Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

One thing we’ve definitely not been short of over the past decade are comedy zombie movies, with Shaun of the Dead, Juan of the Dead, Warm Bodies and of course Zombieland just a few of the films goring-up the silver-screen. Now the man who wrote Paranormal Activity 3-5, Christopher Landon, has had a go at writing something original, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. 

Scouts Guide begins with a quick origin/context story for the inevitable virus that will destroy all mankind, with a cameo from Blake Anderson as a twerking janitor. Understandably, it’s pretty much all down-hill from here. High-school sophomores and long-time scouts Ben (Tye Sheridan), Carter (Logan Miller) and Augie (Joey Morgan) are out with their Scout Leader Rogers (David Koechner) trying to recruit new members, with little success. Ben and Carter want to quit scouts because they think it’s lame, but don’t want to hurt the feelings of their friend Augie. Whilst discussing the situation, Ben accidentally hits a rogue deer. Carter’s sister Kendall (Halston Sage) and her friends are able to help them, much to the pleasure of drooling Ben who is in love with Kendall. 

They’re invited to a party that Kendall and her friends are attending, a party that is sure to be the best night of their lives. However as they’re talking the supposedly-dead deer somehow vanishes, but they think nothing of it. Trying to buy beer for the party, they get help from the cocktail waitress of the nearby strip-club, Denise (Sarah Dumont). After meeting Augie in the woods for a scout ritual and then sneaking off to go to the party, Ben and Carter find the town deserted, until they run into a sticky situation with some zombies. Facing certain zombification, the two are saved by Denise who of course has a shotgun. Though the “best night of their lives” has just begun.

You get what’s coming to you by knowingly going to see this film. Having watched the trailer, seen the reviews and reading about how it’s bombed all over the place, it’s no surprise we were the only ones in the cinema. You’d assume that this was going to be designed as a B-movie, but instead then went for shock-factor teenage comedy, and whilst you can see what they’re trying to achieve it really doesn’t live up to the genre. The odd tent-pole scenes of hilarious gore and unapologetic immature comedy are fleshed out with weak plot development and try-hard dramatic scenes. 

This really is a film for 15 year old boys who want to experience the blood, boobs and naughty-words of the MA-15+ rating (non-Australians just scale to your mid-pubescent rating). If you want to a watch a scout clang to a rotting penis like a painfully stretchy bungee cord to save himself from death by trampolining zombies, or if you like the idea of weed-whackers and pressurised door-knob guns (not the only knobs in this movie) used to pulverise heads, then this might be the movie for you. If you thought films like This is the End and Unfinished Business were funny then you might like this, but otherwise it’s just a less-intuitive rip-off of Zombieland with comical-gore taken to the extreme. 

You’ve gotta hand it to Christopher Landon for at least trying to pander to his chosen audience, and for the most part Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse was better than I thought it would be. It does have some awkwardly funny moments, but they’re packed between a slow story, weak dialogue, stupid scenarios and unlikable characters. 

Dope

I've never seen a movie that handles racism as subtly as Dope. Movies like American History X and 12 Years a Slave advertise up front that they are about racism and how bad it is, but never really highlight the real life effects that everyday prejudice and stereotypes have.

Malcolm Adekanbi (Shameik Moore) is by no means a popular kid. He and his friends Diggy (Kierson Clemons) and Jib (Tony Revolori) are into things that others from their neighbourhood aren't, like old school hip-hop and trying to get into college. One day after school, Malcolm gets caught up in a discussion between local drug dealer Dom (A$ap Rocky) and his girlfriend Nakia (Zoë Kravitz) and inadvertently gets invited to Dom's birthday party. After a rival gang attacks the party, Malcolm discovers big packages of MDMA in his backpack. Unknown to him at the time, Malcolm meets the true owner of the drugs who tells him the best thing to do would be sell the drugs and pass the profits onto him.

This movie really highlights the lack of opportunity that black kids have growing up in poorer neighbourhoods. Even if they get good grades and work really hard to try and make something of themselves, there is still external pressure and questioning of why someone like Malcolm would want to do this because the expectation is that he would become a drug dealer. Each of the main characters have moments where they become something that is the complete opposite of who they are. Malcolm has a moment where he brandishes a gun at some gang members, normally super confident Jib has a breakdown when they find that they are in possession of the drugs and rich kid Jaleel tries to be a gangster, getting into a gunfight with some gang members.

Shameik Moore makes a huge splash with his first lead role in a movie. Malcolm is an extremely likeable character and that's because Moore's performance gives the character so much depth. Tony Revolori is once again a joy to watch, as is Kiersey Clemons. Both A$ap Rocky and Tyga give great performances which is something that I was surprised at and Blake Anderson plays his stereotypical stoner with much joy again.

One thing that this movie really has going for it is it's amazing soundtrack. Filled with songs by the likes of Public Enemy, Nas and Naughty By Nature, all artists Malcolm considers to have been made in the golden age of hip hop. It also features some great songs from the band that Malcolm and his friends are in, written by Pharrell.

An amazing and truly insightful film that is enjoyable on the surface level, but once you look at the message that it's trying to tell you, it becomes even better.