Zombieverse has been dubbed for the English Language market and released (as of August 2023) on Netflix. The show is from Korea, which seems to be on fire when it comes to Zombie content lately.
A group of unwitting contestants gather to take part in a reality dating show, but things take a terrifying turn when they find themselves in the middle of Seoul overrun by zombies. Together, they must escape the city and outrun the walking dead, or risk becoming zombies themselves.
-Netflix
Zombieverse
The plot is fairly straightforward. A group of survivors does their best to handle multiple different survival scenarios. Of course they are all centered around Zombies! The English dubbing is okay, but the translation often seems out of place to the situation on screen. There is laughing when people should be scared and vice versa. It makes it a little hard to get into the show. Why are people giggling when they are being terrorized by the undead?
Why is the driver just relaxing as he gets gas? There are Zombies everywhere! These are the types of scenes that just drive me crazy and make it hard to enjoy the series.
Zombies? Where?
Zombieverse Scoring
Zombieverse tries really hard to hit a lot of different genres. Unfortunately it just doesn’t do a great job of hitting the mark consistently. There is also a bit of a disconnect around what it is. Is it a Zombie Gameshow and the survivors are playing a game? Or is it an actual Zombie Apocalypse and they are just dealing with different scenarios? It feels like it was supposed to be a game show but the English translation tried to make it more of a survival show?
Zombieverse scores a 40/100 for the first season. There are just too many slow spots and bits of the plot that didn’t make sense to me. That puts this series at the lower and of the Rainy Day Scale.
The series felt like vignettes loosely stitched together. The major item which cost this series points was a lack of something that gripped me. I didn’t fall in love with any of the characters. Parts of it just didn’t make sense to me. Someone please explain this ending scene to me?
Time to Rock Out?
If you are looking for a fun and action packed Zombie Series I highly recommend Z Nation! If you are looking for something that is just fun on the other hand, I’d recommend iZombie.
Episode Scoring
Yes, the episode names are just episode and number!
Resident Evil The Light has Jade attempting a dangerous escape through the Chunnel. She is leading a small group of survivors in an attempt to escape Umbrella’s wrath.
Resident Evil
The story telling continues to jump back and forth between the current timeline and the backstory. They should have just concentrated on the current timeline with Jade running from Richard Baxter, played by Turlough Convery. Yes, I kind of recognized him but couldn’t place it until I looked at his IMDB page and realized I knew him from Killing Eve.
With Baxter hot on her heels, Jade is forced to make a risky escape through the Chunnel, only to have Baxter follow her there anyway. Of course Umbrella isn’t the only dangerous thing in the Chunnel and there are some nice action scenes as everyone ends up fighting for their survival.
I Hate Spiders
Compared to The Devil You Know, The Light picked up and felt much faster paced. There are multiple combat scenes and a few good moments of suspense. I still don’t like jumping back and forth between timelines. It seems overused and I think I’d actually like the episode more if I could just watch the “current timeline” version. Yes, I love Lance Reddick as Albert Wesker. Actually, I love almost every role he’s ever had. From The Wire to John Wick, how can you not appreciate the subtle intensity that Lance brings to every role he plays?
But…I just want to see the story progression when Jade is surviving in the Zombie infested wastelands. I would even be happy if they just limited the flashbacks to a very short clip explaining why something is the way it is. I don’t need a whole other storyline to explain the past.
Scoring Resident Evil The Light
Okay, rant over. I’m giving The Light a 77/100 as I felt like it was back on track after a slower Episode 2. There was more and better action and I happily watched it twice to make sure I didn’t miss any small details.
Army of the Dead has to be the movie I’ve been most looking forward to for 2021 so far, and it is finally here!
The Army Of The Dead
The concept is straight forward. Something escaped a military containment vehicle out in the desert near Las Vegas, turning the city into a city of the Dead, or Army of the Dead if you please. The first fifteen minutes of the movie is awesome, and walks us through that initial takeover.
The next 50 minutes or so is a bit slow and full of tropes. The bad guy recruits Scot Ward, played by Bautista to put together a team to raid a casino vault before Las Vegas is planned to be incinerated with nuclear weapons. The clock is ticking and the team has to get on the move.
The Army Of The Dead
Things pick up for the final 45 minutes or so, which is good, because the middle was really slow. Unfortunately, they forced too many things into a movie, which at its heart, should have been a Zombie Movie, not a love story, or father/daughter reconciliation story.
I really struggled with how to score this movie. At first I was just a little disappointed because I had such high expectations for movie. The middle, and the forced story elements like the love story cost The Army of the Dead major points. The other thing that cost the movie points was the ending. It is literally the ending of so many Zombie Movies.
