UNHUMAN (2022)

UNHUMAN (2022)

Tagline: The dead will have this club for breakfast.

(Horror,  Drama, A Series Of Unfortunate Decisions) [R]

Note: This movie was not given an MPAA rating, but I think with some of the horror elements it would have landed at a [R].

If you get us killed, I’m gonna be so pissed.

In this one, a group of high school students is headed out on a field trip when their bus hits someone causing a bloody mess. They end up crashing off the side of the road to discover they are being chased by a crazed zombie that sort of resembles Alice Cooper. So yeah, this movie is basically my sophomore year of high school. 

What is kind of funny in the opening credits is that they say this is a Blumhouse after-school special. If you grew up in the early 70s to late 90s you know exactly what this is referencing. ABC After School Specials ran from 1972 to 1997 and were typically meant to teach lessons with humor and drama like “don’t do drugs”, “lying will get you nowhere”, “stop putting ranch in your spaghetti”, or “be kind to your pet alligator” that type of stuff. On a different note, I think it’s pretty cool that the lead character's name is “Ever”. I had a character in my comic “Angelwolf” named Ever, but she was nothing like the character in the movie. 

This is meant to be a horror comedy, but the writing never really delivers. It ends up feeling more like a straight-up horror film. It’s hard to tell if they are trying to be “woke” in the writing or making fun of being “woke”. In that sense, I think it’s kind of missing the boat because we don’t really know. What we do know is that everyone in this thing is hyper-elevated when it comes to emotions. Cinematically for a low-budget flick, the lighting works pretty well and the effects are pretty intense. I think when you are doing a comedy, you can do a bit of teen angst but if you go too far, you start to suck the fun out of it. In this the balance is rocky, but it’s a road that you likely won’t mind being on till the end. Oddly the movie takes a crazy turn at the 54-minute mark that sets this apart from typical zombie flicks. 

Acting wise some of the performances are pretty solid. The biggest standout is probably Drew Scheid (GOOSEBUMPS: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN) as Steven. He is definitely asked to show the most range of the entire cast and ends up with a lot of screen time. Benjamin Wadsworth (DEADLY CLASS) as Randall is pretty decent even if his character deserves a punch in the nuts. Brianne Tju is pretty decent as Ever, but to this point, I haven’t seen any of her other work. That is likely to change though, she was in 47 METERS DOWN: UNCAGED, and my chances of watching that are pretty high. Lo Graham is in this for a bit as Jacey. She takes on the role of the standard all-American girl but gets to do some cool stuff. I first saw her in SWAMP SHARK back in the day, so it’s cool to see her still getting roles. Ali Gallo rounds out the cast as Tamra. She gets a bit of a character growth arch as does Danny played by Uriah Shelton best known for 2020’s FREAKY. I haven’t liked him in anything yet which might mean he’s a good actor?

Overall this thing does not go how I expected it was, but it does oddly remind me of an updated horror-based afterschool special in the end. I liked that we got a few characters to root for, and a decent score and soundtrack as well. I also think it's cool when the credits song lightens things up. We do get a bit of a setup for a part II, but I kind of hope we don’t get one unless they are bringing back the same cast.

For me, this was a 4 out of 7.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF BLUMHOUSE TELEVISION AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.