Zombie movies are a dime a dozen these days. Thanks to The Walking Dead we have seen a resurgence of this horror genre like never before. So it comes no surprise that a lot of films and TV series have come along to get in that z-train of money. Most of these attempts I find to be pure garbage and have the lowest of special effects involved. One day while cruising through Netflix I stumbled upon another z-title but we go international as this is a French attempt at cashing in on the undead craze. Starting it up I honestly had no expectations what so ever. By the end I had a smile going from ear to ear and wish The Horde could keep going.
The premise is as simple as it gets. A bunch of corrupt cops storm a building to get revenge on a gang for killing one of their own. It goes south incredibly quickly but before our “heroes” bite it the undead suddenly emerge and now both have to work together if they want to survive. Again, not much of a story here as it is just a simple premise to get the ball rolling. You would think with the gruff characters and bleak setting this would be a harsh movie to watch. That would be a correct statement for the first twenty minutes but if you stick with it long enough you have one hell of a fun movie.
I could not tell you who these filmmakers are or what their previous filmography is. But I want to go find these people and thank them for making one crazy film. This zombie movie is basically The Raid but with zombies and what makes that even more ridiculous is that The Raid wasn’t even conceived until two years AFTER this film. The Horde is a very low-rez action film as we get the most basics of fight sequences and even the gore is hardly squeamish but that’s where this film finds its charm. It finds beauty out of scenes like a middle aged gangster literally sucker punching his way against two zombies. If that isn’t making you want to go out and find this film let me describe this in a few more sentences.
You got some pretty okay CGI along the way which somehow enhances the goofiness. So when you see a row of zombies get blasted by a heavy machine gun it comes out like jam rather than blood. Then you have some ridiculous characters involved including the aforementioned fist fighting gangster. Nothing can top a man named Rene however; who is a senior citizen, racist spouting, and Santa gut wielding coot who practically steals the film with his antics. If this film somehow lost the rest of this cast and just focused on Rene this could easily have turned into the greatest French film since The Rules of the Game. Top that with some truly entertaining action set pieces including a final stand in a garage that is honestly well paced and shot.
If you are a fan of horror films I recommend watching The Horde. It does have an incredibly awkward start and it you would be pressed into thinking this isn’t a good movie. But stick with it once the zombies come in and I promise you are going to have a wonderful time. Again, not a great movie in a technical sense by any stretch of the imagination. But The Horde stands out from a lot of the clones and competitors which makes all the difference.
Oh, Movies 