Army of the Dead Scoring
So in the end The Army of the Dead scored a 71/100. It had a big budget, and there are some awesome combat scenes, but it didn’t live up to the hype. Maybe in a year I’ll go back and watch it again and the score will go up a little, but I don’t really think so. Still, it is Worth Your Time.
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse opens with Blake Anderson (Workaholics fame) singing into his mop. And quite well I must say. He’s a janitor at a research facility, and its not long before things go badly for our beloved janitor. As a researcher struggles with a snack machine, our Department of Defense patient gets wakes up. The janitor’s antics were just too much to sleep through.
Spoilers Below
Patient 0 – DOD
With the stage set, we cut over to a scout recruiting session that transitions into the weekend camping trip planning. Sadly for Augie, his two friends, Ben and Carter are ready to quit the scouts. They just don’t know how to tell Augie yet. Their plan gets interrupted when they drive into a deer. This introduces the “popular” kids to the mix.
Things keep getting weirder. Because the deer gets up after being hit by a car. I guess the Zombie Virus isn’t isolated to humans?
It’s not long before the scout leader encounters the deer in the woods. This leads to a knife fight as the scout leader puts it down with his lucky knife. I believe this is the first time I’ve seen a Zombie Deer kill, and that is just special. Who doesn’t remember losing their Zombie Deer Death Virginity right?
Pocket Knife Vs. Zombie Deer
Unfortunately for Scout Leader Rogers, the doctor from the research facility is nearby. Scout Leader Rogers doesn’t get any time to celebrate his victory over the deer. He fares less well against a Zombie Human than a Zombie Deer.
The Kind Stripper
Back in town, Ben and Carter attempt to buy some beer. This introduces us to the town’s cool stripper who helps the kids out -because that’s what strippers do.
After setting up camp with Augie, Ben and Carter sneak off. They think they are heading to the secret high school party. After getting caught sneaking off by Augie, Ben and Carter end up in town – back at the strip club.
The first few minutes of Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse was epic. Then there is a bit of a lull as the storyline is set up. Things really kick off around the 30 minute mark with the introduction of the Zombie Stripper.
This leads an awesome Zombie Kill that was fairly unique. How often do you see the broken bottle turn into a blood spout?
While Carter is kicking some Zombie butt, the lovely Denise Russo, played by Sarah Dumont saves Ben. She definitely qualifies as a Hotty with a Shotty. Once outside, the small group of survivors realizes what they are up against. Only head shots can kill a Zombie!
Zombies Are Real
The group flees a moment later after they spot a small horde. They don’t get far before they lose their mini spare tire. Lucky for them, Denise is a total bad ass, which gives them time to fix the tire.
Meanwhile Augie has also headed into town only to find himself at Scout Leader Roger’s house. Just in time for Zombie Scout Leader to attack him.
Surrounded
Meanwhile, Ben, Carter, and Denise flee to the police station. Sadly, there are no cops to save them. With a horde behind them, they flee to the only safety there is. This gets them stuck in a jail cell, surrounded by the undead.
Trapped In A Jail Cell
Augie ends up saving the group, which leads to an odd scene where Carter squeezes a trapped Zombie Cop’s boobs. Really?
Free of the police station, the group comes upon a lone Zombie. This leads to a Brittany Spears sing along with a Zombie. At least until a soldier shows up to rescue them. Unfortunately for the group, the soldier has already been bit. After killing him they find out that the military has a plan to bomb the town in a few hours.
The group decides their only solution is to find the hidden party, to try and safe their friends. You know, the friends who didn’t invite them to the party. Movie logic right?
While searching for the party location, our group of survivors ends up in a fight at one of their houses. This leads to a nice decapitation before they escape via a trampoline.
Losing Her Head Over it
This leads to one of the more memorable moments in the movie. Ben is forced to hold onto an old man’s genitalia as he’s hanging out a window. This was one of those gags I could have done without. Memorable doesn’t always mean good.
This leads the group to the crazy cat ladies house, and her cats want revenge!
Cat Attack!
After escaping the cat house, the team hits the local hardware store. They need weapons so they can go save the kids at the high school party. As our group prepares, we get treated to another over the top gag. Let’s just say a young lady gets oral that turns into being eaten alive for real. Wow, this movie really didn’t hold back anything.
Lucky for the popular kids, our group of Scouts show up just in time to save them from the Zombie horde!
Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse Scoring
Overall, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse scored a 70/100, making it Worth Your Time. But just barely. If you like raunchy, you are going to love this movie. For me, the over the top gags were a bit too much here and there. Although some of them did make me laugh at the same time I was cringing.
Everybody Dies in the End is the Season 3 finale. I’m hoping it is as high octane as last episode, which really kicked some butt.
