Blu-ray Review: Don’t Grow Up (2015)

In a sparsely populated youth center on a remote island, a group of scruffy young tear-aways get their delinquent on when they discover the facilities supervisor has disappeared. thing remarkably don’t go full Lord of the Flies, mostly because our young antagonists soon learn that every adult in the surrounding area has turned into a rabid zombie like being overnight. Now our heroes must survive the (minor) onslaught and pray they don’t age into monsterhood too soon!
Straight up, if you go into Don’t Grow Up expecting a full on zombie holocaust you are going to be severely disappointed. Rather, this flick is a rather somber coming of age drama, acted by an admittedly talented troupe of young thespians. That’s not to say their aren’t a few well done effects sequences here and there, they are just more punctuation on the troubles these kids already have in their lives. Adding to the plus column, the film is well shot with great monochromatic color schemes that add to the gravitas of the situation…but alas all is not wine and roses in the land of the zombie plague…
As stated previous, this is primarily a drama…and a drama that often gets so wrapped up in it’s human content that it fails to make any sort of credible threat of the beasts at hand. More often than not we are shown the kids chit chatting it up with not much tension or suspense evident. Also, a lot of these characters, while well acted, are not the most likable lot…there are plenty of abrasive personalities and ‘tude on display, and that does get grating from time to time.
As for special features on this Blu-ray release you get the following: a brief “making of” segment, a featurette on the language barriers encountered on set, a piece on the film’s cast and characters, and the film’s trailer. Nothing too crazy, but the brief looks on how the film was put together were entertaining enough.
Well acted and technically sound, Don’t Grow Up isn’t an explosive off the rails zombie kill-fest, but for a talky, quieter drama that just so happens to have zombie like creatures (occasionally) it isn’t too shabby…just lacking in suspense.