April Apocalypse (2013) User Reviews (12)

Very Charming

[chrismackey1972 · 6/10 · 19 September 2014]

I had no hopes for this before I watched it. In fact, I passed on seeing it twice before. However, the writer wrote a very charming movie. It was executed very well. It's about Artie (Reece Thompson), a 21 yr old boy, who's been in love with April (Rebekah Brandes) ever since he's been a kid. She moves away, and 3 years later, Artie decides to go find her, but his luck sucks, his car breaks down, and he goes back home. However, a zombie apocalypse has taken place, and nowhere is safe for him. His family is not in their home, but zombies are. After killing them, he wanders through the woods and meets up with Regan (Stephanie Hunt), who has recently lost her family to zombies. They walk until they come to a church where they meet a priest who turns out to be a zombie killer. Artie's time with Regan and the priest doesn't last very long, and soon he's on the road again, this time with a child hood friend of his.

It was MUCH better than I thought it would be. The biggest name in this movie is Mark Rolston (Private Drake from Aliens), and he's barely in it, so that should give you an idea that they didn't spend much on the movie. This will not take the place of The Walking Dead, Dawn of the Dead, or any of the other zombie immortal titles, but I thought it was clever, fun, and charming. I recommend this.

Do not expect great special effects or awesome kills. As I said, I think this was low budget, so watch it with that in mind. Without giving away any spoilers, I'll say that I didn't like the end. After watching it, you'll see why.

I gave this a 6-star rating.

So close.. So very close

[JeromThrower · 4/10 · 20 September 2014]

I was so close to loving this movie regardless of its many flaws. The one thing I needed was a cheesy ending to fit its cheesy plot line. I mean that's why we watch movies like this right?

So there's Artie who's pretty much wasted his life even though there were so many things going for him: he seemed like a smart guy, girls at school like him - including Sarah Hyland, his mum and grandfather seem to care for him. But regardless of all of this he seemed to have confidence issues which he resolves through the duration of this movie. But to what end? Go and see..

It pretty much revolves around this guy who's only problem, from what I can tell, is that he's one huge bitch. I get that, it happens to guys. But why him? The shittyness of his life just didn't sell to me. If he had a drunken, abusive father or his girlfriend cheated on him, then sure it would be more believable. But none of that happened.

OK so there's the zombie apocalypse. Yes that is a downer. But he had his issues before that and in fact it was probably the best thing that happened to him. Honestly, he really didn't have it that bad.

But anyway, I was ready to excuse all these flaws. I was in the mood for cheese, I took it out of the fridge, put it in my mouth and was enjoying it. If it just had a nice after taste I'd have taken another bite.

You may still like it though. I mean, quoting the grandfathers advice to Artie, "its the journey not the destination". So if your in the mood for a cheesy movie without the happy after taste, give this one a try..

Mediocre Apocalypse...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 9 May 2016]

For some reason this movie ended up with the title "Zombies: An Undead Road Movie", which was the title of the DVD that I purchased. But of course, anything even remotely zombie does catch my attention.

Without any knowledge of the movie, its story or cast, then I sat down to watch "April Apocalypse". But I have to say that I wasn't overly impressed with the movie as a whole. Now, don't get me wrong, as I am not saying that it is a bad movie. It is just a very generic movie which offers absolutely nothing new to the zombie genre.

The two main acting talents Reece Thompson (playing Artie) and Rebekah Brandes (playing April) were doing good enough jobs carrying the movie, although they had very little material to work with at the hands of director Jarret Tarnol.

It was, however, William Morgan Sheppard (playing Pops) who made it worthwhile to sit down and watch the movie, despite of him not having a particularly big role.

The effects in the movie were good enough, just don't expect an abundance of blood and gore, even though this is a zombie movie. This is more of a teenage movie infused with a zombie element, so I was somewhat out of the target audience.

Storywise, then it was basic and simplistic. A teenager setting out to reach his high school love amidst a zombie infested America. Right, fairly straight forward and simple storyline. But for a zombie outbreak, then Artie encounters surprisingly few zombies along the way.

"April Apocalypse" is nothing extraordinary, and as an avid zombie aficionado, then I must say that this movie came and went without leaving a dent or impression.

If you like wasting time, this one's for you!

[karlyyjadee · 1/10 · 23 January 2016]

I'm a massive fan of comedy horrors doesn't matter how low budget but this movies plot is just frustrating from start to finish! So many small simple things don't make sense or add up and the ending to this movie would have to be the worst ending I've ever seen!! I'm not one to post reviews but this movie made me that angry at how stupid it is (not a good kind of stupid) I had to share my views and hopefully save someone else from going through this painful movie. There is not one likable character and when you do come across a better character there killed off!! Towards the end you feel there's going to be a typical plot twist which you feel you could still be satisfied with the movie but nope nothing about this movie will pull you in, wasn't even a good love story almost like it was just chucked together on the spot!!

