Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse – Film Review by Stephen McDermott

Director: Christopher Landon
Writers: Carrie Lee Wilson (screenplay) (as Carrie Evans) , Emi Mochizuki (screenplay)
Stars: Tye Sheridan, Logan Miller, Joey Morgan

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 8 years since the release of the four-letter coming-of-age raunch-a-rama that was Superbad. Even more unthinkable is that it’s 11 years since Shaun of the Dead hit our screens. Where have the years gone?

It’s a moment of realisation that’s similar to the one faced by the protagonists of Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. The world continues to turn, whether we wash our faces or not.

Like Superbad, the film’s plot concerns three friends who fit snugly into formulaic character types: there’s good-guy Ben (Tye Sheridan), the fun-loving, foul-mouthed Carter (Logan Miller) and nerdy Augie (Joseph Morgan). The three are about to begin their final years of school, with Ben and Carter increasingly weary of attending the Scouts club that has brought them all together.

The neatly-defined symbolism between youth and maturity means it doesn’t take long for the plot to reach the “coming-of-age” signpost. Ben and Carter can either stay with Augie during a camp outing, or sneak off to attend a senior dance party taking place in town. Of course the two opt to go to the party in town, and of course that’s when they realise that the whole town has been overcome by a zombie apocalypse.

With the help of a badass cocktail waitress (Sarah Dumont), our heroes must get out of town before it is bombed by the military. If you couldn’t tell by the film’s title, that’s when they discover that their Scout skills can come in handy in their battle against the walking dead.

The result is predictable: titular cinema-by-numbers with enough clichés and puerile gags to turn anyone watching into a zombie for 90 minutes. There are some decent performances throughout, but the characters and situations are so textbook that you occasionally wonder if you’re watching a film you’ve already seen.

Unsurprisingly, there’s also a glaring dearth of female characters, with Dumont’s character the only woman who isn’t a zombie or love interest. Even then, she’s a cocktail waitress with big boobs who works at a strip club called Lawrence of Alabia (such is the film’s level of humour).

Overall, the film struggles from too much wanting to be Night of the Living Dead by way of Superbad, without having any of the subtlety that makes the latter a comedy classic. It’s just a shame to see that films can also struggle with growing pains, with Scout’s humour too crude for a young adult audience, and yet too infantile for anyone near its 16 rating. Ultimately, it’s just a film that needs to grow up in a genre that already has.