Wyrmwood: Apocalypse

2014’s Wyrmwood: Road Of The Dead was one of those quirky little comedy horror movies which could easily have gone horribly wrong but which just happened to go horribly right thanks to the chemistry between its cast-members and its anarchic sense of fun. This long-awaited sequel does its best to use the same formula, but in its efforts to recapture past glory it loses the spontaneity which was vital to making that formula work.

Jay Gallagher is back as beleaguered hero Barry, who now lives alone in a nicely designed little compound whose electricity is supplied by zombie farts. The living dead cluster all around his wire fence, moaning and uselessly trying to get inside it, which provides him with a seemingly unlimited resource. Every now and then he captures one and trades it to his local mad scientist, who is supposedly working on a cure. He’s not exactly living the high life, spending his evenings shaking and listening to relaxation tapes, but he’s getting by – until Maxi (Shantae Barnes-Cowan), the vengeful sister of a woman he sold, decides to pay him a visit.

Key to all this is a discovery with the isolated Barry has been unaware of: whilst no means has yet been found to cure zombies, it is possible to treat them, restoring them to their senses for a few hours at a time. This is how Maxi and her sister have been living. Barry resents her at first. Things have all gone a bit I Am Legend and he’s slow to grasp that he’s become one of the bad guys, just another white soldier boy kidnapping indigenous women, but in due course a chance remark persuades him to turn on the people he’s been working with, as he realises that their research might not have been approved by an ethics committee after all. Soon he’s siding with Maxi, whether she wants him around or not, and determined to set things right.

The good news for viewers is that this put him back in touch with his much more competent younger sister Brooke (Bianca Bradey), who is now among the infected herself and can not only retain her reason but has the power to control other zombies in her vicinity. Cue a battle with a distinctly terminatoresque cyborg zombie as the scientist, Doctor Strangeloving it up with an arm which just doesn’t want to get in line, sets out to defend his operation and try out his new creations at the same time.

All this may sound like fun, and it does have its moments, but the ebullience which animated the original is missing, leaving it to struggle to claw its way to the top of the ever0growing zombie movie pile with only borrowed jokes and macho posturing which has begun to take itself too seriously. Bradey is as much fun as ever but doesn’t get enough screentime, and Gallagher doesn’t work as well alone as he did when part of a comedy duo. Barnes-Cowan acquits herself reasonably well, with a couple of delicious one-liners, but none of the new characters get enough room to develop.

If all you want is action and gore, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse will satisfy at least as well as a round of House Of The Dead, which it often resembles. it delivers violence, explosions and even romance; it just doesn’t have much in the way of story or distinctive personality, and it’s seriously lacking in oomph.

Wyrmwood: Apocalypse will get its home entertainment release from 101 Films in May 2022