Dennis Pennis desk-dancing as a demonic headmaster, an ingenue actress out-sexying Kylie’s “Santa Baby”, and teenagers that you don’t want to see garrotted? The least likely thing about director John McPhail’s’s Anna and the Apocalypse is that it swings from heart-bursting feelgood to swear-at-the-screen horrifying without losing you for a second.
Anna is a typical teenager (wait for it…). She’s bored of her provincial Scottish town and her sweet-but-safe BFF, and yearns for the world before university. She’s in the middle of having a sort of row with the school activist about who has the worst lot when the zombie apocalypse happens. Concerns switch from useless relatives to staying alive.
The entire cast here are phenomenal. Ella Hunt (as Anna) has a sunny disposition and singing voice that really would fit in High School Musical, and when she really does have to fend off unwanted advances, you feel genuinely angry along with her despite the superbly-timed knock-out sight gags and loveable support from bestie John (Malcolm Cumming). Paul Kaye is delightfully bonkers but with a horrific undertone as headmaster Savage, who recalls Oliver’s Bill Sykes in the dastardly stakes. Ben Wiggins (Nick, to his utter credit) does a wonderfully non-ironic ripoff of “Greased Lightning”, Sarah Swire is sonically and sweetly believable and powerfully voiced as Steph, and Marli Siu reinvents innosexy as Lisa with the help of stunningly choreographed backing dancers. Siu is not your typical bombshell, and you don’t realise it until after you’re floating around in orbit.
It actually feels cruel singling these few out as you don’t notice “acting” at any point, and considering most of the cast are pretty much unknown, that is a truly terrific feat. Even Sarah Swire’s choreography (yep, same Sarah) is spot on, from Matilda-esque numbers with props and great timing to a delightfully ditzy semi-improvised number that (in the most loving way possible) puts the mighty Shaun of the Dead in the shade. The only tiny niggle that breaks this very British realism is when some actors momentarily slip into American accents mid-song, though the switch back makes you feel warm and fuzzy regardless.
The blessing and trick of this film is its arc. It has feelgood showstoppers that are appropriate within the story, are easy to sing along to, have a terrific beat and the actors really sell the emotion. It is also, however, very much a horror film. There is enough gore to make you squeal but the actual end-of-the-world thing may wrongfoot some viewers. A simple song about the sour side of social media is so beautifully directed by McPhail that the stakes genuinely feel through the roof. It does not wuss out.
Anna and the Apocalypse is a knee-bouncing, zombie cracking adventure that has the guts to put its daring artistic vision forward without compromise. It’s sickly sweet and genuinely original. Grab a candy cane and find a singalong a-sharpish!
ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE / DIRECTOR: JOHN MCPHAIL / SCREENPLAY: ALAN MCDONALD, RYAN MCHENRY / STARRING: ELLA HUNT, MALCOLM CUMMING, SARAH SWIRE / CERT: TBC / RELEASE DATE: TBC