The Man has Teen Lucy. Yes, she’s aging fast. He’s trying to convince her that no one is coming to save her. Not even Addy – but Lucy still has faith.
Zombie Guide
What The Man doesn’t know is that Lucy is a smart kid. She’s left behind a Zombie Guide for Addie. Nothing like Zombie GPS to point the way. He also doesn’t know that Kaya is tracking him, and directing Team Warren down on him as well.
Spoilers Below
When The Man get’s to the meeting point, he finds it flooded with Zombie’s. The kind that Lucy can’t control. Good thing for The Man a strike team from Zona is there to save his bacon.
Strike Team Mows Down A Horde
The Man quickly discovers that whatever is going on, things at Zona may be falling apart. The strike team he thought was sent to pick him up is actually just a group of soldiers left there without orders. Just like the other Zona survivors, the soldiers are losing their immunity.
Outside Addie, Doc, and the Zombie Guide have reached the Zona compound, but its a long way up, and no easy way to get in. Addie decides to climb, leaving Doc behind with the Zombie Guide in case she is wrong. It’s not too long before Doc is ambushed by paratroopers, and they don’t appear to be doing so well either.
Infected Eyes
Doc and Zombie Guide are about to get overrun when Team Warren shows up to save him. Our poor Zombie Guide is given Mercy before Doc can explain that he’s helping them.
Hunting The Man
We now have two teams closing in on The Man. Addie is climbing the mountain as Team Warren is coming through from the lower entrance.
Inside, The Man is trying to comfort Lucy, telling her he’s going to protect her, even from death. I was really expecting her to bite him as he held her. I guess it was a moment of honest fear on her part.
While all this is going on 10K is dying. How to do you save a dying man? Well, during the Zombie Apocalypse you strangle him, have Murphy bite him, and inject him with a dose of Zombie Vaccine all at the same time!
Which leads us to the final confrontation. Team Warren has reached the top of the Zona compound. Warren is shocked to see Lucy is now a teen, but Doc has a pretty good explanation.
It’s The Apocalypse Stupid
As Warren is trying to negotiate with The Man, Murphy takes the moment of distraction to take his shot. He wings The Man and grabs Lucy. Warren faces off with The Man for a moment before Murphy steps in again, wanting to put an end to The Man once and for all. Unfortunately for Murphy, his brief moment of strength ends up getting both him and Warren shot.
Double Shot
With Warren and Murphy down The Man picks up Lucy, throws her over his shoulder, and takes her up to the helipad.
This is when thing get really weird. Addie shows up, grabs Lucy, and they jump off the edge of the platform. Red’s little brother then follows them over the edge. Season 3 ends on a cliff hanger as a futuristic flying vessel shows up and shoots a pulse rifle several times. We see Murphy and Warren’s eyes glowing bluish before the season comes to an end.
Everybody Dies in the End Scoring
Really? This is how we are ending Season 3. After the massive build up from Duel, Everybody Dies in the End is a bit of a letdown. Everybody Dies in the End earned itself a 70/100, and is Worth Your Time, but I really hate cliffhanger endings like this.
Election Day starts with a nice squish as we see several survivors rolling down the road in an RV and taking out several Zombies in the process.
RV Versus Zombies
Presidential Motorcade
After we see the Zombies lose to the RV, we cut over to Doc and 10K, stranded on the side of the road, at least until the Presidential Motorcade comes rolling along.
Presidential Motorcade
Or if it’s not the president, it is at least Sketchy and Skeezy, and they have stolen Clinton’s limo from his presidential museum and are using it, combined with a few new dance partners, to grift what they can from survivors.
Dance party
While Sketchy and Skeezy are running their con, a young woman comes up, begging for help. Her husband and a bunch of other survivors are sick. Sketchy ignores her, but Doc offers to take a look, even if there isn’t much he can do. The sick all have strange yellow streaking through their eyes.
Yellow Fever?
As Sketchy & Skeezy deal with their presidential competition, we see the RV from the opening scenes approaching town from one direction as a small horde comes in from the other.
The Debate
The Zombies arrive just in time to interfere with Skeezy’s presidential debate which leads to a presidential zombie hunt, which of course means Addy had to step in to save the day.
Hammer Time
As Addy kicks some Zombie *ss Doc has found the source of the yellow eye disease. The filter on the town’s reservoir had a Zombie head in it. Lucky for the town’s survivors, Doc watched some Naked & Afraid before the apocalypse and shows the town’s mayor how to fix it using charcoal.
We then find out who the men in the RV are. They’ve been scammed by the fake presidents and want some revenge.
Election Day ends with Doc and Addy using the chaos to escape in the stolen presidential limo. It’s time for them to get back to their main mission of finding Lucy.
