Manuel de survie à l'apocalypse zombie

Horror films in recent years tend to be in the found footage vein, and Zombie films have been in decline since filmmakers could knock them out on low budgets with large amounts of CGI hordes of the undead for the straight to disc market.

Scouts Guide is a modestly budgeted comedy horror with lashings of gore with plenty of raucous laugh aloud.

The film does open up with a truly cringe worthy two minutes of inept nonsense with a janitor doing his job, but quickly changes its pace with the introduction of D.O.D. Christopher Landon (son of Highway to Heaven actor/director Michael London) has the guts to run with the laughs and some decent splatter for the next 90s minutes.

The cast of unknowns are capable and do have the charm and skill to carry the film over its 90 minutes running time. The film does not lag or waste any time introducing parental relationships and defining the social structure of high school culture it exists within its own universe of undead, scouts, strippers, boobs and pussies of all sorts. It's well edited, the script is tight,the photography is bright and clean and is definitely worth a viewing.

I just hope the producers don't plan a long series of low budget pointless sequels and just let the film find its own appreciative audience over the coming years.

Zombie gimmick has become so redundant in recent time, even the mockery of it created another actual subgenre as it has spawned many clones this year alone. Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is as juvenile as it sounds, some of the jokes are either downright bizarre or blatantly aggressive. Still, its simple theme and full commitment to awkward crudity are surprisingly effective on creating a few laughs.

Story is incredibly straightforward, it's basically written in the title. Three scouts find themselves in a zombie outbreak, and with the help of a hot chick they form some silly version of A-Team. Characters are not original. Maybe the main lead is pretty likable, but most of the characters are absolutely simple minded and comical or stereotypically comical. Its use of friendship tone is decent, it may be the only working drama angle here.

The entire movie is satire made out of cliché and some freaky stuffs way outside the box. Don't bother with logic or continuity, since they are admittedly flawed, at some points the plot seems shaky at best. As for the jokes, they are simply brash. This is definitely a visual clobbering as well as a jab at genre's silliness. Those wanting maturity or deep psychological study will find themselves lost.

It's similar to humor from gag website or forum comment threads, coupled with mandatory bloody gore and obtuse use of breasts and buttocks for viewer's pleasure. Normally this kind of overwhelming sensory overload can be appalling, yet the movie is unapologetically bizarre that the comedy works more than it falters.

This is a juvenile showing in purest form, using primitive jokes, nudity and even random singing. It should not be this entertaining, yet surprisingly it is.

If there's one horror movie you need to see in theaters this Halloween weekend, make it Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. Sure, the film won't win any awards for a great screenplay or nuanced performances, but sometimes you need to watch a movie that you can just sit down and enjoy. In that regard, Scouts delivers. It's totally over-the-top and ridiculously entertaining and the closest version of an American Shaun of the Dead there will ever be. I mean, if the zombie cats in the trailer didn't pull you in, then you're probably not the intended audience for this film. While there are some adolescent gags that don't quite work, most of the jokes are quite funny, some even inspired. There are things in this film that you've never seen in a zombie flick before, and considering the lack of originality in recent zombie fare in film and TV, that's quite an accomplishment. There's also an endearing quality to this film through the three boy scouts relationship that ground the film emotionally. Underneath all the gore and gross out gags, Scouts is a coming-of-age comedy with heart, and while it might not work for everyone, this viewer had a blast.

'Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse' is a fun little movie that has sadly been marketed rather poorly and was probably doomed to fail from the get go. It's been a box office flop but it isn't a fault in the quality of the film. It's a case of the main characters being scouts (most movies about scouts would generally be aimed at a younger audience) and yet the movie being R rated and alienating the people the title would suggest are going to enjoy it.

If they were going to go with the R rating then they needed to take full advantage of it, which they do in certain scenes but certainly not in an overall sense. This had the potential to be a 'Superbad' type movie with lots of clever and yet vulgar dialogue that would keep the audience (an adult audience) entertained throughout. Yet throughout the dialogue constantly feels like it's making its jokes for a younger demographic. The only time they really make use of the R rating is in the violence and the odd bit of graphic nudity. The dialogue was the key let down in this sense and the only way they could have pulled off the R rating to make this a box office success, and even then it would have been far from a sure thing.

Box office failure aside though it's actually a rather enjoyable film for the most part. While most of the humour might be a little bit tame in nature, it is still often funny enough to keep you chuckling if you buy into it. It never really works as a genuine horror movie (I don't think it was ever meant to either) as there never really feels like a genuine threat to any of the characters. Plus I think most people accept slow moving zombies are rarely scary to anyone in this day and age. There's nothing "must see" about it but if you do find yourself in a position to watch it I think you'll be pleased enough with what you see.

This is a typical boy's comedy-horror romp. Expect nob gags, cheesy sound tracks, high-fives, innuendos and tall women in tight tops.

I have seen a few of these in my time so I am a little fatigued and jaded with the genre. But as they go this is a pretty good one.

There is a period of build up where the characters are given a bit of depth. The production, acting and effects are all pretty good. The plot is OK but pretty much irrelevant.

There is no real horror, no real nudity (except a few jiggling zombie boobs), and no real violence. This is all pretty tame, good natured fun.

It makes me very sad to admit perhaps I have just grown out of this type of thing (I am outside the target demographic for sure)

This could be a pretty solid watch for a younger audience who is new to the genre.