''Anna and the Apocalypse'' is a 2017 British
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
zombie
A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...
musical film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...
directed by
John McPhail from a screenplay by Alan McDonald and
Ryan McHenry
Ryan McHenry (13 December 1987 – 2 May 2015) was a Scottish film director best known for the film ''Zombie Musical'' in which he received a nomination for the Best Director accolade at the 2011 British Academy Scotland New Talent Awards.
'' ...
based on McHenry's 2010
BAFTA nominated short ''Zombie Musical''. It stars an
ensemble cast
In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17
Structure
In contrast to ...
of largely unknown young talent, including
Ella Hunt
Ella Hunt (born 29 April 1998) is an English actress and singer. She was nominated for a Scottish BAFTA for her performance in the film '' Anna and the Apocalypse'' (2017). On television, she is known for her roles as Ellie Marsden in the ITV c ...
, Malcolm Cumming, Sarah Swire, Christopher Leveaux,
Marli Siu
Marli Siu (born 11 March 1993) is a Scottish actress. Her films include ''Anna and the Apocalypse'' (2017), ''Our Ladies'' (2019), and ''Run'' (2019), the latter of which won her a Scottish BAFTA. On television, Siu has appeared in the spy thril ...
, Ben Wiggins,
Mark Benton
Mark Benton (born 16 November 1965) is an English actor and television presenter known for his roles as Eddie in ''Early Doors'', Howard in '' Northern Lights'' and Martin Pond in '' Barbara''. Benton has also starred in the BBC One school-based ...
and
Paul Kaye
Paul Kaye (born 15 December 1964) is an English comedian and actor. He is known for his portrayals of shock interviewer Dennis Pennis on ''The Sunday Show'', New York lawyer Mike Strutter on MTV's ''Strutter'', Thoros of Myr in HBO's ''Game of ...
.
The film premiered at
Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of ''The Iron Gi ...
on 22 September 2017. It was released in the United Kingdom by
Vertigo Releasing and United States by
Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...
on 30 November 2018
to generally positive reviews from critics, commending the performances, musical numbers and characterisation.
Plot
In Little Haven, Scotland, Anna Shepherd is about to finish school and plans to travel for a year before attending university, much to the displeasure of her widower father Tony. Her friends are dealing with their own issues: her best friend John, an artist, is secretly in love with her, budding filmmaker Chris is struggling with a class assignment and transfer student Steph is trying to get her social justice reporting past the tyrannical vice principal Mr. Savage. Nick, Anna's one night stand, is also making her life difficult. On the night of the school Christmas show, in which Chris's girlfriend Lisa is performing, Anna and John are working in the local bowling alley and Chris and Steph have gone to the homeless shelter to film for Steph's story. During this time, a zombie infection starts spreading. Anna and John bond over her post graduation plans after work.
The next morning, Anna and John leave for the school, completely oblivious to the zombie chaos around them. When they encounter a zombie dressed as a snowman, Anna decapitates him with a seesaw. The story then cuts to the school, where a bunch of adults, Chris's grandmother, Mr. Savage, Tony and Lisa are taking refuge. Tony and Mr. Savage argue about whether to save the other survivors outside or lock the doors and stay inside the school, with Mr. Savage winning the argument with a sudden military broadcast. Anna and John, figuring it will be too dangerous to go home or to the school, go to the bowling alley where they meet Steph and Chris, who have taken shelter there. Steph finds out that an army evacuation is coming to the school, so the group plans to go there once it is safe. Anna and Steph find the zombified cleaner and Steph kills her, alerting a group of zombified bowlers to break in. The group kills them all after a bloody fight and realize that getting to their loved ones will be difficult.
The next morning Anna, Steph, John and Chris wake up to find that the army has been zombified and no evacuation is coming. Regardless, they set off to the school to see if their loved ones are still alive. Nick - who is greatly enjoying the carnage - and his friends rescue the group from a horde of zombies and join them on their way to the school. Anna tells John that she still plans to go traveling despite everything that has happened. She also notes to him that he is her "best friend" implying she knows about his feelings but does not reciprocate. At the school, Savage fights to maintain authority as the others plan their own evacuation.
The students cut through a Christmas tree emporium in an attempt to save time but are ambushed by zombies, which kill Nick's friends. Once they escape, John is bitten; he gets Anna to safety but sacrifices himself to distract the zombies. The survivors reach the school, where Savage has let the zombies in as a last ditch measure of control. Anna and Nick split off to search for Tony while Steph and Chris look for his family and Steph's car keys. Nick reveals that his father asked Nick to kill him after he was bitten, before distracting a group of zombies so that Anna can find her father. Chris finds Lisa but his grandmother had already died of a heart attack. Steph, Chris and Lisa find the car keys in Savage's office but Chris and Lisa are bitten while trying to escape, having used Chris's video footage as a distraction.
