ZombieCON Vol. 1 (2024)


REVIEWER RATING: 
3/10

DIRECTOR:

CAST:


Zombiecon Vol 1 is a 110-minute horror comedy about a group of COS players who encounter a real-life zombie apocalypse stemmed from a laden curse placed upon them from a homeless guy on the streets of Los Angeles. The team, “Rocket’s Rockets” are devoted to spending their potentially last night on earth, battling through the undead in order to save Rocket’s clueless but loving mom. So, what could possibly go wrong?

For starters, this is 110 minutes. That’s 1 hour and 50 minutes of low budget, dragged out scenes surmounting to nothing more than frustration. And not for the characters. That is MY frustration I’m talking about! What else? This is a horror comedy, and I’m still struggling to find one moment that had me chuckle, let alone laugh out loud.  

The incessant campiness in this cheese fest of an indie horror flick showcased some promise in the opening sequence of Rocket’s voice over narrative, describing COS players’ way of life: We are the freaks, the geeks, the nerds. Every day is Halloween. We bring characters to life and rock it with pride. We are ugly, sexy and feel heroic in our costumes. However, these soon become a badge of self-described uniforms with invisible protection against the ghoulish walkers who imploded in their city.  

No longer are they untouchable. And the laughs are still unseen. The lack of complexity which tries hard to be noticeable through self-exploration of their own narcissism and asshole ways is a burden to watch. Even when Rocket’s rockets find themselves bullied, beaten down and feeling low, there is still a lack of empathy for a group of misfits who continue to grate under my skin with their self-absorbed lunacy.  

Upon the very first attack, I’m forced to watch these outcasts pull plastic prop weapons to defeat these savages in all seriousness for several minutes before one smartens up and grabs a knife. And a sword. Still not funny. However, the background tune (sounding like a blend of Fountains for Wayne meets Blink-182) was appreciated.  

But the sacrificial absurdity of the skirmished ending is objectionable. There are now good “bad guys” and very bad “bad guys”. Which are all circumstantial of this curse that the plot readily hides behind to avoid any reasoning. And…still no hilarity in sight. That makes me sad.

OVERALL: 
This well-intended storyline could have easily been rectified had the filmmakers revisited their own title: Zombiecon. CON. Why doesn’t any of this take place during the actual con??? An implication of having a full-on monster attack at the place of importance – a Horror Convention – is exactly what a quicky and jovial horror comedy should be with this title. Confine the guests into a hall with limited escape. Define the performances based on levels of selfish vs selfless traits against rival gangs and expo judges. This just missed the mark completely and unfortunately, there’s no going back to try and unsee this messy con-com.


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