The Creature: Ah yes, a Horror Musical. A lot of people love throwing in a musical number in the midst of blood-soaked chaos like Sweeney Todd or Repo! The Genetic Opera that end up fairing over pretty well for the most part. While there are many different films of this variety out there, this was one I admittedly had never heard of prior to this moment. Given that it’s not only a Horror Musical but also a Holiday Horror movie set during the Christmas season with zombies made it all the more curious for me to take a look at it.
The Creature: I suppose I could break out some nutcrackers and bash them over the head of the undead. Let’s have a go at this film.
I’m starting to realize
Sometimes the nice guys
Don’t always get the girl
Those lines while seemingly are heartbreaking do speak to the truth of the movie, this movie will not give our characters the happy ending they have dreamed of. There’s also Steph, who I know is a transfer student, I think from the States and I also believe the movie is implying that she may be bisexual as she does have an offscreen girlfriend but she also seemingly has feelings for another member of their friend group, Chris who already has a girlfriend. Steph is one of the best characters as she is a social activist and does put words into action. And she, in the beginning, does have the most opposition with Vice Principal Savage, one guess as to who the villain is. Now Chris and Lisa are actually sweet as they have a sickly sweet relationship that they’ll promise to never leave one another’s side. This’ll become very tragic as the movie goes on. Creature any thoughts on these characters before we move into the meat of the story.
The Creature: The characters in the film seem like some characters that have become quite common to see in recent High School films and Television. Anna wants more out of life who has a difficult relationship with her father, Chris and Lisa are the over-the-top couple who are constantly with each other, John is the “obviously in love with Best Friend” guy and Steph does come off as possibly bisexual who has a bit of bad luck at the beginning of the film. The film also has Anna’s ex-boyfriend who seems like he’s trying to impress her and win her back even though she’s not having any of it. While they may seem like stereotyping certain tropes, their performances make them stand out amongst them…and yeah, Vice Principal Savage is so obviously the villain in the film. He’s not even trying to hide it. You might as well have a shirt reading “Antagonist” on him at all times.
Anna Shepherd: On Dasher, on Dancer on… the other ones?
John: Firebolt? No… that’s Harry Potter’s broom.
Anna Shepherd: Oh no. We can’t hang out anymore. You’re too sad. You’ve hit like, peak sad.
John: They were a very popular series of books.
The big reason that a moment such as this works is that it sells the chemistry of these two and you buy that they’ve been friends for years. It’s dorky cute and real all at the same time. So, the next morning we get an ironic moment where John and Anna go through their morning unaware of the zombies as they are listening to a song about turning their life around. That is until we get our zombie attack and it is of a zombie in a snowman costume. That is freaky and funny at the same time.
The Creature: Given that it’s a zombie movie, it comes as no surprise that it would be graphic. Granted it’s not going to be a blood-bath like “Braindead”, but it has enough gore that would satisfy most horror fans. A large portion of it is covered during the musical numbers as they fight off zombies while trying to reunite with their friends back at the school like when Anna’s ex and his lackeys boast about surviving this nightmare while violently killing zombies (which feels like watching the Gaston song from “Beauty and the Beast” with a zombie twist). It’s appropriate for a musical in the Horror genre that is quite the sight given that some of the zombies are being killed off with Anna sporting a giant candy cane for her weapon of choice.
….and yeah, the Fish Wrap was easily my favorite song in the film.
The Creature: The song does let you know right off the bat that this is during the holiday season which would make it quite the contrast in tone given it soon will be overrun by zombies. Given the fact that it sounds like that Mariah Carey song, this song got annoying to me (mostly due to mass exposure to it in my retail years) so it doesn’t really end up being a favorite of mine.
If I still had some faith, I’d pray
The Creature: Ah yes, the “I Want” song for the musical. As you’ve stated, it’s pretty much the song in which the teens express their desire to seek more out of life outside of school than what they’ve been given so far in regards to how they’ve been treated over the years. It is very similar to a lot of things that I’ve seen in other teen movies (and a few Disney songs as well) so it will come across as a bit of familiar territory for the audience.
The Creature: It is a bit ironic hearing this song in the film considering they’re about to come across the zombie apocalypse the very next day so it does come off as tragic foreshadowing for them.
The Creature: I’ll admit that it’s not really the best song out of all the ones in the film, but I ended up getting some enjoyment out of it. It was a pretty ridiculous moment that got some laughs out of me and is one of the parts of the movie that sticks out the most for me.
The Creature: Seeing all the chaos unfold around them as they sing their way back to school is a pretty funny sight which brings in some humor to the film. It’s a bit reminiscent of Shaun getting food while hungover with zombies walking about in Shaun of the Dead.
The Creature: Yeah, it reflects this year pretty well. As you mentioned, we’re all separated from the people most important to us and have no idea if they’re okay or not. It fits in with our zombie story fairly well given we live in the digital era.
The Creature: It’s definitely a song to show off how great he is in front of Anna and her friends as he kills some zombies. While this does seem ego-boasting, it does soon provide a change of perspective for him soon after.
The Creature: He definitely was having a lot of fun during this number. Throughout the film, it becomes a bit obvious he starts to lose his sanity and he’s finally lost it by this point and lets the zombies chase the rest of the cast around the school while singing. It’s definitely one of the more fun songs out of the bunch.
The Creature: I’ll admit this is one of the very few Hero/Villain duets I’ve heard in any musical and I do think there should be more of them in musicals. Anna and Savage have a stand-off in the gym as he has her father held hostage in a room full of zombies and she has to fight through them and Savage to save them. It’s quite the sight to see in the film.
The Creature: Being full of hope in the face of despair…is this connected to Danganronpa by chance?
Anyway, it is definitely a song about remaining positive in spite of the worst happening to them throughout the film.
Moviefan12: We end with something of a jokey song over the credits. It’s cute and the tongue is clearly planted in its cheek. Still, a bit jarring to jump from the last song of despair to this jokey number. It’s not bad but not one I’d see myself coming back to.
*goes back to watch them*
So the song is definitely jarring given the last song we just had in the film, though it is a bit on the nose with the humor in the film.
The Creature: It was a pretty unique film given it’s a Christmas musical set in the middle of the zombie uprising that also went down the comedic path instead of aiming for a serious note like most zombies material does. It gets serious when it needs to without it feeling jarring and it faired over as being pretty entertaining. I’m not sure it’ll go the midnight screening and cult following route, but I could see it hitting the stage eventually.
I think I’ve heard of this before. The songs are pretty good. I may need to check it out. Good job, guys.
It’s really fun and the characters and music help to elevate it. Sure, it’s a bit kitschy but it has a lot of heart
It’s definitely a unique watch for the holiday season.