Anna finds Savage in the auditorium, where he is using Tony as bait for the zombies. Anna gets to the stage and saves Tony, but he lashes out at Savage and they fight. Savage falls to the zombies but Tony is bitten in the scuffle. Anna says goodbye to her dad as Nick arrives and the two of them leave the school. They prepare for one last stand before Steph rescues them in her car and Anna finally leaves Little Haven to look for a safe place.
Cast
Production
Development
In 2009, whilst attending
Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...
, Ryan McHenry came up with the idea for a 'zombie musical' short film, taking inspiration from ''
High School Musical
''High School Musical'' is a 2006 American musical television film directed by Kenny Ortega and written by Peter Barsocchini. The 63rd Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) and first installment of the ''High School Musical'' film series, th ...
''.
In 2010, McHenry wrote and directed the short film in
Dumfries High School
Dumfries High School is situated in a residential area of Marchmount in Dumfries, Scotland. It has been on this site since 1961, and has been expanded and improved since. It is adjacent to the David Keswick Athletic Centre, which provides s ...
, with his friends Naysun Alae-Carew as producer and Ryan Clachrie as production designer. In 2011, the short film titled ''Zombie Musical'' won Best Producer (Short Form) for Alaw-Carew at the
British Academy Scotland New Talent Awards and received two additional nominations, including Best Director (McHenry) and Best Original Music (Toby Mottershead). Black Camel, a Glasgow-based production company, expressed interest in developing a feature-length film based on the short, with McHenry directing and Alae-Carew producing. McHenry was also hired to co-write the screenplay with Alan McDonald.
In 2013, development was halted when McHenry was diagnosed with
osteosarcoma
An osteosarcoma (OS) or osteogenic sarcoma (OGS) (or simply bone cancer) is a cancerous tumor in a bone. Specifically, it is an aggressive malignant neoplasm that arises from primitive transformed cells of mesenchymal origin (and thus a sarcoma) a ...
. After entering remission, he returned to work on the project with McDonald, now titled ''Anna and the Apocalypse''. In May 2015, McHenry passed away from cancer, though Alae-Carew and McDonald continued to develop the project.
The film was dedicated to McHenry, who died two years before the film's release.
Writing
By 2016, John McPhail had taken over as director with McDonald as sole screenwriter, though McHenry received credit as co-writer. McPhail was at first over joining as director before production. "They’d all been doing this together and all of a sudden here I come in. I was nervous about it, but they welcomed me with open arms, they really, really did and that made everything nice and easy".
Following McHenry's death, the initial draft of the film's script had a darker, cynical tone, which McDonald believed was due to McHenry's passing. "The reason that draft was so dark was because I missed my friend... I guess, in the story that we were always telling and what ultimately became Ryan’s story. Finding a way for us all to rediscover the joy of it was what I think kept us on target and ultimately created the movie that we’ve made now."
Music
In 2014,
Roddy Hart
Roderick John Hart (born 16 July 1979) is a Scottish singer–songwriter, film/TV and theatre composer, and broadcaster from Glasgow. As a solo artist, he has released three records – ''Bookmarks'', ''Sign Language'' and ''Road of Bones'' – ...
was hired to write the film's songs, in collaboration with
Tommy Reilly.
Filming
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
took place over five weeks between 16 January and 22 February 2017 in and around the
Inverclyde
Inverclyde ( sco, Inerclyde, gd, Inbhir Chluaidh, , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the histo ...
area near
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
. Production was primarily based at the former building of St. Stephen's High School at Southfield Avenue,
Port Glasgow
Port Glasgow ( gd, Port Ghlaschu, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most recen ...
. The film was produced by Blazing Griffin Pictures, Black Camel Pictures, Parkhouse Pictures and
Creative Scotland
Creative Scotland ( gd, Alba Chruthachail ; sco, Creative Scotlan) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government.
The o ...
.
Inspirations
Director
John McPhail said that ''Anna and the Apocalypse'' was influenced by the films ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid-1 ...
'' (1961), ''
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is a 1975 musical comedy horror film by 20th Century Fox, produced by Lou Adler and Michael White and directed by Jim Sharman. The screenplay was written by Sharman and actor Richard O'Brien, who is also ...
'' (1975) and ''
The Breakfast Club
''The Breakfast Club'' is a 1985 American teen coming-of-age comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes. It stars Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy. The film t ...
