Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires

The fourth installment of Zombies confirms what many suspected: the franchise is starting to show signs of exhaustion. The story feels repetitive, the resources seem limited, and the increasingly tight budget is evident in every frame. Still, against all odds, it's not a total disaster. There are fun moments, and it maintains the upbeat spirit that made it a hit with younger audiences.

Narratively, the film once again emphasizes unity over hate and prejudice - a metaphor we've already seen throughout the series, but one that still holds value. This time, vampires and so-called daywalkers are caught in conflict, with Zed and Addison trying to bring them together, following the same structure used with zombies, werewolves, and aliens in previous entries.

Visually, it's as colorful and sugary as ever, with cheerful musical numbers that do the job but no longer surprise. The chemistry between the leads still carries much of the story, while the new characters try to bring freshness without fully succeeding.

Perhaps the most redeeming aspect is its message: reinforcing the idea that unity, empathy, and diversity are stronger than division. It may sound naïve, but in today's world it's not such a bad thing for a teen movie to underline something so basic and necessary.

Zombies 4 won't go down in history as great family cinema nor does it extend the saga's magic much further, but for its target audience - especially those who've followed it from the beginning - it still has a certain charm. And if it gets new generations singing, dancing, and talking about accepting differences, maybe it fulfills its purpose better than it seems.

Wow. What a tragedy. From the cringing rapping. To the entire thing being filmed next to one tacky eiffel tower looking thing Disney actually released this? Like Adults watched this and said - ya, good enough.... content volume over content quality. The makeup bad. The vampire spin bad. The budget must have been low. I dont think this can be saved. The whole 'pass the torch - except everyongh watching this is hoping the torch goes out. Maybe disney will somehow reset but like - there isnt a way based on this movie to use the two new main characters as a base - they were not good. And it doesnt make sense.

Movie critic aside, it's hard to pay attention to the movie because most of it is so dark. The lighting is so poor there are chunks of the movie where you can't tell what is happening.

Aside from that it's true to the franchise. The story and music are adequate to its brand.

Loved the message of unity and working together. It's Disney, and for that we were not disappointed.

Our true issue was with the lighting. Couldn't see scenes properly. It's frustrating.

Loved the new talent that Disney tapped for this film. Love that they find new people and give them a chance. Cast is diverse, just wished they were not all 25 year olds playing at 18 year olds. LOL!

I have liked the past three Disney Channel movies Zombies (2018), Zombies 2 (2020), and the one from three years ago Zombies 3 (2022); I know these are essentially for kids, but I find them entertaining to watch along with there being good songs, like all four of Disney Channel's Descendants movies, so I'm going to be interested in a fourth installment in the Zombies series especially since it looks like the last movie in the series. Disney Channel's Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires (2025) was like the other three movies in the series with there being good performances from the leads, entertaining over the top performances, action, and lines of dialogue, along with good songs and dance choreography; I know there are most likely not that many people who focus on the plot and the characters, but there are some good enough character development, with some new characters they have hinted at before.

The main leads Zed and Addison are still likable characters with Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly giving nice performances as them once again, and what I think are the best parts of the Zombies movies, and they go through some development with them not spending enough time with each other and their friends Willa the werewolf and Eliza another zombie; basically, them trying to not over work themselves, and spend time together is what the movie focuses on. The only other characters from the last three movies are Willa the werewolf and Eliza the other zombie who appear at random moments during big or intense scenes, though still good like the other movies, they don't do much except to come in to help with the Vampires and Daywalkers and for an occasional funny moment here or there, so there is nothing much to say about them as much as the others.

The idea for the Daywalkers and Vampires was interesting on how they do not like each other and how they survive with this blood fruit to survive and fight for it, along with some backstory on their kinds and stuff like that I found interesting for something like this; the new characters Victor the vampire and Nova the daywalker are likable and are trying to unite everyone with the help of Zed and Addison, along with the Vampires and Daywalkers having unique designs and entertaining enough uses of their abilities. The songs were well-done with them being catchy and nice to listen to like the other three movies and well-done choreography for the dance numbers with some good enough CGI effects of their abilities during some intense scenes; the issues involve some shaky editing in certain scenes, the usual over the top performances that can be entertaining, and some rushed moments amongst some moments we are missing.

Disney Channel's Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires (2025) was like the other three movies in the series with there being good performances from the leads, entertaining over the top performances, action, and lines of dialogue, along with good songs and dance choreography; I know there are most likely not that many people who focus on the plot and the characters, but I find them entertaining and at least fun to watch. I liked this fourth and supposed last movie like I liked the other three movies, and I know it is not for everyone, and it focuses on kids for the Disney Channel demographic, but I like to watch these like the Descendants movies from time to time despite what people say about them.

First, the disclaimers:

1) we forget we even have the Disney channel 2) this is not the type of movie we watch at all 3) I would never willingly watch a musical 4) I don't think I've ever watched one of these sing/dance movies in my 64 years in my (granted, old) memory.

5) although the title implied it was from a series, we didn't know anything about that

We were tempted by the description tagline "spooky, playful and endearing" for a Zombie movie.

An animated beginning, we were tempted to turn it off, but then it became "real".

A couple minutes in, I turned to my husband & said.

"Omg, I think she's going to start singing"

About 1/2 in, I said,

"It's like I can't stop watching with some kind of horrified interest."

It's really sweet. We really liked it.

I can see why young people are so into singing the songs and doing the tik tok video dance sketches.

The plot was good, no holes.

Mainly it gives me hope. It's nice to see that kids are learning about the better side of human nature in this uncertain world. That's probably what I liked best about it.

Otherwise, I still don't like musicals. LOL

My husband REALLY liked it though, & scored it exceptionally higher than his usual scores. So it must be pretty good.