COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES (REVIEW)

Dir. Matthias Hoene

Reviewer. Martyn Wakefield

Since Simon Pegg picked up the baseball bat and Nick Frost tried to jump over a fence, the zom-com has been a genre of its own. However, there aren’t many films that have even matched the British classic naming only ZOMBIELAND as a close contender. Then there was COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES, once again British and once again proving if its humour and bodies you want, nobody does it better.

A group of youths head out on a Bank Robbery to try and save the old peoples home where there Grandad Ray (Alan Ford) resides. But when their no killing and no hostages theory goes out the window, all hell breaks loose. Little do they know that outside the bank lies a zombie infestation and it’s a race against time as Andy (Harry Treadway), Terry (Rasmus Hardiker), Davey Tuppence (Jack Doolan) and Katy (Michelle Ryan) head to save the oldies who may in fact, be the ones to save them all.

The plot may not be original, especially to anyone who’s seen one of the last 4,000,000 zombie films since NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD but COCKNEYS VS ZOMBIES manages to feel fresh in the smell of rotten flesh, and believe us, there is plenty of it. The script is perfectly written to match the lovable rogues with the hilarious capers that follow. If you’ve ever watched SOUTH PARK, there’s an Ike moment that we’d thought we’d never see on film.

From the opening scene when an aged old skeleton attacks a couple of construction workers, the writers and director evidently had a love for horror as well as comedy and blends the two nicely with some extremely gory scenes to follow including a hand grenade and plenty of guns.

Alan Ford literally kills it with his hard knock Rambo impression that should win him an award for stealing the show. When I get old, I want to be Ray! As simple as it sounds, there is nothing more amusing than watching some old timers relive their youth, grab some guns and kill some zombies. And with a Chas and Dave song to close the credits, what better way to end 94 minutes of tears, jumps and buckets of undead flesh.

Finally, SHAUN OF THE DEAD is gone, long live the Cockneys…