Election Day Scoring
Election Day was a fun episode with some good Zombie kills, which is always a plus. It had action and tons of fun. Which is why Election Day scored 80/100, making it Worth Your Time.
Zombie Wars starts with a voiceover. A young lady is explaining that they don’t know what started the Zombie Apocalypse. Or it spread by a comet (Night of the Comet anyone?) Others said it was god punishing mankind. Whatever the case, fifty years have passed since the zombies have overrun humanity, and now they are taking prisoners, breeding humans like farm animals.
The surviving humans live in camps and train from birth to fight. It is the only way to survive in a world where they are food. Our “good guy” survivors free humans bred for food, hoping to educate and turn them into more freedom fighters if they can.
Two brothers free several young woman from Zombie enslavement, complete with B grade special effects and awkward dialogue. Back at the camp the girls caged for their own protection. As Zombie slaves they don’t know English, but the Zombies did see fit to keep them clean and clothed, which does seem odd doesn’t it?
That night the Zombies find the camp, overrunning it. The Zombies take one of the brothers and his new female friend. They are lead to the Zombie camp and left together. I guess they are going to be used to breed and make more food?
The plot doesn’t get a lot better. There is some infighting, politics, but in the end the movie just doesn’t hit on all cylinders.
Zombie Wars Scoring
Zombie Wars scored a 21/100, putting it in Just Bad territory. The main thing that cost Zombie Wars points was the quality of the dialogue, the low quality special effects, and some of the acting was fairly wooden and silly. Combined with a well trodden storyline, there just wasn’t anything here that hasn’t been done better elsewhere.
Unless you are really bored, and just have nothing left to watch, I’d pass on Zombie Wars.
Wildfire opens at the break of dawn. Rick calls out to Morgan on the radio, warning him that Atlanta is overrun. Thankfully he did find his family though.
Catching Morgan Up
While Rick is trying to catch up with Morgan the rest of the crew is busy. They are cleaning up the dead from the zombie attack. I really appreciate the fact that Daryl is spiking heads with a pick axe. Because you don’t want to be picking up a zombie to find out its only mostly dead, know what I mean?
The clean up is mostly done when the survivors turn to focus on Andrea. She refuses to leave her sister’s side. Even going so far as to pull a gun on Rick and reminding him she now knows how the safety works. Daryl wants to put a bullet in Amy’s head from a distance. He stalks away in disgust when the others disagree.
Bitten
As the clean up crew is working Jacqui sees blood on Jim’s shirt and panics. He starts yelling out to the others that Jim was bit. T-Dog grabs Jim’s arms so Daryl can lift up Jim’s shirt as he begs that he’s okay.
Jim’s Been Bitten
Daryl is proposing direct action. Pick axe blows to heads, and Dale regretfully agrees. Rick hasn’t lived through people turning from bites yet. He naively thinks there is maybe help to be had at the CDC. Shane would rather go to Fort Benning. He believes the military would be their best hope of finding other survivors and safety. Fort Benning is a lot further away than the CDC in Atlanta though.
After Rick takes Jim someplace safe Dale goes to talk to Andrea. He tells her about his wife, and how mad he was when his wife died of cancer. He tells Andrea that her and her sister were the first people that he dared to care about. Andrea pulls out Amy’s birthday present, feeling guilty for all the missed birthdays in the past. Glenn leaves her to her mourning as Andrea puts the mermaid necklace around her sister’s neck.
We then get to see Carol take out years of abuse on her husbands corpse. She swings Daryl’s pick axe with enough fervor to make even Daryl raise an eyebrow.
Letting Go
Andrea is still beside Amy when she turns. Amy’s eyes twitch slowly before her eyes open, slowly turning to stare at her sister. Andrea apologizes as Amy lifts her head, trying to take a bite of her sister. The others turn, realizing what’s happening, afraid Andrea isn’t going to be strong enough to do what is needed.
Andrea Saying Goodbye To Amy
In the end Andrea does the needful and puts a bullet into her sister’s head. If you watch the shot closely it looks like she would have put a bullet through her other hand in the process though. That would have 100% infected hers in the process.
As Shane and Rick are burying the dead Shane blames Rick for taking half their manpower to go look for Merle. Rick pushes back that without the guns they would have been in even more trouble. While they are arguing Daryl piles in saying they need a leader. That the camp needs to know the rules. This is when Lori chimes in, telling Daryl they need to bury their dead, because its what people do.
