[Review] Wyrmwood: Apocalypse
Mild spoilers ahead
The sequel to Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead (2014) picks up not long after the end of the first movie where there’s still hope for finding a cure for the zombie virus, but all of the research is done in devious ways. Soldiers, mad scientists, two sisters out with a vengeance, and a woman with a telepathic connection to the zombies lead the ensemble in The Road Warrior (1981) meets Day Of The Dead (1985).
Kiah Roache-Turner returns as director and co-writer, alongside Tristan Roache-Turner. Bianca Bradey and Jay Gallagher return as brother-sister duo, Brooke and Barry. Shantae Barnes-Cowan and Tasia Zalar are introduced as Maxi and Grace, nieces to Benny (Leon Burchill) from the first movie. Actor Luke McKenzie returns, too, but as the surprise twin brother of The Captain from the first movie, Rhys. While the “surprise sibling” is usually born from lazy writing, it works in Apocalypse because of every other character having a connection to the first movie, too.
Now while I don’t feel it’s one hundred percent necessary to watch the first Wyrmwood before you watch Apocalypse, the sequel does offer the occasional flashback, I would still recommend watching the first before you watch this. Firstly, because Wyrmwood is a fun zombie movie that I would recommend anyways. Secondly, because Apocalypse takes a lot from the first movie. The core story is the same, “Let’s go rescue your sister from the military/hazmat mad scientists”.
The jump to the sequel being “similar but different” feels very The Evil Dead (1981) to Evil Dead II (1987). While the base of the soup that is the story is the same, the seasonings are different. The first movie showed us the initial reactions to the zombie infestations and this is further into the apocalypse and how the survivors have adjusted, or rather “geared up”. I’ve seen my fair share of zombie movies but I haven’t seen Rhys’ daily training regime of putting on boxing gloves and going a few rounds with a zombie that had a cage on its head.
While the effects on the zombies themselves are nothing special, don’t let that fool you. Apocalypse features manic blood splatter, especially in the “mad scientist” scenes. Maybe it’s the Frankenstein lover in me, but I loved the creature design in our Franken-VR-zombie. Both Wyrmwood movies feel like they came right off of the TV screen from a video game but Apocalypse especially feels like a video game.
If you were looking for answers to things that happened in the first movie, you might not be very satisfied. While Apocalypse does dive deeper into the science of zombies a la Romero’s Day Of The Dead (1985) it just opens up more potential for more varieties of zombie mutations in future Wyrmwood stories. I’m not saying everything needs an answer but the Wyrmwood movies have tacked in so many different elements to their zombie lore that the audience can’t help but be curious.
Is it the best zombie movie ever made? By no means. The recycled elements of the story can only carry it so far and I would like to have seen the world explored further with our characters leading us around. Will I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first Wyrmwood movie or to anyone just looking for 90 minutes of fun? Hell yeah. Wyrmwood: Apocalypse brings together elements that make it a unique high-octane splatter-filled zombie-watching experience.