There has been a lot of buzz about Christopher Landon’s zombie-comedy Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, now I know why. Last night when I sat down to watch Scouts Guide, I was hoping it would live up to the hype.
The film follows three Scouts, who happen to be best friends. Two of the friends, Ben (Tye Sheridan) and Carter (Logan Miller), are starting to worry how people look at them. They’ll be juniors (in high school) next year and like most kids at that age, they worry girls won’t think they’re cool. While trying decide how to tell Augie (Joey Morgan) (the third friend) they want to quit Scouts, they hit a deer. Ben and Carter are changing the tire when Carter’s sister Kendall (Halston Sage) and her boyfriend and friend pull up. Ben has had a crush on Kendall since he was little, but she’s pretty and popular, and she has a boyfriend, who’s a douche. Carter thinks he’s scored when Kendall’s friend gives him the address to a secret senior party. When Kenadall and her friends pull off Ben notices that the deer they hit has run off, he was sure it was dead. In preparation for the party Ben and Carter stop by the liquor store, where they run into Denise (Sarah Dumont), who went to their school, but now works at the strip club. Ben and Denise share a sweet moment and she buys the guys some beer. Now, the plan is to meet up with Augie at the Scouts camp out, wait till he falls asleep, and go to the party. As soon as Augie falls asleep they head out, only to get caught by Augie and they tell him they want out, driving their friendship to the brink of ending. Leaving the camp they notice the town is dead, not yet realizing that it’s undead. They notice the bouncer is gone and sneak into the strip club where a stripper gives them the a show, then tries to eat them. Enter Denise, shotgun in hand and all badass.
Scouts Guide is non-stop action. The zombies are fast, hungry and smart, in fact they retain the ability to open doors and even moan the words to Brittany Spear’s “Baby, Baby”. People aren’t the only zombies in town, there are zombie deer and zombie cats as well. The guy’s Scouts training keeps them alive and gives them a fighting chance. Between the fits of laughter, you’ll notice that the movie makes a clear statement about friendship. Scouts Guide is filled with gory goodness and awesome zombie kills. Things get crazy, for example, there’s an escape scene that involves one of the guys and an old man’s privates that grossed me out and made me laugh at the same time.
If you’re looking for an intelligent, sophisticated film, this isn’t it. It’s cheesy, with several low-brow moments, but it is a fun film that deserves to be seen, luckily it’s already on VOD and most digital platforms.