'' (1985), as well as the ''
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film of the same name, also written by W ...
'' musical episode "
Once More, with Feeling".
[ McPhail also said that the film includes "nods" to the ]zombie film
A zombie film is a film genre. Zombies are fictional creatures usually portrayed as reanimated corpses or virally infected human beings. They are commonly portrayed as cannibalistic in nature. While zombie films generally fall into the horror g ...
s ''Night of the Living Dead
''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, with a screenplay by John Russo and Romero, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven peop ...
'' (1968), '' Dawn of the Dead'' (1978), ''The Evil Dead
''The Evil Dead'' is a 1981 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Sam Raimi, produced by Robert Tapert and executive produced by Raimi, Tapert, and Bruce Campbell, who also starred alongside Ellen Sandweiss, Richard DeMan ...
'' (1981), ''The Happiness of the Katakuris
is a 2001 Japanese musical comedy horror film directed by Takashi Miike, with screenplay by Kikumi Yamagishi. It is loosely based on the South Korean film '' The Quiet Family''. The film is a surreal horror-comedy in the farce tradition, which ...
'' (2001) and ''Shaun of the Dead
''Shaun of the Dead'' is a 2004 zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg. Pegg stars as Shaun, a downtrodden salesman in London who is caught in a zombie apocalypse with his friend Ed (Nick Frost). The fi ...
'' (2004). The crop top
A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponics ...
s and short shorts seen in the film were inspired by the costume design in the slasher film
A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as a ...
''Sleepaway Camp
''Sleepaway Camp'' (released as ''Nightmare Vacation'' in the United Kingdom) is a 1983 American slasher film written and directed by Robert Hiltzik, who also served as executive producer. It is the first film in the ''Sleepaway Camp'' film ser ...
'' (1983).[
]
Soundtrack
A soundtrack consisting of 13 songs from the film was released on 23 November 2018.
The deleted song, "Which Side Are You On?", is featured only on the vinyl release and director's cut. Another deleted song, "Some Things Will Never Change", is present in the bonus features of the Blu-ray release.
Release
''Anna and the Apocalypse'' had its world premiere
A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition.
A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its f ...
in the Fantastic Fest
Fantastic Fest is an annual film festival in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2005 by Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Alamo Drafthouse, Harry Knowles of Ain't It Cool News, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of ''The Iron Gi ...
on 22 September 2017. On 5 October 2017, the film held its European premiere at Sitges Film Festival
The Sitges Film Festival ( ca, Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya, links=no) is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Spain, specialized in fantasy and horror films, of which it is considered one of the world's foremost in ...
in Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
, Spain.
On 10 January 2018, it was picked up for North and Latin American theatrical distribution by Orion Pictures
Orion Pictures (legal name Orion Releasing, LLC) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) subsidiary. In its original operating period, the company produced and released films ...
. In the United States, the film received a limited theatrical release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
on 30 November 2018, with a nationwide expansion on 7 December.[
]
Home media
The US theatrical release (93 minutes) was only given a digital release on 12 February 2019. It was made available on Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
on 13 November 2019.
The film was released on region 2 DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
on 8 April 2019, by Vertigo Releasing through Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment. It was released in a region-free two-disc Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
on 2 December 2019, by Second Sight Films. Both the UK theatrical release (97 minutes) and the director's cut
A director's cut is an edited version of a film (or video game, television episode, music video, or commercial) that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit in contrast to the theatrical release. "Cut" explicitly refers to the ...
(108 minutes) are included in the set, the latter containing roughly ten minutes of footage absent from the theatrical version.
Reception
Box office
In the United States and Canada the film debuted to $52,588 from five cinemas, an average of $10,518.
Critical response
On review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 77% based on 122 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Anna and the Apocalypse'' finds fresh brains and a lot of heart in the crowded zombie genre—not to mention a fun genre mashup populated by rootable characters." On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".
''Dread Central
Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...
'' gave it 5 out of 5 stars, saying that it's "not just a great movie but a great musical as well."
Accolades
See also
* List of Christmas films
Many Christmas stories have been adapted to feature films and TV specials, and have been broadcast and repeated many times on television; since the popularization of home video in the 1980s, their many editions are sold and re-sold every year d ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anna and the Apocalypse
2017 films
2017 comedy horror films
2010s British films
2010s Christmas comedy films
2010s Christmas horror films
2010s English-language films
2010s musical comedy films
British Christmas comedy films
British Christmas horror films
British musical comedy films
British zombie comedy films
Christmas musicals
Features based on short films
Films about viral outbreaks
Films directed by John McPhail
Films shot in Scotland
Vertigo Films films