Not far off Jim is suffering from a fever. He’s seeing flashes of walkers as the virus eats away at his brain. Rick comes to talk to Jim, but Jim’s in a fever dream, not fully aware of where he is. While Rick is talking to Jim, Lori and Shane are talking outside. This almost leads to Rick finding out just how well Shane was taking care of his wife while he was almost dying in the hospital bed. Shane short circuits the conversation after Lori chimes in to support Rick’s CDC plan. This leads the two old friends to head out into the woods to do their security sweep.
In Shane’s Sights
Rick And Shane Alone In The Woods
This leads to a very nerve wracking moment where Shane is clearly tempted to kill his old partner.
Shane Views Rick From Behind Is Shotgun
When Shane lowers the weapon, Dale is there, having seen the whole thing.
Dale Takes The Lord’s Name In Shane
Shane tries to play it off, pretending he thought Rick was a walker. Shane comments that they might have to start wearing reflective vests, but Dale’s face says it all. He doesn’t believe Shane any further than he could throw him.
When they get back to camp everyone groups around the fire. Shane says that he thinks they should all stay together. That means agreeing with Rick’s plan to head for the CDC. Rick shares the news with Morgan on the following dawn, telling him he left a map behind if he wants to follow.
Not Safe
The caravan has formed up, and everyone except for Morales and his family are going to head for the CDC. Rick and Shane gives Morales a revolver and half a box of shells as a farewell present.
Roll Out
The caravan rolls out, on their way to the CDC as Jim burns with fever in the back of the RV. They don’t get far before the RV blows its radiator hose. Shane goes to find parts when Jacqui comes out to get Rick, Jim isn’t doing well. Jim has a moment of clarity, and begs Rick to leave him behind. He’s in pain and every bump in the road is an agony.
In the end the group agrees to let Jim make the decision and leave him propped up against a tree as they roll away.
Dr. Jenner
We are then introduced to Jenner, the sole survivor at the CDC facility. He is alone and his affect seems off.
Dr. Jenner
Jenner is recording his updates and we learn that he’s concerned about saving power. Jenner is also having trouble sleeping due to being underground. We then see him working in a biohazard lab in a space suite when there is a small accident. This shows us how any breach in protocol leads to his experiments being burnt in a decontamination cycle.
This leads to Jenner voicing his loneliness and desperation, which ends in him admitting he’s considering suicide.
Jenner Admitting He’s Suicidal
Back on the surface the survivors have made it to the CDC. There is evidence of a fierce, last ditch effort to defend the installation outside its walls.
CDC Battleground
There are bodies everywhere, as well as what’s left of defensive positions. As the group approaches Jenner is pulled to monitors by motion alarms. We see the team get to the doors of the CDC. The doors are closed and sealed with protective shutters.
The CDC Is Shuttered
The team is just about to flee in a panic when the camera moves. They can’t be in the city when night falls. Rick bangs on the shutters and begs to be let in, they are out of gas and supplies. Jenner watches as Rick begs, and opens the doors just before the team is forced to flee the city before nightfall.
CDC Doors Open
The episode ends with the survivors looking into the CDC as the doors open, flooding light out into the coming darkness.
Wildfire Scoring
Wildfire is Worth Your Time and scored a 95/100. There is so much depth to every scene and the acting and writing is just top notch. The only thing that would have pushed this amazing episode up to a 100/100 would have been getting to see some flashbacks or security footage of the CDC compound being overrun.
Vatos opens with Amy and Andrea in a canoe, talking about their father and how he taught them to fish. Amy and Andrea have a twelve year age gap and as they chat they realize that their father taught them each differently. He gave them each what they needed though. This leads them to another of their Dad’s rules, “No crying in the boat.”
Andrea & Amy Fishing
Up at camp Dale is on over watch, keeping an eye on everyone from atop his RV. As Dale sees Jim in the distance digging the camera zooms in for just a moment. Jim is digging what looks like graves. Dale goes over to check on him but Jim isn’t in a talkative mood and just keeps digging.
Jim Digging
Merle’s Rescue
Meanwhile Merle’s rescue team is coming to grips with what happened on the roof. Daryl has a brief moment of murderous rage before he switches back to tracker mode. It is time to follow his brother’s blood trail. The trail leads them to two dead walkers, one with a bloody wrench near it. Daryl comments that his brother is the toughest *sshole he ever met.
Merle’s Wrench Kill
Rick reminds Daryl that anyone can pass out from blood lose, no matter how tough they are. They continue the search until they come to a kitchen area where they find lit sterno candles and burnt skin. Merle cauterized his stump.
Merle’s Cauterization Station
Daryl wants to keep searching, but Atlanta is huge. They agree to look around a few blocks, but only after they get the guns that Rick dropped by the tank.
Camp
Back at the camp Amy and Andrea have returned from their fishing trip as victorious heroes. Because of their fishing skills the camp gets to have a real meal. The survivors are celebrating their good fortune when Dale comes back and lets them know they have a problem. Dale points up to the hill where Jim is still digging.
