In this Australian zombie sequel, a soldier helps a pack of vigilantes rise up against his evil boss.
“Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead” was about as calm as a Chihuahua on cocaine, and its new sequel is no exception. The opening titles for “Wyrmwood: Apocalypse” appear over sounds of chaos: tires screeching, machine guns firing, zombies wailing. If you’d like to see the horror-action equivalent of an old metal rock musician lighting his electric guitar on fire and then playing it with his teeth, this is your movie.
Though the leads from “Road of the Dead,” Brooke (Bianca Bradey) and Barry (Jay Gallagher) reappear here, the main character is Rhys (Luke McKenzie), a tough soldier with a Mad Max level of resourcefulness and a dead brother-size chip on his shoulder. Brooke killed said brother, so when Rhys’s conspicuously twitchy, blood-covered boss (Nick Boshier) orders him to hunt her down so they can experiment on her — Brooke is a hybrid, able to calm down her zombie side by drinking blood — he doesn’t hesitate. But after nabbing Grace (Tasia Zalar), another hybrid and one of Brooke’s allies, Rhys starts to realize that not all zombies are expendable.
“Wyrmwood: Apocalypse” is a must-see for zombie fans, thanks to a quick-witted script by the director, Kiah Roache-Turner, and his brother, Tristan Roache-Turner. In a humorous segment set to the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song “Red Right Hand,” Rhys blows away a horde of advancing zombies, then wrangles the stragglers into watering his plants and powering his home.
Since this film aims to say that hybrids like Brooke and Grace deserve human rights, it’s strange to see the standard zombies discarded so carelessly. But nobody is watching “Wyrmwood: Apocalypse” for its ethics. In these films, where blood splatters the camera within the first five seconds, high-octane, sicko glee reigns supreme.
Wyrmwood: Apocalypse
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 28 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon, Vudu and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
