La Horde (2009)

Style over substance, eh? A classic expression that french zombiemovie La Horde exemplifies perfectly. We have a plot, something that I guess would suffice for an actual story and a situation where a number of shallow characters try to survive the advances of a flesheating horde of zombies. A group of policemen are going into a rundown building on the outskirts of a large city to do something that we never really know much about other than that it involves a number of black gangsters. A confrontation ensues, people are killed but all of a sudden they are attacked by the living dead, flee up to the roof and begin an not very stable truce while trying to get out of the building.

And that is all there is plotwise. The characters are weak, but fairly wellplayed. The reason for all of this is never known but actually rather atmospheric as the heroes stand on the roof of the building watching bombs go off all over the entire city, assumingly in a conflict similar to theirs. Which, on the other hand, makes everything pretty futile as you know that everything out there is the same. What are they fleeing to? Another zombiehorde most likely. But, we still want the ride.

And it is one hell of a ride. Fastpaced and gory, there is never any chance to be bored by this spectacle. The filmmakers were probably fully aware the the story was weak and concentrated instead on providing us with great actionscenes, a shitload of over the top violence and a really silly but fun sequence set in a sea of zombies. You'll know what I mean when you see it. The whole thing never lets up a second until the end, which on the other hand really isnt much of an ending. A very watchable movie which outlives its klichés. Ecellent viewing when you are hungover.