Frustratingly painful experience!

[sizzledsausagez · 1/10 · 23 January 2016]

I'm not a person that has ever written a movie review before but this movie caused some really intense inner rage that I felt I had to do one for this movie. Although production wise everything looked good, acting was fine and was generally a well made movie... where it went so horrifically bad was the cliché main characters that were impossible to like at all, with a storyline with way to many flaws to count and the lack of information for any situation that comes about or direction it goes.

The main character that out of nowhere becomes a boss zombie slayer and is meant to be the triumphant nice guy trying to save the girl he loves that the viewer is supposed to be barracking for was so unlikeable that i found myself hoping he fails with everything, suffers from some severe emotional pain before dying a slow horrible death. Any likable characters in the film were killed off not long after they pop up just makes everything more annoying!

Although this film actually had the potential to be a half decent movie if it had of somehow produced a more conclusive or even twist ending filling in any flaws in the plot and unanswered questions instead of the unsatisfying, unaccomplished expected one that is... SO I RECOMMEND NOT TO WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THIS FILM

Ps. Reading that people actually found it charming and enjoyable just added to my already boiling rage inside after watching it xD and the fact it was rated as high as it is just infuriated me and made this one of my most hated movies ever watched! lol but each to there own, people can enjoy or hate whatever they like

Ridiculous, painful & annoying.

[metalrage666 · 1/10 · 3 January 2015]

I knew nothing about April Apocalypse before picking this up cheaply, and zombie movies can generally be a lot of fun, but this just had me regretting the moment I came across this and the time I wasted sitting through it.

Movie starts off with a guy and a girl, (Artie and April), running in slow motion through a field being chased by a horde of zombies. There's a voice over by Artie which then propels us back in time a few years and a montage of the history between this couple.

We then flash forward to the 2 of them turning up at a high school graduation after party and April has plans to break up with her boyfriend. Said break up does not go well. The douche bag boyfriend takes back his letterman jacket, punches Artie in the face who then finds out that April is moving away.

Flash forward 3 years and Artie lives at home in the basement and runs a late night radio call-in show which no one listens to and the only calls he gets are crank calls from his younger brother or his mother to ask if he wants salad with his dinner. This is supposed to be funny I guess.

His father sees him as a lost cause and even though he's only 21, his father thinks he's 31 and that April has been out of his life for 10 years instead of 3 and he should be over it by now. His mother is equally non-supportive and rather than just talk to him and encourage him like parents should, Artie instead gets the typical American universal fix-all to everything - therapy with lots and lots of medication. This is supposed to be funny too I guess.

Unsurprisingly it turns out that Artie has no real problems except that he misses the girl he's in love with and just needs some direction, but his doctor/psychiatrist played by George Lopez of all people says his fine, but here take these experimental purple pills twice a day anyway and they'll fix up whatever is not wrong with you, sheesh!

From there these pep pills give Artie new found vigour and he sets off to find April based on a postcard he got from her a couple of years ago. He takes his grandfathers car and heads off, but a zombie that came out of nowhere makes him run off the road and into a tree. Artie wakes up dazed, and he starts to make his way back home. The car radio talks about a virus sweeping the world, so zombies are the result.

Artie quickly learns about the zombie outbreak once he gets home. His family has disappeared and after killing a few zombies that were in his house and getting bitten on the hand he sets off again in another car to find April. Somehow the pills he was given are staving off his zombification and he meets people here and there on his quest for his girlfriend, all of whom end up getting killed.

Artie finally gets to Aprils house, rescues her and they make their way to one of the refuge shelters on the edge of town where he runs into his family. The refuge is just a large barn full of ill-prepared people and therefore nothing more than a zombie smörgåsbord. It gets overrun and everyone is killed. Artie gets bitten again and as he had run out of pills, turns into a zombie only to be killed by April.

For a zombie movie, even one with a limited budget as this, it's a very poor effort. This is supposed to be a horror-comedy of sorts but I found nothing to laugh at as it's too stupid. It might be OK for a look if it's on late at night and you can't sleep but there's no reason to go out of your way for this one.

Fun

[Psy-Ko · 7/10 · 21 September 2014]

It's a zombie movie, it's a love story, its a coming of age comedy. What it really was though is just a fun movie. Seems like people these days watch movies just to pick them apart. I just want to be entertained and this one entertained me. Yes the characters were cliché but that was part of it's charm. It reminded me of an 80's movie where there was always the main kind of geeky guy who finds himself and gets the girl, the hot girl who finally realizes the geeky guy is her soul-mate, the jock who gets his in the end and of course the stoner for comedic relief.

