''Corona Zombies'' is a 2020 American

comedy horror film Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and spo ...

directed by

Charles Band Charles Robert Band (born December 27, 1951) is an American film producer and director, known for his work on horror comedy movies. Career Band entered film production in the 1970s with Charles Band Productions. Dissatisfied with distributo ...

, and produced and distributed by

Full Moon Features Full Moon Features is an American motion picture production and distribution company headed by B-movie veteran Charles Band. It is known for the direct-to-video series '' Puppet Master'', ''Trancers'', and ''Subspecies'', as well as the film ''C ...

. Inspired by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the film stars Cody Renee Cameron as Barbie, a woman who finds herself facing an outbreak of

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 w ...

s infected by

coronavirus disease 2019 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

(COVID-19). Alongside Cameron, the film stars Russell Coker and Robin Sydney. ''Corona Zombies'' was released digitally through Full Moon Features' website and app on April 10, 2020. Later that year, it was followed by two sequels also directed by Band, ''Barbie & Kendra Save the Tiger King'' and ''Barbie & Kendra Storm Area 51'', with Cameron and Sydney reprising their roles.

Cast

* Cody Renee Cameron as Barbie * Russell Coker as Corona Zombie * Robin Sydney as Kendra

Production

''Corona Zombies'' was filmed over a period of 28 days. The film consists primarily of redubbed and repurposed footage from '' Hell of the Living Dead'' and ''Zombies vs. Strippers'', as well as clips of real-world news footage.

Release

The film premiered digitally through Full Moon Features' website and app on April 10, 2020.

Reception

Stuart Heritage of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' called the film "the sort of thing you'd watch drunk in your house at midnight. But then again, that's how you're going to watch all films for the foreseeable future, so it has to be worth a go." '' The National''s Katy Gillett, in her review of the film, wrote: "If zombie movies are your thing, and you can acknowledge them as pure escapism that isn't to be taken seriously, then you're probably fine. If not, I'd skip it." Alan Ng of ''

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...

'' called ''Corona Zombies'' "a hilarious satire of this whole pandemic", comparing it favorably to the 1966 film ''

What's Up, Tiger Lily? ''What's Up, Tiger Lily?'' is a 1966 American comedy film directed by Woody Allen in his feature-length directorial debut. Allen took a Japanese spy film, '' International Secret Police: Key of Keys'' (1965), and overdubbed it with completely or ...

'' and the television series ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. ...

''.

Accolades

Sequels

''Corona Zombies'' was followed by two sequels, ''Barbie & Kendra Save the Tiger King'' and ''Barbie & Kendra Storm Area 51''. Both sequels were directed by Band, star Cody Renee Cameron as Barbie and Robin Sydney as Kendra, and were released in 2020.

References

External links

* * {{Charles Band 2020 comedy horror films 2020 films American comedy horror films American zombie comedy films Collage film Films directed by Charles Band Films about the COVID-19 pandemic American satirical films American exploitation films 2020s English-language films 2020s American films