Spoiler Warning: There are some spoilers for Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End below. If you’ve yet to watch the new Amazon original movie, please avoid this zombie-infested article.
I’m a sucker for a good zombie flick, and so when I first heard about Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End tearing it up on Prime Video, I made sure to check it out with my Amazon subscription and see what all the fuss was about. Let me tell you, this was one of the most absurdly fun experiences I’ve had on the 2024 movie schedule and a great addition to the tradition of awesome zombie apocalypse movies.
Carles Torrens’ Spanish zombie thriller, which is based on Manel Loureiro’s Apocalipsis Z 1. El principio del fin novel, has everything I look for in a zombie film, including an engaging story about a widower trying to reach his sister, a whole lot of heart and soul, and some gnarly zombie kills. Oh, did I mention one of the main characters is a cat? Because that totally happens in one of the best horror movies I’ve seen in quite some time.
I've Decided That The Airport Is The Last Place I Want To Be During A Full-On Zombie-Virus Panic
Early on in Apocalypse Z, the main character, Manel (Francisco Ortiz), finally gives in to his sister’s request for him to leave Spain and meet them in the Canary Islands to seek shelter from the rapidly spreading TSJ virus. But when he gets ready to board his plane with his cat, Lúculo, all hell breaks loose and the airport is overcome with panic.
I love the pacing of this sequence as it goes from just a normal day at the airport with people queuing up to board their flight to a state of pure panic as the ticket booths stop working, cancellations appear all over the monitors, and people’s phones start going off with emergency messages. Pure madness.
And while there are no visible zombies in this intense and action-packed sequence, it got me thinking – an airport is the last place I’d want to be during a full-on zombie-virus panic. There’s nowhere to really go, there are thousands upon thousands of panicked people who could either crush you in a human stampede or eat you alive (if they’re already turned to zombies), and everyone is already in a bad mood or on edge even on a good day with no viruses.
Lúculo Instantly Became One Of My Favorite Movie Cats, But He's In Some Wild Situations
There have been some great cinematic cats over the years, and Lúculo, Manel’s constant companion in Apocalypse Z, instantly became one of my favorite on-screen felines. Let me tell you something, this cat is put into all kinds of intense and perilous situations over the course of the movie, including but not limited to riding on the back of a dirtbike in a daring escape from a zombie horde, running from gun-toting bad guys who want to kill his owner, sneaking through a hospital that is bursting at the seams with TSJ-infected monsters, and taking multiple modes of transportation.
Lúculo, like any cat in his position, does all of this with the species’ signature sass and inability to keep quiet in life-or-death situations because he’s hungry. There were multiple times throughout Apocalypse Z where I was like “I hope Lúculo gets through this okay,” but other times where I was like “Buddy, you have to stop that meowing.”
But I did keep wondering, where is Lúculo doing his business because there’s no way my cats could go that long without a clean litter box.
The Way The Movie Handles Grief Is Astonishingly Powerful
The TSJ virus, which turns people into raving lunatics that are somewhere between the infected from 28 Days Later and the more traditional ghouls from George A. Romero’s Living Dead franchise, isn’t the only focus of Apocalypse Z. In fact, the movie handles grief, loss, and the tenacity of the human spirit in an astonishingly powerful way.
Throughout the early goings of the movie, Manel is distraught and stuck in a state of depression a year after his wife died in a tragic car accident. Shutting himself off from the outside world, the film’s protagonist initially pays no attention to the zombie outbreak that is in the early stages of bringing the European Union, and the world in general, to a breaking point. Eventually, the grief becomes less of an anchor for Manel and more of a motivation as he chooses to live and see another day.
Apocalypse Z Has A Lot Of Zombie Movie Tropes, But Thankfully It Avoids One Of My Least Favorite
There are so many zombie movie tropes throughout Apocalypse Z, for better or worse. There’s the airport scene where panic breaks out, there’s the massive kilometers-long (this is in Spain, remember) traffic jam, there’s the portion of the movie where Manel befriends an elderly neighbor and learns a lot about life before she dies, and there’s even a zombie baby. Yes, a zombie baby!
However, the movie avoids my least favorite zombie movie trope, but not before teasing the hell out of it. In the final minutes of the movie, Manel helps a group of young children and nuns escape a hospital via helicopter, and for a good few minutes, I thought he was going to sacrifice himself to save them from the massive zombie horde and gun-toting bad guys who want the chopper for themselves. But it doesn’t happen, and the group flies away into a very uncertain future.
I Really Hope Apocalypse Z's Success On Amazon Leads To A Sequel
According to the Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End title page on Amazon, this new zombie film is the second most popular movie on Prime Video at the time of this writing. And I hope that this success on the streaming platform leads to a sequel, especially with the distressing call from Manel’s sister begging him to turn away from the Canary Islands just before the credits roll. It leaves off in a very uncertain and precarious place, where we don't know what's on the horizon, but it doesn't sound good.
The subtitle, The Beginning of the End also leads me to believe that we haven’t seen the last of Manel, and of course Lúculo, just yet. A sequel picking up with them either reaching the Canaries could be awesome and lead to a great emotional payoff of Manel reuniting with his sister and his nephew getting to see Lúculo after all this time. Basically, I want more cats in horror movies and I’m not afraid to say it.
Only time will tell if Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End will get a sequel and join the list of other upcoming zombie movies and TV shows. But in the meantime, there are a ton of great horror movies on Amazon to check out.
