World Ends at Camp Z

I've actually seen World Ends at Camp Z twice, and it's not as bad as some of the reviews suggest. It's no masterpiece, but I've definitely seen zombie movies of significantly lower quality. While the acting isn't exactly stellar, the story holds up reasonably well, with elements of both drama and horror woven into the plot. There's even a touch of romance added to fine-tune the overall experience.

That said, when working with a low budget in horror filmmaking, there's often a trade-off: should the money go toward the monsters-in this case, the zombies-or everything else? I feel this movie opted for the latter, and that's where it falls short for me. The zombies in World Ends at Camp Z just don't look very convincing. I would have preferred them to at least look cool or scary, but some appear quite underwhelming-almost pathetic.

The film appears to be a Canadian production, set in the French-speaking province of Quebec. It's in English, though, which I found to be a nice twist. Quebec's natural scenery is truly beautiful and adds a unique flavor to the movie, especially since the entire horror unfolds at a camping site.

All in all, I think World Ends at Camp Z deserves a higher rating than it's received.

I could barely make it through this movie because despite the plot (middling), the actors were SO BAD. I'm literally typing in other words just so that IMDB will let me tell you how bad the acting was.

Arriving at the facility one last time, the owners of a summer camp preparing to sell it to a local businessman which is soon revealed to be harboring evil intentions towards the camp, but their loyalties are divided further when a zombie outbreak in the community spreads forcing them to get away alive.

Overall, there's a lot to like with this one. Among the better features on display is the somewhat simple-minded storyline here that's far more detailed and effective than what should be the case for this kind of film. Given that there's far more going on beyond just the whole concept of cleaning up the camp but also managing to work together into several solid side-stories involving the love triangle that the majority of this one focuses on, the first half to this one comes across with a lot more heart and emotional attachment to their plight which goes directly alongside their whole quest to save the camp from the investor once his plans are revealed. It makes the series of intentional sabotage attempts once the out-of-place guests arrive feel far more earned than they should with this background in place. This leads the films' selling point in the rather fun and over-the-top zombie outbreak that arrives at the camp. While nothing new in the grand scheme of the genre, the outbreak scenes of the infected running wild in the camp and ripping people to pieces while forcing the survivors into an appropriate and believable state of panic and chaos. The action involved here isn't bad and really drives this one along, especially once the incumbent military help arrives to further the idea of futility present which goes a long way to making this one likable, much like the early scenes involving the release of the virus and how it parallels the modern world. It's a clever enough tactic that is eerily topical and relevant and added on top of the fantastic practical gore and make-up effects here really makes this stand out nicely. That said, there are a few minor issues with the film. The main drawback is the films' reliance in the first half on characters over action, detailing the exploits of the workers at the camp trying to ensure the new owner doesn't overtake the facility and turn it into a hotspot for city-dwellers that the camp was set up as an escape from. While all of this effectively sets up the characters and their motivations, hardly any of these features any kind of zombie action makes it feel slightly too long to get to the creatures when they finally make their way to the area. That's the other small issue here in that the zombies feel more like an afterthought at the expense of an indie drama about the workers at this campsite ting to prevent it from being sold since they come out of nowhere and feel at odds with the rest of the storyline previously like this was several films edited together such is the rapid shift from indie drama to genre thrills. It's not deal-breaking but it is a factor.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

Well, I have to admit that when I stumbled upon this 2021 movie here in 2022, and seeing that it was a zombie movie, then of course I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch it. Sure, I had not even heard about this movie from writer Diane Janna and director Ding Wang, but it being a zombie movie was all that I needed to know.

The movie's cover/poster seemed interesting, but it was actually overselling the movie, because the movie itself was rather mundane and generic. But hey, I managed to get through it on the account of it being a zombie movie. However, if you are a zombie aficionado like me, then this is hardly an outstanding foray into the zombie genre.

The storyline in "World Ends at Camp Z" is pretty straight forward. In fact, the storyline is rather simplistic and doesn't bring anything new to the zombie genre. Of course it is a spin-off on the worldwide pandemic that we are still struggling with in real life, just made into a tale of the reanimated dead. So you're not exactly in for a grand cinematic experience here.

The acting performances in "World Ends at Camp Z" were a bit wooden for the most parts. There were some performances that stood out and helped to make the movie watchable. But you're not in for an award-winning performance here.

With "World Ends at Camp Z" being a zombie movie, then you might be disappointed with the zombies in the movie being fast, agile runners with their faces painted gray - but forgetting to paint the exposed skin on the neck down - and bleeding from their eyes. A strange type of zombie in my opinion. Then again, I am not a fan of running zombies, nor of subpar make-up just limited to the face. Nor am I a fan of zombies that stop dead in their track when they come before a body of water.

For me then "World Ends at Camp Z" came and went without as much as a groan or a bite. And if you are a fan of the zombie genre, then this is not really a movie that I would recommend you spend your time on.

My rating of director Ding Wang's 2021 zombie movie "World Ends at Camp Z" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

Plot

During the pandemic, the present camp owner is forced to entertain the new buyer then learns of his evil intentions towards the land. In order to stop the sale he has tricks up his sleeve but a zombie uprising was never one of them.

Cast

Not familiar with anyone involved and nobody stood out.

Verdict

I was alarmed at the low rating before I even pressed play, I've had a lot of instances of this recently and to be fair to the IMDB community there tended to be a reason! But what could it be here? I assumed it was another instance of the spoiled viewers expecting a blockbuster and being frustrated with a low budget effort, that may be partially true.

You see straight away you notice everything looks fine, everything is competent, it develops very slowly but that's okay and I was engaged with the film and the story they were trying to tell. I scratched my head confused at the low rating and then it happened, the first "Action" sequence. You see when the zombie appear (No spoilers here it's a zombie movie!) there are two major problems. First of all the zombies look naff, visually everything in film looks great but the zombies are simply not on the same level so that's a real shame. Second, whenever action occurs they implement a filter that I can only describe as 5fps where everything slows, gets jittery and just looks positively awful.

So I found myself dreading the zombie sequences because they ruined what was otherwise a passable enough film, yes it's slow but it was competent. The rest of the film once everything goes to hell, is cliched, generic and ugly and that's such as shame because I found myself really wanting to like it.

Rants

What were they thinking with that filter/effect? It really is the absolute pits. I'm sure they felt like they had to counter the lack of budget but ironically it made the movie look and feel even more cheap. Night filters are common and dreadful, this right here SO much worse. Without that the zombies still would have looked terrible, but the film would have been a lot more tolerable!

The Good

Surprisingly well made initially Passable cast

The Bad

Zombies are very cheaply made That darn filter!

Very slow burner Falls on too many uninspired cliches.