La Horde

The French film "La Horde" doesn't exactly bring a fresh approach to the over saturated zombie genre, yet is still entertaining enough for what it is. It benefits from its breakneck pace and intensity, and is just as much about character as it is bloodshed. (Not that it skimps in the gore department at all, though, far from it.) A quartet of detectives - Aurore (Claude Perron), Ouessem (Jean-Pierre Martins), Jimenez (Aurelien Recoing), and Tony (Antoine Oppenheim), find the dead body of a colleague and turn rogue, vowing to avenge his death. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned: first, their quarry, gangster Adewale (Eriq Ebouaney), is able to get the drop on them, and start torturing them, then this big mess becomes an even bigger one when scores upon scores of the living dead start to overwhelm humanity, as the apocalypse seems to have begun. While this is all pretty predictable in terms of the script, "La Horde" does manage to entertain by ensuring that its audience never gets bored. It starts quietly enough, but soon it's kicked itself into a high gear and has stayed there. Some zombie cinema lovers may take exception to the fact that these are very FAST zombies, as well as to the generous array of digital rather than practical carnage, but if you don't concern yourself too much with those elements, you may find this a reasonable viewing experience. The characters, by and large, are NOT sympathetic, including the cops, so the lack of rooting interest may make this hard for some people to follow. Still, as in any film with a similar premise, there is a certain amusement in seeing cops and crooks alike being forced to team up in order to survive - and, as we can see, the crooks aren't completely one- dimensional. The acting is good for this sort of thing. Both Martins and Ebouaney have a formidable screen presence, and Martins has one hell of a great exit where he truly goes down fighting. While "La Horde" may not be among the most stimulating films of its kind - at least in an intellectual way - one could definitely do far worse, as it manages to maintain a fever pitch for much of its duration. Seven out of 10.

The film has a frantic pace and the first scene is the discovery of a police officer found dead in a rubbish pit. At the funeral his colleagues vow to kill the men responsible and track them down to a condemned and abandoned tower block on the city outskirts. The raid isn't too successful and the police find themselves at the mercy of the violent gang members. However, something stirs outside in the night and within minutes all hell breaks loose. The cops and gang members must reluctantly work together if they want to escape from the tower block alive. There are one or two scenes of complete overkill and plenty of blood to keep zombie fans happy. Don't really know to refer to them as zombies or not but they are like the infected in 28 days later. The film only really slows down in the middle for a short period before heading to a bloody and violent conclusion.

Certainly one of the better zombie films to be released in the last few years and very enjoyable.

There is always an argument among zombie purists. Should the walk slow as in most zombie films, or can they run? This is the running type, so the purists may be disappointed.

Yes, there was blood and gore - plenty of it. No self-respecting zombie movie can exist without it, just as no self-respecting vampire movie would eschew blood for glitter.

It was non-stop action from start to finish. As you would expect in real life, it was loud, very loud. These people were literally screaming for their lives.

The ending was predicable, but effective nonetheless. Just could not take my eyes off Claude Perron (Amélie) throughout the film. She did a superb job, as did Eriq Ebouaney (Lumumba, Hit-man, Transporter 3).

Not recommended for fans of typical zombie films.

Recommended for those who have been waiting for an independent horror film which does not simply make fun of the genre.

A team of angry Parisian police officers vow revenge against a gang lead by two Nigerian brothers who have recently killed a friend of theirs. They lead a seemingly suicidal, unsanctioned, raid on the gang's compound and are almost immediately captured. As the torture, interrogation, and killing of police slowly reaches an apex, it becomes apparent that the cops and gangsters should probably be the least of each other's worries. Inexplicably, zombies are destroying civilization, and Paris is burning. Don't be fooled by the complete absurdity of this premise. The Horde, though redolent with the usual genre-defining campiness and cliché, is not a self-parody, and does not bother to explain itself.

Aside from Mr. Romero's more serious efforts, I have rarely seen a zombie film which was created with the level of TLC that went into The Horde. Most of the characters actually have their own personalities and the acting is good. The script is, though predictable, a lot less absurd than the usual horror film, and never insults your intelligence. Though the film is not utterly humorless, it stops well short of comedy, and carries its plot admirably. The visual effects and choreography are excellent. Claude Perron's fight scenes are especially entertaining.

When detective Mathias Rivoallan is found murdered by the gang led by the Nigerian Markudi (Eriq Ebouaney), detectives Jimenez (Aurélien Recoing), Aurore (Claude Perron), Ouessem (Jean-Pierre Martins) and Tony (Antoine Oppenheim) decide to revenge the death of his friend. The vigilantes plot bloodshed, executing Markudi, his brother Bola (Doudou Masta) and the other gangsters in the abandoned building where they are gathered. However, things go wrong when the watchman arrives and the violent gang subdues the quartet and tortures them. Meanwhile, the lookouts of the gang hear explosions, sirens and the weird sound of rabble. Sooner the survivors discover that the building is under siege of a horde of walking dead and the hungered zombies want to eat them. Ouesseem and Aurore team up with Markudi, Bola, Grego (Jo Prestia) and the veteran René (Yves Pignot) and together they have to fight against the zombies trying to find an exit from the building.

"La Horde" is an insanely gore and violent French horror film. The gore recalls "Braindead", but without the black humor of the trash cult movie of Peter Jackson. The plot is full of action, but none of the characters is likable. The origin of the walking dead is not developed and has only a minor explanation on television that mentions an epidemic. On the contrary of George Romero's slow zombies, in this flick they run like hell. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Legião do Mal" ("Legion of the Evil")