Endzeit

World premiere at the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival - TIFF18.

This is the second feature film by Swedish director Carolina Hellsgård, working in Germany. The post-apocalyptic zombie setting benefits from some impressive production design and the existentialism embedded adds some layers to the story.

Alright, well I will agree to the fact that "Endzeit" (aka "Ever After") was a different zombie apocalypse movie. But that doesn't necessarily mean it was a good movie.

In fact, the cons severely outweighs the pros for this movie, making it a less than mediocre, if not downright laughable addition to the zombie genre. And I use the term 'zombie genre' lightly here, because the zombie apocalypse was actually nothing more than a mere backdrop in "Endzeit".

I was sorely disappointed with the movie, and I had expected more of a proper zombie movie, but was instead served a movie about a girl's journey of coming to terms with her guilt and thoughts, and coming to accept the death of her younger sister. Zombie movie? Not so much. I think you actually only have zombies in the movie less than 5 minutes combined. So this hardly qualifies as a zombie movie.

Now, I will say that the movie is nicely produced and the production level of the movie is great. But the movie just failed on so many other accounts that it had no chance of being salvaged. I mean, a zombie movie without zombies.

And the zombies that were there were running. Yeah, running, fast and agile zombies - that is not my cup of tea at all. The zombie make-up was adequate, but you shouldn't be getting your hopes up.

Writer Olivia Vieweg and director Carolina Hellsgård tries to pull a vegan and environmentally awareness bag over the head of the viewers. It just didn't work, and it was so tactless. I mean, people and zombies turning into plants, come on... And the ending and what was being said there as the movie ended was just a slap to the face.

My rating of "Endzeit" is three out of ten stars, and that is solely because of the production level and the acting performances. The rest of the movie was questionable and not particularly enjoyable. Actually, the entire movie didn't prove to be particularly entertaining.

If you are looking for a proper zombie movie, then you should find another movie to watch, because this is not going to rock your boat.

The story of Endzeit is kinda similar to The Walking Dead World Beyond's. It has been two years since a zombie virus epidemic infected all but two German cities. Vivi and Eva want to flee the struggling community in Weimar for the one other safe-haven: Jena. They board an unmanned train between the two cities and hope to safely arrive. But of course the train breaks down and in the middle of nowhere they have to navigate themselves safely to Jena.

What I like about Endzeit is its atmosphere. It's filmed at some beautiful spots in Germany and that makes it look very different from, let's say, American zombie films. The two leads perform well. On their way to Jena they encounter strange abandoned places (a castle) and even a strange woman who calls herself 'the gardener'. Is she real? We don't know. In the end there's a nice scene with a blind zombie.

Of course there are some things that don't make sense. In the trailer you see the girls escape from a zombie herd. Where the hell did the zombies come from? In the woods they hardly encounter anyone and here the whole street is filled with them.

Also, the way our lead comes to terms with her past is... too convenient. But it's a nice scene anyway.

Not your cliché zombie flick, but I really enjoyed Endzeit.

Walk like a zombie, talk (well, maybe a grunt) like a zombie, look like a zombie. Yes, still another unexplained (probably because they can't) plague produces another apocalypse. Two small fenced-in cities survive w/different ways of dealing w/the infected. One looking for a cure; the other just bashing heads. Confusing, disjointed storyline so couldn't get into it. Weirdly, and also unexplained, was an environmental message of maybe after all the destruction humans have done to the planet we don't deserve to be here (hard to disagree w/that point), but most weird is that some humans seem to have become sorta partially a plant & partially a human?? Maybe there's hope for us??

I loved this gorgeous movie Okay. Not your average zombie flick. If you only watch zombie movies for body count and makeup then probably not your cup o tea. The lead actor was mesmerizing. Thank you