Dale leads the camp group up to talk to Jim, but Jim doesn’t want to hear any feedback. He refuses to stop until Shane takes the shovel from him and handcuffs him. Shane tells him he’s going to be okay but Jim says he doesn’t believe it. It’s the same thing Jim told his family right before they were torn out of his grasp and eaten. The survivors tie Jim to a tree. After some rest he tries to bargain for his freedom. He tries to sound normal, but there is still crazy in his eyes.
Get The Guns
In Atlanta Glenn is laying out his plan to grab the guns. He wants the team to split up on either side of the bag so once he grabs it he’s go someplace to run in either direction. Daryl asks Glenn what he did before the apocalypse. I think Daryl was expecting something more than “Pizza Delivery” as Glenn’s old profession.
While Glenn is grabbing the bag of guns (and Rick’s hat) Daryl finds himself face to face with another survivor. The kid Daryl finds is screaming for someone, which leads to a brief scuffle before two others show up. Daryl is outnumbered and gets a beat down. As Daryl is getting the snot kicked out of him Glenn comes around the corner, which leads the newcomers to focus on Glenn.
Charge
Glenn gets beat but Daryl saves the bags of guns with a well placed crossbow shot. They aren’t able to save Glenn though. The newcomers show up in a car and kidnap Glenn before speeding away, leaving one of their own behind in the rush.
Rick, T-Dog and Daryl interrogate their prisoner. Daryl wants to know if they also took Merle like they took Glenn, which leads to Daryl trying to kick the kids face in. I love this Daryl. It is the angry, impulsive, raw metal that the apocalypse hammers into a smart, deadly survivor in coming years. Going back and re-watching these old episodes really makes me appreciate the character development of my favorite survivors.
The Prisoner
The kids not speaking, which forces Daryl to use psychological warfare. He throws Merle’s hand at the kid and tell him it was from the last person who didn’t speak when told to. The kid freaks out and falls off his chair as Daryl bears down on him. Daryl tells him they are going to start with the feet this time. Not surprisingly, the kid breaks, and leads the group back to where his friends took Glenn.
Rick and team approach the Vatos and we are introduced to Guillermo, the leader of the gang. Guillermo drops some truth, calling out Rick for saying they just want to talk. From Guillermo’s perspective his guys were jumped and defended themselves. Guillermo wants the bag of guns in exchange for the damage done to his people. Then he’ll agree to the prisoner exchange.
Things are about to get very ugly. Guillermo tells Rick that if he doesn’t do what he wants Glenn is getting fed to his three man eating dogs. Rick and the Vatos are about to thrown down when the violence is interrupted by an old lady. It’s hard to understand what she’s saying, but someone needs their medicine.
Guillermo’s Charge
The old lady takes Rick by the hand and leads him to “the Asian boy”. On the way Rick realizes that the Vatos aren’t bad people. They’ve been protecting an old folks home. Better still, we get to see Guillermo’s three, man eating dogs.
Guillermo’s Man Eaters
Compromise
Rick pulls Guillermo aside, angry that they almost came to blows. Rick does the right thing and splits the gun stash with Guillermo. When Team Rick heads back to the van, it has been stolen, presumably by Merle, who is going to want revenge.
Back at the camp Andrea is looking for something to wrap Amy’s birthday present in. Meanwhile Shane checks on Jim before cutting him loose.
As the camp enjoys their fish fry, Rick, Daryl, T-Dog and Glenn are running back. They are afraid that Merle is going to hurt their friends and loved ones.
Running Back To Camp
As the camp is enjoying there fish fry Morales asks Dale why he still winds his watch every day. Dale quotes Faulkner about time.
I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine or my father’s before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and then and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it.
― William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
As Amy goes to the restroom Ed hears noises just outside his tent. When he gets up to punish whomever is there comes face to face with a walker. Ed is swarmed in his tent as Amy steps out of the RV to complain about toilette paper. She steps directly into the grasp of a walker. Andrea looks up just in time to see her sister get bitten.
Amy Gets Bit
The camp is swarming with walkers as Shane tries to rally the survivors, yelling for everyone to make for the high ground by the RV. Rick’s small group shows up with their new firepower just in time to save the camp from being completely overwhelmed.
We then get the first of many punches to the balls that is to come as Andrea holds Amy in her arms as her sister dies.
The episode ends with Jim saying he now remembers the dream, and why he dug the graves as the camera scans the bodies on the ground around camp.
Vatos Scoring
Vatos was an excellent episode with good character development, tension and action. It is what every Zombies Series should strive to be! Vatos is Worth Your Time and scored a 94/100.
