Blaine: Happy Holidays from the survivors of the zombie apocalypse!!!
Plot
A Christmas musical about teenagers trying to survive from zombies.
Blaine: It’s the most wonderful time of the year…..except for when zombies eat you up alive. In my “Little Monsters” review I said I was starting to get bored of the zombie genre, but filmmakers find a way to make it attractive again. “Anna and the Apocalypse” is not your normal zombie apocalypse movie. I guess you can do anything with zombies, even put them in a Holiday musical. Although none of the zombies sing or dance, it’s just the humans. “Anna and the Apocalypse” is based on a short film called “Zombie Musical” done by Ryan McHenry. The idea came to him while watching “High School Musical” and he thought there should be zombies involved, so he made “Zombie Musical". During shooting, Ryan was talking with his producer friends, Naysun Alae-Carew and Nicholas Crum about turning the short into a full length feature. Some time later, Ryan McHenry was diagnosed with cancer and then passed away in 2015, which was sad for everyone, including Naysun and Nicholas. Before Ryan passed away, he told Naysun and Nicholas that there should still be a full length feature of “Zombie Musical”. It was emotional for everyone who knew Ryan McHenry, to be working on the project without him because he was a joy to be around, he was funny, creative, had a lot of energy. This project could never have happened without Ryan because it’s based on something he came up with.
When making a musical, you have to work very closely with the people who write the music. Producer Naysun Alae-Carew found a guy to work on the music, Roddy Hart, while he was working on another project and asked if he could write songs for a musical. Roddy was up for it, but he knew he couldn’t do it alone, so he asked his friend, Tommy Reilly, to collaborate with him in writing the songs. Everyone loved and had fun singing the songs Roddy and Tommy wrote because they were so fresh and new. These are songs you’ve never heard of before that have a catchy tune to them. Some of them even have a nice jingle to them. One of the songs is called “I Need a Human Voice”, and they were able to find extraordinary voices for “Anna and the Apocalypse”. Two of the characters Anna and John are singing a song called “It’s a Brand New Day”. Thing is they don’t realize that while they are singing with a positive attitude, zombies are walking amongst them and people are screaming for their lives because they are being attacked. Ya it’s a brad new day……to be eaten alive! “Anna and the Apocalypse” was given a short amount of money for the budget, so they couldn’t afford to do a lot of dance rehearsals. They only could afford to rehearse for just one week and they had to do their best in memorizing the choreography.
The cast was happy to be apart of something that had three different genres (zombie, comedy, musical) combined into one and they all had a good time making “Anna and the Apocalypse”. They also felt moved that the project was to honor the memory of it’s creator, the late Ryan McHenry. “Anna and the Apocalypse was shot in 2016 and then got to premiere at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas in 2017. It didn’t get it’s national release until 2018 because it didn’t have a studio to distribute it. Everyone who worked on “Anna and the Apocalypse” wanted the movie to get out there so that people could see it because this project meant a lot to them.
When she started her career in acting, Ella Hunt was being offered a lot of teenage roles that weren’t so different from each other. Ella wanted to play a character who had more to her than just being a teenager who does average teenage stuff. Then “Anna and the Apocalypse” came Ella’s way after her agent told her about the project and one of the characters, Anna, represented someone who doesn’t think about boys because she is too busy thinking about her dreams. Anna also was someone who is smart, has a heart, brave, can sing and she gets to be in this exciting adventure. That sounded like a dream role for Ella. Anna’s dream is to travel to Australia, instead of attending college, but her father, who is a janitor at the school, won’t allow it because he wants her to have an education. Anna is turning into a Grinch. She’s thinking what good is Christmas if you can’t get the gift you want the most. Anna also wants to be free of her dad if he won’t let her make her own decisions in life.
Normally people are confused of what they are looking at when encountering a zombie for the very first time, but some of the people in “Anna and the Apocalypse" think this is awesome to see zombies exist. One even wants to make a documentary out of it. The characters in the movie are so funny you wish they could all survive. One of Anna’s school friends, Steph, feels unwanted by her parents after they go on a Mexican vacation without her. But that doesn’t mean she is alone in the world, she has her friends and their lives are so perfect either. That doesn’t make them miserable though. They have positive attitudes. What bothers them is not getting something you want most out of life or fulfilling your dream. Sarah Swire, who plays Steph, did more than just act and sing in this movie, she also was the choreographer.
Anna's best friend, John, wants to have a romantic relationship with Anna, but Anna’s not in the mood for something like that right now. John and Anna are close and he is sweet, but she just wants to stay friends for now. Anna has too much on her mind, with trying to travel and explore Australia, then surviving a zombie apocalypse and finding her dad. Another reason is because Anna was used. John never stops loving Anna, even though the two of them never end up together. John gets bitten by a zombie and both he and Anna are trapped. John cares about Anna so much that he’ll sacrifice his life for her’s.
Anna wanted to be free of her dad, but zombies weren’t the answer she was looking for. Anna does care for her father, but a zombie apocalypse makes her realize she can’t live without him. After all he is the only family she has left after her mom passed away. Anna’s mission is to get her father, but by the time she gets to him he is still in one piece, but has been bitten. It crushes Anna that her father is going to die. But Anna’s mission isn’t for nothing. Before Anna’s father turns, the two of them get to share a few moments together as father and daughter and seeing your daughter for one last time is the best gift you can give during the zombie apocalypse. I think Anna is learning what Christmas is all about, which is spending time with your loved ones.
Anna has lost too many loved ones and that makes you think what’s left in the world, or as the final song goes “Where is the Light”. But still there’s the spirit of believing. Zombies are surrounding Anna and her friend, Nick, but then a Christmas miracle happens. Steph shows up with her car, saves Anna and Nick and they drive off. Who knows what fate has in store for them and what will filmmakers think up next for zombies?
My rating on “Anna and the Apocalypse” is five out of five stars.
