by Shane Conto, Staff Writer
You probably wouldn’t expect a family-oriented animated film from the dark twisted mind that created Hellraiser. But surprisingly, Clive Barker created a story called Zoombies,in which animals at a zoo become infected zombies and wreak havoc in their confined prison. That sounds like a fantastic idea for a film, and Steven Hoban and James Kee thought so too when they wrote the screenplay for Night of the Zoopocalypse.
There are plenty of films meant for the whole family that end up having eerie and scary moments for the young folks, and Night of the Zoopocalypse balances them well in a fun and zany package. The directorial duo of Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro does a nice job balancing humor and thrills with this one-night zombie romp. The humor does lean more into the lowbrow, and aims more for the youngest viewers, but there are a few chuckles to be had. The atmosphere that Curtis and Perez-Castro create lends itself to legitimately creepy moments. The creature designs are grotesque, which opens the door for strange occurrences. Dany Levy’s synthy score captures the vibes of many great ‘80s horror flicks, and the neon-drenched visuals make for great atmosphere.
But does the script make this simple story into an effective feature? There is no tone to this story besides a series of chases, moments of hiding, and occasional confrontations with the wild alien-zombie creatures. The narrative is a bit stretched, and by the time the film comes to a natural resolution, it pulls out a fourth act structure to pad the runtime (and maybe sell a big musical number to show off its most disturbing designs). Zoopocalypse feels like an extended short film stretched out to feature length.
There are some narrative layers with our protagonist, a young wolf, coming into constant conflict with a mountain lion, until they finally see eye-to-eye (as expected). Much of the character-based conflict is derived from different species of animals not trusting each other, which makes a lot of sense. The biggest struggle in the writing department is the solution to the alien-zombie problem, which just turns into a meta joke… but it still makes zero sense.
Does the voice cast breathe extra life into this piece of crazy, bonkers pseudo-horror? Gabbi Kosmidis delivers a charming and empathetic turn as Gracie, our wolf protagonist. There isn’t a ton of depth to her character, but she is the most likable and easy to root for of the bunch. David Harbour is by far the standout, playing the grumpy and gruff mountain lion who just wants out of the zoo.
Additionally, a few standout character actors craft strange, offbeat supporting characters. Scott Thompson is a sarcastic and sassy bit of personality in the form of an ostrich. Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (one of the most recognizable cast members) is an antagonistic force portraying Felix, a monkey who is out for himself. Pierre Simpson is certainly the strangest of the bunch, with a wild sense of humor as a movie-obsessed lemur. And the shining star is the endlessly adorable baby pygmy hippo. If anything had happened to her… I would have turned the move off.
Night of the Zoopocalypse’s story might be overdone and stretched, which is understandable given such a simple premise, but it features lots of fun and enjoyable characters. The bits of humor and eerie atmosphere make the film stand out.
Rating: It Was Just Okay
Night of the Zoopocalypse is currently playing in theaters
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