. The film takes the comedy-horror route akin to films like Shaun of The Dead and Zombieland, and seeks to distance itself as the Superbad of zombie films. The attempt is noble, but ultimately falls flat.

Denise helps Ben and Carter buy two six-packs of beer.

 

Denise, Ben, and Carter take refuge in a jail cell from the pursuing zombies.

 

It’s hard to determine whether this is a teen-comedy or a zombie film. Zombies are certainly a huge part of the movie, but seem more like window dressing. The stereotypical genre set ups are all present here. There’s a science experiment gone wrong, an unwitting group of heroes, the obvious victims, and the unrepentant zombie slaughter. Yet thrown into the mix is an attempt at recreating the Superbad humor of high school underclassmen at the cusp of adulthood, who are basically just trying to get laid. Judd Apatow’s classic nailed the humor and awkwardness of that time, and even Project X did a solid job of blowing up the concept to outrageous proportions. Unlike those movies, Scout’s Guide follows the formula to a point, and the humor is really not that funny.

 

Scouts Carter, Ben, and Augie are ready for action against the zombies.

 

One highlight of the film is it’s soundtrack. There a couple of great EDM songs in the film and even a cameo by DJ/producer Dillon Francis both as a member of the living and the undead. Yet a few head bouncing scenes don’t fill in the for the forgettable story as the usual twist and turns of a zombie film take place. There’s even a slight “twist” at the end, but it’s more a stab at one. The pieces are there for a potentially hilarious mix of genres, but they’re simply not well put together.

 

Carter escapes from the zombies down a long tube.

 

Best Chucks Scene

 

Carter and Ben are walking through the woods.

 

Logan Miller in his role as scout Carter Grant wears red high top chucks for the entirety of the film, and splatters plenty of zombie brains in them. They are not the bright red and white classic chucks, but a seasonal version in a darker red color, with dark laces and a black ankle patch, like you see on monochrome black pairs. There are a lot of shots of them, since Carter wears shorts with his uniform. The best sequence with closeup shots is when Carter and Ben are hiking through the woods to meet Augie and Scout Leader Rogers for their camp out.

 

Augie searches in a hole while Carter looks on.

 

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