Block Z is a Filipino Zombie movie that takes place at a medical school. PJ is dropped off by her father at San Lazaro University after a short, emotional car ride between father and daughter. It appears he’s late on tuition, and doesn’t have the money to follow through.
Oddly, Block Z starts with subtitles, then switches to English, then has intermittent dialogue that is in subtitles. I don’t really mind, it’s just a little back and forth.
PJ And The Squad
PJ and her squad are in medical school and the school is broken down by social groups. The groups appear to be based on the student’s “block”. Some of the translations may be off, but I’m not sure. You’ll see what I mean if you watch it. Small bits of subtitles that seem off.
As PJ is starting her day in a clinic, her father, Mario accidentally hits a pedestrian. This leads him back to the emergency room where PJ is working. As Mario brings in his accident victim PJ is going to treat a patient who has what should be small injury. The patient has been bitten.
The patient is a female who has been bitten on her ankle. As PJ and her pre med friend examine the patient, the patient goes into shock. Angry veins slowly covers the patient’s brow. The woman then codes and is pronounced dead.
Patient 0
Patient 0
At least for a little while. Two other pre med students are in Patient 0’s room when she comes back. One of them is quickly pulled down as the other runs for it. This leaves the door open so that Patient 0 and her first pre med victim can escape. The two Zombies attack the triage unit and all hell breaks loose.
Patient 0 About To Spread The Infection Further
This shortly spreads o the gym. The coach gets his nose bitten off and the basketball team gets destroyed. The cheerleaders are next, which quickly turns into an all out infection. The school has been overrun.
PJ has survived, and so has her father, but they have been separated. PJ’s father is with the young man he hit with his car. The young man wants money. He has also been bitten. Of course the young man turns, and appears to bite PJ’s father, but we aren’t quite sure yet. One of the other student doctors, Lucas, show’s up, saving PJ’s father for the moment.
Lucas & PJ
Lucas ends up finding PJ just in time. She was in the Chancellor’s office after he was bitten in the initial outbreak. Lucky for PJ, Lucas manages to save the day for her as well.
In the chaos, students and patients try to make it outside, but they find their way blocked. The military has blocked the main gates. As Zombies push the survivors out into the open the soldiers panic, opening fire on Zombies and survivors alike.
While the slaughter is going on, the son of a privileged military commander calls his father for help. His father tells him to be ready at 5AM for a helicopter rescue – but only for two people.
Survivors
We now have two groups of survivors. PJ with a few fellow students, and her father who is with the security guard, Bebeth and Patient 0’s young daughter, Ruby. They are hiding out in the kitchen storeroom where they are safe for the moment.
Ruby enjoys some ice cream while Mario and Bebeth share some booze Bebeth’s coworker hid there.
Mario And Bebeth Talking About Their Children
The two are discussing their children when the lights go out and the red emergency lights come on.
Out in the parking lot PJ is with her small group of medical student survivors, trying to make their way across the parking lot. The rich student puts them all at risk by making a run for it just before the generators die. This results in the Zombies spotting PJ and Lucas in the open.
Crossing The Parking Lot Disaster
The group gets split up by the zombies. Lucas and PJ end up crawling under cars in a garage full of the undead. They just barely escape with their lives.
The Church
The group reunites not far away at the church. Thankfully someone had the sense to ask Lucas what his wound is from, making sure he wasn’t bitten.
As the church bells ring the group realizes they are surrounded. They grab what weapons they can find and begin a desperate fight to survive. They fight off the initial few zombies, but a massive horde is coming for them.
The Horde Cometh
Lucas steps forward but before he can strike the first zombie is blown away. Dad and Bebeth have shown up just in time to save the day.
Mario And Bebeth Save The Day
Mario and PJ hug it out but Mario was saved earlier by Lucas, and Lucas told Mario he had to go look for his “girlfriend”. I love the fact that in the midst of people eating people Dad (Mario) is still worried about his daughter’s love life. PJ goes around and says, friends, friends, friends to everyone there.
Friends
For the moment Mario is mollified and the survivors are safe.
Dressing Wounds
PJ dresses Lucas’s glass cut wounds while he has a pity party for himself. He thinks he could have saved some of the others. PJ tells him she should be thanking him and they look like they are going to kiss. At least until Mario comes by and coughs in their direction.
As the medical students discuss the virus and what it might be Ruby wanders over to a very dark stairway. She is only kept from going down by Mario’s intervention.
The rich kids girlfriend mentions the rescue as they are standing in the church, and he is forced to admit there will only be room for two people. He says he didn’t think there would be this many survivors by now. What a d*ck! He then proceeds to basically say the guard (Bebeth) and the older guy (Mario) should be left behind with the kid (Ruby). Why? Because they will just slow the medical students down.
