''Me and My Mates vs the Zombie Apocalypse'' is a 2015

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

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 ...

comedy horror film written and directed by Declan Shrubb and developed through ScreenACT's 2012 Low Budget Feature Pod. The film stars Jim Jefferies, Alex Williamson, Adele Vuko,

Greg Fleet Gregory Fleet is an Australian comedian and actor. History Early life Fleet was born in Michigan, in the United States. His father moved the family to Australia when Greg was four. He grew up in Geelong, and as a teenager boarded at Geelong Gra ...

Andy Trieu Andy Minh Trieu (born 10 December 1984), commonly known as Andy Trieu, is an Australian host, actor and martial artist. He is a three-time Australian Champion Martial Artist. Early life Trieu was born in Canberra to Vietnamese parents. He atte ...

and Matt Popp, with cameos by Eso from

Bliss N Eso Bliss n Eso (formerly known as Bliss n' Esoterikizm) are an Australian hip hop trio based in Sydney. They are currently signed to Melbourne record label Illusive Sounds, and are managed and booked by label co-founders Adam Jankie and Matt Gudin ...

, Jim Punnett and The Roundabout Crew.

Plot

After the zombie apocalypse occurs in Australia, two tradesmen, Darryl (Alex Williamson) and Joel ( Jim Jefferies), meet at a telephone exchange tower to take refuge there. Joel shows Darryl that their friend Roy's (

) undead wife (Jackie Murray) is in the back of his ute, which prevents them from retrieving their beer. After an argument Darryl is forced to shoot Roy's wife in the head. Their older friend Roy meets the two there with his daughter Emma (Adele Vuko), and Darryl proceeds to poorly flirt with Emma, much to Roy's dismay. After discussion about their plans to survive, Joel decides to fix the 3G tower to make an emergency call to the military to alert them of their location. While waiting for the tower to get fixed, Emma and Darryl become intimate, during which a firework goes off in the distance and the zombies surrounding their location migrate. At this point two strangers wearing

paintball Paintball is a competitive team shooting sport in which players eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with spherical dye-filled gelatin capsules called paintballs that break upon impact. Paintballs are usually shot using low-energy ai ...

ing gear enter the tower; they are revealed to be the apprentices Ryan (Matt Popp) and Lachlan (

), who is Emma's boyfriend. Joel fixes the phone line and talks with the military. Meanwhile, the apprentices tell the other guys that the military caused the zombie apocalypse and that calling them is the last thing they should do. The team argues and decides to split up: Joel, Roy and Darryl wish to get picked up by the military and Ryan, Lachlan and Emma decide to hide in case the military are in fact malicious. Roy begins to show symptoms that he is infected. The military jeep drives past and misses the tower. Joel goes to the roof to launch fireworks to catch the military's attention, but is killed when he accidentally ignites the entire pile of fireworks. Two soldiers arrive but, confused by Roy's poor wording of the situation, are eaten by the hoard of zombies. A zombie picks up Joel's access card from his severed leg. The team decides to make a dash for the military's weapons and vehicle, but the zombie that grabbed the access card opens the building and the hoard begins to move in. The apprentices make a dash to drive off the hoard while Emma runs to the senior soldier's corpse to retrieve his car keys. She starts the car and grabs the apprentices, Lachlan spraining his ankle running to the car. Darryl admits to Roy that he slept with his daughter. Roy radios Emma to tell her to leave him and Darryl to die, and to set off a flare once she and the apprentices are safe. At this point Darryl admits to Roy that he shot his wife. Roy and Darryl decide that Roy gets to Darryl on account of killing his wife and having sex with his daughter in the same afternoon. Darryl defuses the situation by showing Roy the grenade he found. They use the grenade to blow up the zombies chasing them. As the sun rises, they see another hoard coming towards them. The two have one last smoke before fighting and ultimately being overrun by the zombies. As they lie dying they see the flare Roy instructed Emma to set off once she was far away.

