World Ends at Camp Z

Well, I have to admit that when I stumbled upon this 2021 movie here in 2022, and seeing that it was a zombie movie, then of course I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch it. Sure, I had not even heard about this movie from writer Diane Janna and director Ding Wang, but it being a zombie movie was all that I needed to know.

The movie's cover/poster seemed interesting, but it was actually overselling the movie, because the movie itself was rather mundane and generic. But hey, I managed to get through it on the account of it being a zombie movie. However, if you are a zombie aficionado like me, then this is hardly an outstanding foray into the zombie genre.

The storyline in "World Ends at Camp Z" is pretty straight forward. In fact, the storyline is rather simplistic and doesn't bring anything new to the zombie genre. Of course it is a spin-off on the worldwide pandemic that we are still struggling with in real life, just made into a tale of the reanimated dead. So you're not exactly in for a grand cinematic experience here.

The acting performances in "World Ends at Camp Z" were a bit wooden for the most parts. There were some performances that stood out and helped to make the movie watchable. But you're not in for an award-winning performance here.

With "World Ends at Camp Z" being a zombie movie, then you might be disappointed with the zombies in the movie being fast, agile runners with their faces painted gray - but forgetting to paint the exposed skin on the neck down - and bleeding from their eyes. A strange type of zombie in my opinion. Then again, I am not a fan of running zombies, nor of subpar make-up just limited to the face. Nor am I a fan of zombies that stop dead in their track when they come before a body of water.

For me then "World Ends at Camp Z" came and went without as much as a groan or a bite. And if you are a fan of the zombie genre, then this is not really a movie that I would recommend you spend your time on.

My rating of director Ding Wang's 2021 zombie movie "World Ends at Camp Z" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

When I judge the "quality" of a zombie movie I usually take into account the budget. "Okay, it's not that good, but it was made for just 500.000 dollar so what could you expect?" This weekend I checked out World Ends at Camp Z that only costed 300.000 dollar. Frankly, I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, there is bad acting. Yes, there is bad dialogue. And the zombies look very bad too. But I thought a lot of things were done okay.

The story takes place in Canada. Young Dean has lived and worked all his young life on this camping La Tuque. He's not happy to learn that his "home" will be sold to some rich guys. His uncle just couldn't pay the bills anymore. To make matters worse the new owner Aaron, a spoilt kid in his twenties, wants to check out the camping with his friends before purchasing. They start a big party. Now Dean must be their butler before the deal is done. He does have a connection with Vanessa, a young lawyer who must check the paperwork. However, she turns out to be the girlfriend of the owner. Damn! When a friend of the owner gets injured, they must go to town to take him to the hospital. And then the zombies turn up...

What I liked about World Ends at Camp Z was the beautiful locations. The makers used drones to film the camping (which is located near Quebec?) surrounded by trees and water and it looks great.

Also a good point was the fact that one of the heroes is a Native Canadian named Clay. Clay is a father figure to Dean and knows how to deal with the threat when the zombies take over the camp. I think we should see more Native Americans or Canadians in movies, also in "normal" roles.

Lastly, I enjoyed the two leads. Of course Dean and Vanessa don't really get along at the start of the film. But the way they get closer to each other wasn't bad. Overall Vanessa (played by Anne-Carolyne Binette) gives us the best performance.

When the first zombie appears in the movie (after 55 minutes!) the film goes downhill. The action scenes with the undead aren't the best part of the movie but it does have a satisfying ending.

Not brilliant, maybe not even good, but I did like World ends at camp Z.

7/10.

Yes, there is a lot of things they could have tried better. I'm gonna talk about the good stuff, yes it is a Zombie Flick. LOVE THAT. I see what they were trying to do on such a low budget. I am guessing they used a lot of their friends and friend's stuff. Really liked the area they did the filming in, very beautiful indeed. If I was stuck in the middle of a Zombie Apoc, some where like there would have been great. The real real real bad criticism I have to state upon, is that it took a realllllll long time to get to anything.

With all the constraints that this movie has it could have been a lot worse.

The acting and direction is bad. However, the basic story and set up is done quite well. There are some good drone shots and effective lighting. The zombie slo mo is overdone thesedays.

Its not a big budget movie, but its worth watching on a lazy weekend.

The acting is decent, the cinematography is solid, these story is interesting enough.

It had a pretty low IMDB score, so i wasn't expecting much, and as i suspected it is a lot better than most viewers seemed to rate it.

It was what I've come to expect from Canada based or directed productions, having worked on similar pilot films and commercials.

The ending could have been better, and leaves some obvious questions, but resolves well enough I be able to sleep well.

In essence this is a pandemic or post pandemic made movie, built upon a pandemic gone wrong theme that results in a zombie chow down.

I have no regrets having watched it and included it in my list of "Pretty Good Movies"