Speaking of comedic relief, there was a perfect balance of it which is something that's hard to do. Production values were decent but it is a lower budget movie so don't expect spectacular kills or special effects that will blow you away. Luckily that's not the focus of the movie, the story is, imagine that. I wasn't a big fan of the ending on this, seemed that the rest of the movie was so clichéd that it should have had the clichéd happy ending. I'd actually like to see them re-shoot a different ending and re-release it. Even ending with the two of them fighting off zombies would have been cool (and left it open for a sequel) But overall I liked it, I'd give it 7 out of 10 stars, it kept me entertained and made me feel for the characters, gave me a few laughs, what more could I ask for? May not be one you want to add to your movie collection but definitely worth a one time watch.

So very disappointingly lame

[cary-70800 · 3/10 · 15 June 2022]

So very disappointingly lame From the crazy high-pitched squeaky voice of the main character female to the just plain unlikablability of almost all the characters ,the dreadful score It's not funny at all and the music is just terrible.

Not bad!

[beelliss88 · 7/10 · 24 July 2016]

Not sure if this a spoiler or not, however, typical zombie move, yet, the sound track made it work! I am a metal head and somehow this soundtrack kept me until the end! I sometimes see movies with no idea how the soundtrack will be and then every now and then this comes along. I went into this thinking hmm and after I saw it I was pleasantly surprised! Do not go into this thinking epic zombie movie but do go in thinking sweet little love story! A few funny moments made me crack up and I was still able to stay focused until the end. If you want to be entertained for a little bit then this might work for you. Again typical but it worked for me.

When is "Shaun of the Dead" not "Shaun of the Dead?"

[ericrnolan · 8/10 · 27 May 2015]

When it's "April Apocalypse" (2013). Don't let that dissuade you from watching it, though, because despite being a derivative zombie movie, it's still quite good. (THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS.)

To be honest, it actually borrows more heavily from "Zombieland" (2009), with its tone and narrative style. But … I actually think I like this more than "Zombieland," because the humor of that popular movie often fell flat with me, and I walked away feeling that it was a little overrated.

"April Apocalypse" actually has a smart, funny script, with a likable kid as a protagonist (capably played by Reece Thompson, who reminds me a little of Ryan Reynolds). There are a lot of genuine laughs, depending on off-beat, quirky characters and dry line delivery. The family scenes are extremely funny — who would have thought that the prison rapist from "The Shawshank Redemption" (Mark Rolston) could be a hilarious dysfunctional Dad? I'd give this movie an 8 out of 10, and I cheerfully recommend it to fans of the genre.

I … don't always respond so well to horror-comedies, so some of the truly black humor was a turn-off for me. We see a church full of desperate people perish in a manner that is supposed to be funny; one character dryly shrugs them off as expendable "Jesus Freaks." If you ask me, that's disturbing, not funny. Ask yourself this, secular friends — what if the script was different, and those sacrificed (in grisly fashion) were attendants at an American Atheist Convention? Most of my close friends who enjoy "The Walking Dead" as much as I do are also Christian. Which makes this joke, at the very least … icky, in my opinion.

We also see a running gag that I've seen pop up from time to time in zombie films and fiction. Otherwise good-natured characters gleefully enjoy killing the zombie versions of people who they disliked when they were alive. That's some pretty dark humor, and maybe it's transparently pathological. I like survival stories of people coming together to fight an insurmountable threat — not murder-by-proxy jokes.

Finally, I would have gone with a different ending. I won't say more because I don't want to make this post too spoiler-heavy.

Anyway, sorry to over-analyze and be a grumpy old man. Do give this film a chance and watch it. It was surprisingly good and made me laugh a lot.

It's not Walking Bore'dead which is why it's fun

[mark-73024 · 7/10 · 17 August 2016]

Do you like TWD? Than you believe in slow mediocre and fatalism but DO you like Z Nation? if you like Z Nation than watch it. It's like ZN which is by far more fun, more realistic as far as survival and hell less depressing.

One reviewer (sizzling sausage or something) said the main character in this movie was basically to unbelievable as a master zombie killer and wanted him to die a slow death.... As do I for Rick and his cowboy hat wearing son. Only real folks will live this one out. You have no idea what "character" in film means.

The problem with all the young ones is they believe this genre was created by AMC. It WASN'T and us "elders" have been watching Z movies since the 60's. Funny, stupid, horrible, dramatic and the best... all those put together. You all want to be judges of what's a "real" Z flick or show but the funny thing is you'll be the 1st to go when they come because of Pokemon Go...

A TOTALLY UNIQUE ZOMBIE FLICK!

[plasmapilot-97398 · 8/10 · 29 July 2022]

A weirdly different, somewhat sluggish zombie film. The first half was relatively slow, but revealed a backstory that was certainly pertinent to character development. And then it accelerated & the fun really began! The actors were mostly unknown to me, but were very talented & engaging. Viewers who crave non-stop action & special effects might prefer a more idiotic representation of the "apocalypse", but I really enjoyed the slow buildup to this surprising conclusion! Remember that in 2011 the U. S. Department of Defense actually developed & published a protocol for a "zombie apocalypse" ! I thoroughly enjoyed myself!