Lucas, being a good, moral person says they can’t leave anyone behind, but the rich kid (Gelo) doesn’t agree.
Time to Move
The group then agrees to move on to the Library. This leads the group into a lot of growling, angry zombies. As Bebeth is opening a locked door Ruby sees her mother, who is now a hungry Zombie. The kid goes running into the midst of the biters to get to her mom.
Ruby Gets Eaten
While the survivors scream in horror, Ruby is devoured. Gelo takes the moment of distraction to screw over his friends. He locks the gate that Bebeth just opened, stranding his friends on the Zombie side.
There are apparently a lot of gates at this medical school. Even though Gelo locked them out the rest of the survivors are (barely) able to make it to another gated hallway and lock the biters on the far side.
The Dormitory
It is now 1:44:08 AM, and the action has moved on to the Dormitory.
The Dormitory
Bebeth is heartbroken. She had bonded with Ruby and likely blames herself for what happened. This transitions into a brief interlude where Mario plays the guitar before the others do a time check. They need to be at the hospital by 5AM.
PJ goes to use the restroom. When she pulls her hand back she realizes the doorknob is covered in blood.
Bloody Door Knob
Of course there is a zombie inside the bathroom. This leads to Mario jumping in to save his daughter, and getting bit in the process. PJ is in denial about what it means, but the others realize what’s about to happen. Mario begs Bebeth to shoot him, but PJ intervenes. Mario shuts the door on the bathroom so his daughter won’t have to see him turn.
The group leaves him to his fate while Bebeth leads the remaining survivors to the pool. They don’t get far before Myles gets attacked in a storeroom and gets bitten. Bebeth gives him a handgun with four bullets before the dwindling survivors move on.
Good Aim
Apparently Myles has genetic good aim. He places his first two shots into zombie heads before wasting his last two. He’s dry firing and screaming as the zombie horde descends on him.
Bebeth holds the stairwell with her shotgun as the other flee. They are forced to jump into the pool when they have no other escape.
Stranded In The Pool
Lucky for the survivors the Zombies are afraid of the water. Even more lucky, Erika can’t live without Myles. She’s willing to get eaten as a distraction so that PJ and Lucas can escape.
PJ and Lucas make it to the medical ward only to find it overflowing with Zombies. They flee to the roof as their only escape.
The Rooftop
The Hospital Rooftop
Lucas is worried about the door giving way but is able to help PJ climb to the next level before the roof gives way. The wound on his arm from earlier in the night is holding PJ back. Lucas does the only thing you can do when your on a roof and about to get eaten. He jumps over the edge, leading a small horde with him as he goes.
The team is now down to one survivor. PJ is left, but as she’s lying on the helipad she realizes she’s been bit when she checks her watch.
PJ’s Bite
Instead of waiting for the helicopter, PJ goes back down into the building, grabbing an axe in the process.
Getting The Axe
PJ Goes On The Attack
PJ does fairly well at first, but as she continues into the building she ends up getting bitten multiple times. Pesky Zombies!
PJ has realized that she’s not turning, and figures that her father might not have turned either. She’s been heading back to her father since grabbing the axe.
Once she reunites with Mario she explains that they are somehow immune. Then she breaks the news that no rescue is coming. They need to get back to the church in the hopes that the old WW2 tunnels will lead them to safety. Lucky for them, the WW2 tunnels have electric lights.
WW2 Tunnels
Unfortunately for Mario and PJ, even though the tunnels are conveniently lit, they also contain a just about to turn Gelo. Gelo’s pissed that someone else might get to live when he’s clearly not going to. Mario fights off Gelo long enough to let PJ escape before they both flee to the surface.
Things on the street don’t look great, but at least PJ finds a weapon fairly quickly and strikes a brave, combative pose.
A Girl And Her Gun
As PJ clutches her weapon the audio switches to a voiceover. There is a typhoon coming and everyone should flee.
We then cut over to PJ finding Lucas and telling the band behind her that they are taking him with them before the credits roll.
Block Z Scoring
Block Z scores a 44/100, put it in Rainy Day territory, so safe it for one of those days where you are locked inside and there isn’t a lot else to do. Why did Block Z score a 44?
Part of the reason is the mix of English and Filipino which means you will be reading subtitles, listening to English, then switching back and forth as the dialogue changes. I found it a bit disruptive, which is sad, because the action scenes were actually pretty good.
The main reason though is the ending. It ends abruptly and honestly feels like a set up for a future film, but doesn’t really have a satisfying ending. PJ and Mario climb up onto the street and then it’s left to our imagination as to what happens.