Cast

* Jim Jefferies as Joel * Adele Vuko as Emma * Alex Williamson as Darryl *

as Lachlan * Matt Popp as Ryan *

as Roy * Jackie Murray as Roy's Wife * Jim Punnett as Junior Soldier * Brendan Kelly as Screwdriver Zombie * Max Mackinnon as Soldier * Dorothy Kocsi as Hysterical Towel Girl * Glen Bunfield as Office Worker Zombie * Shannon Bunfield as Office Worker Zombie * Adam Spicer as Ugly Zombie * Naomi Turvey as Athletic Girl Zombie * Matt Leonard as Zombie Extra * Simon Kiker as Beheaded Zombie * Ryan Obstoy as Metalhead Zombie #2 * Brendan Farrugia as Zombie Extra * Peter Lewry as Lawn Mower Zombie * Lynelle O'Flaherty as Neck Gash Zombie * Aron Rodger as Zombie Extra * Brad Dorrington as Zombie Extra * Leland Neville as Zombie Extra * Ryan Croft]as Neck Gash Zombie * Mindy Hughes as Tunnel Zombie * Oliver Durbidge as Cyclist Zombie * Michael Naim as Zombie Extra * Rob Volant as Metalhead Zombie #1

Production

Under its working title of ''Exchange'', the film was one of ten projects selected out of 42 submissions to ScreenACT. The project received production funding and the production team received the benefit of a program consisting of three months of intensive development, working on script, budget, financing and distribution plans. It was one of three films chosen for production funding of $120,000 but was the only film that ended up being produced. The project is a Crowdfunding, crowd funded

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

which was made possible through indiegogo. The team behind the film raised US$41,439 with 471 backers, surpassing their initial goal of US$30,000 and breaking the record at the time for crowdfunding an Australian feature film. The project was shot in Canberra through January and February 2014. To raise funds for an extra day of shooting, a second indiegogo campaign was run which raised an additional US$5,000. The completed film was released in Australian cinemas via the Tugg cinema-on-demand platform. Premiering on 24 July 2015, it became Tugg Australia's most requested film, and was featured on National 7 News for this accomplishment. It screened in every state and territory in Australia. It is distributed through their website where it can be rented or purchased. and in stores on DVD and Vimeo-on-Demand 9 September 2015. It was released on DVD in UK on 2 May 2016, through Matchbox Films, and was released in the US on 5 July 2016, by Lightyear Entertainment.

Release

The film began its Australian cinema run on 24 July 2015, through the Tugg cinema-on-demand platform.

Home media

The film was released on

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 ...

Vimeo Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as ...

and other VOD platforms in Australia on 23 September 2015, available for purchase at stores such as

JB Hi-Fi JB Hi-Fi Limited is an Australian consumer electronics and home appliances retail company. It is publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Its headquarters are located in Southbank, Melbourne, Victoria. The company has 316 stores ...

and

Sanity Sanity (from la, sāntā) refers to the soundness, rationality, and health of the human mind, as opposed to insanity. A person is sane if they are rational. In modern society, the term has become exclusively synonymous with ''compos mentis'' ( ...

. It was released in the UK on 2 May 2016 and to

, VOD, and digital channels in the US on 5 July 2016.

Festivals

* Official Selection of

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 ...

(2015) * Official Selection of UK Festival of Zombie Culture (2015) * Dead Walk Fest (2016)

Soundtrack

* Family Affair by

Bliss n Eso Bliss n Eso (formerly known as Bliss n' Esoterikizm) are an Australian hip hop trio based in Sydney. They are currently signed to Melbourne record label Illusive Sounds, and are managed and booked by label co-founders Adam Jankie and Matt Gudin ...

* Where the Wild Things Are by

Sound Design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

by the Base recording studios

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. * Original score by Morgan Quinn, with additional music by Nick Moynihan.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.matesvszombies.com/
''Me and My Mates vs the Zombie Apocalypse''
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Australian comedy horror films Australian zombie films 2010s English-language films