Official synopsis
Sloane and a small group of her classmates take cover in their high school to escape their suddenly apocalyptic hometown. As danger relentlessly pounds on the doors, Sloane begins to see the world through the eyes of people who actually want to live and takes matters into her own hands.
Review
Director Adam Macdonald’s This Is Not a Test is not a run-of-the-mill zombie movie. While it follows certain beats of the subgenre and supplies a good deal of living dead gore and action, it transcends the usual fare with its focus on a main character suffering from depression and parental abuse who was about to commit suicide just before the zombie apocalypse began.
Olivia Holt plays that character, a teenage girl named Sloane whose mother left the family and whose close older sister left also, both because of the family’s alcoholic, abusive patriarch. Holt is excellent in the role, portraying Sloane as a distanced young woman whose only concern regarding surviving the chaos outside her high school where she and a few classmates are holed up seems to be the hope of reconnecting with her sister Lily (Joelle Farrow).
Froy Gutierrez as crushed-out-on-Sloane Rhys, Chloe Avakian as milder-mannered Grace and Carson MacCormac as her short-tempered brother Trace, and Corteon Moore as jock-who-think-he-is-in-charge Cary all deliver fine performances, and Luke Macfarlane kicks up the mystery and suspense a notch with his portrayal of English teacher Mr. Baxter.
This Is Not a Test is more of a coming-of-age character study than a straight zombie apocalypse film, and it is all the better for it. Directed with aplomb and boasting solid production values along with its gripping performances, viewers like yours truly who are generally burned out on zombie fare and are therefore rather selective with films in the subgenre should find plenty to enjoy here.
This Is not a Test, from Independent Film Company and Shudder, opens exclusively in theaters on February 20, 2026.
