Review: Me and My Mates vs the Zombie Apocalypse

Posted by Anura Samara, 21 September 2015

I’ve never been a fan of the zombie movie. I get the concept, but I’ve never found them to be compelling dramas, it’s all right in your face. OK, I admit that I enjoyed 28 Days Later and then 28 Days Later but that’s about it. No, I haven’t seen The Walking Dead.

But zombie comedies on the other hand can be good. Anything that sets out to satirise something a genre which takes itself too seriously is always a good thing in my book. Shawn of the Dead is right up there as the best of this genre – it brings in all of the familiar tropes of zombie movies but overlays them with deep veins of satire.

I really went along to see Me and My Mates vs the Zombie Apocalypse to support a local production

It follows the familiar theme: there’s a zombie apocalypse, a group of normal people are trapped and need to escape or be rescued. There’s the smart guy in the group who has a plan and the stupid guy who almost makes the plans fall apart. It wouldn’t be a zombie movie without blood, lots of blood.

The three trapped guys seem to be nonplussed about the carnage outside – it’s only when the zombies threaten them that their talk turns to defence and escape. The rest of the time is spent in bogan banter, particularly about girls. It follows the pattern of attempting to ramp up the drama with the zombies only to burst with comedy, but I think the gaps between the two are too big. I think really good writing and directing can get this just right, but here it feels disjointed and lacks finesse. The humour is definitely in the ‘Aussie bogan’ style and can be funny, but its hard to imagine that this will translate well to other audience.

There are a couple of subplots to keep the story going for a full length feature – how do you tell your mate that you both killed his zombified wife and slept with his daughter on the same day?

The movie is strongest with the three main characters played by Jim Jefferies, Greg Fleet and Alex Williamson but it starts to drift when the younger and clearly less experience actors come along.

Categories: Movies