Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015)

"All right, scouts. 

Let's kick some zombie ass!"

Scouts Guide to tits, gore and fart jokes.

After the zombie apocalypse arrives, three young scouts discover the true meaning of friendship as they fight to save their town from the impending doom.

'Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse' promises a lot with the wild and entertaining premise but doesn't quite deliver on all the levels that you'd expect.

I went in to this film with a relatively open mind. I hadn't seen the trailer and, admittedly, judged a book by it's cover and went in on a whim based on the old grindhouse style poster. 

It kicks off with three stereotypically misfitted friends who are still in the scouts, despite being in high school. You've got the relatable one, the foul mouthed one and the goofy one and that's just about all you really need to know. The zombie apocalypse breaks out and the young scouts must use all of their training to save themselves and those they care about. 

It sounds like it should be a lot of fun right? 

You'd sort of be right. 

I wasn't expecting a lot from this film and, with that state of mind, I wasn't particularly disappointed. There's gore and ridiculous zombie kills and that is exactly what you'd expect in a zombie horror/comedy, which was fun, but in terms of the actual story and the film itself? It's relatively bland.

The film had a lot of potential but squanders it. I was hoping for a lot more of the scouts and how their training comes in to play with how they cope with the apocalypse. That side of the film would have been a lot more interesting but that doesn't really come in to play until literally the very end scenes. There's so much build up to the actual show down that the rest of the film lags behind and we begin to lose interest. 

Granted, the zombie apocalypse that they depict in the film would be a blast but they just don't capitalise on all the possibilities. You've got all that scout training at your disposal with a lot of breathing room for some great zombie moments but most of the time is spent around  the "puppy love" storyline and too much build up. I wanted to see more badass zombie survival skills with some more action to balance out the pretty mediocre plot but, unfortunately, you're left a little cold at the end. I'd have loved it to have been more of a 'Home Alone' with zombies scenario but that's not the world we live in... But hey, what about that for a movie premise?

I did like the message and what it was aiming for with the three best friends. It concentrates on their friendship and the fear of growing up, while still managing to have a little fun with it too. The characters are your run-of-the-mill teens but the heart of the film was in the right place. 

When the humour wasn't overly immature there were some really funny moments that had me laughing out loud. The scenes with David Kouchner from 'Anchorman' as Scout Leader Rogers were particularly funny but that's expected with his comedy background.

It's definitely a film for young teenage boys to enjoy. Plenty of girls, gore and swearing, which is fine when you're 14, but it gets a little tiresome without much else going for it. I was hoping for a horror/comedy along the lines of 'Shaun of the Dead' but it was just your pretty bog standard toilet humour. I love a good fart joke as much as the next guy but it's a very immature film so, if that's not your thing, then I wouldn't recommend 'Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse'.

Overall, 'Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse' had a lot of potential but isn't as good as you'd expect. It falls short of the expectations of the genre with a lot of pre-pubescent humour and mild zombie gore. It has some laughs but, on a whole, leaves you with a forgettable horror/comedy. 

It feels like a student short film that's been stretched to a feature when it should have been left alone.

Such a wasted opportunity for what could have been a really funny zombie comedy.

A good film to switch your brain off to but not one that you'll remember.

"What are you, the Taliban?"

Yeah, that's a joke from the film... *Sighs*.