Endzeit

World premiere at the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival - TIFF18.

This is the second feature film by Swedish director Carolina Hellsgård, working in Germany. The post-apocalyptic zombie setting benefits from some impressive production design and the existentialism embedded adds some layers to the story.

A german horror/zombie movie - and a low budget one. So maybe do not expect a Zack Snyder type of action galore. It would help with enjoying the movie if you don't.

So low budget, character driven (no pun intended) zombie road movie then. Well I have seen worse and less innovative (horror) movies. Depending on your ability to suspend your disbelief and give this movie some slack, the level of enjoyment will vary.

The story of Endzeit is kinda similar to The Walking Dead World Beyond's. It has been two years since a zombie virus epidemic infected all but two German cities. Vivi and Eva want to flee the struggling community in Weimar for the one other safe-haven: Jena. They board an unmanned train between the two cities and hope to safely arrive. But of course the train breaks down and in the middle of nowhere they have to navigate themselves safely to Jena.

What I like about Endzeit is its atmosphere. It's filmed at some beautiful spots in Germany and that makes it look very different from, let's say, American zombie films. The two leads perform well. On their way to Jena they encounter strange abandoned places (a castle) and even a strange woman who calls herself 'the gardener'. Is she real? We don't know. In the end there's a nice scene with a blind zombie.

Of course there are some things that don't make sense. In the trailer you see the girls escape from a zombie herd. Where the hell did the zombies come from? In the woods they hardly encounter anyone and here the whole street is filled with them.

Also, the way our lead comes to terms with her past is... too convenient. But it's a nice scene anyway.

Not your cliché zombie flick, but I really enjoyed Endzeit.

I really liked this movie. It was filmed beautifully and the acting was very good. It's atmospheric, with the almost droning music. It reminds me of Annihilation. I love the twist in the zombie movie story.

I hated the main character and hoped she'd get killed but I think that's what kept me watching.

I agree with some reviewers that some scenes didn't make perfect sense but it didn't ruin the movie for me.

I've seen terrible movies that deserved bad scores but this is not one of them.

I like watching those borderline rated movies. I feel like I can really decide for myself whether or not I really liked it.

I think you should give this one a chance.

Maybe it would make more sense if I were German. But I doubt it very much. Basically a mental, idiotic, entitled and useless young woman is making her way in a Zombie apocalypse. Has some very odd characters like a plant women and plant infested zombies to add to the mess. Skip it. Terrible.