FESTIVAL OF THE LIVING DEAD (2024)

New streaming on Tubi!
Directed by Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska.
Written by Miriam Lyapin, Helen Marsh.
Starring Ashley Moore, Camren Bicondova, Andre Anthony, Christian Rose, Shiloh O’Reilly, Gage Marsh, Keana Lyn Bastidas, Maia Jae Bastidas, Troy James, Ryan McEwen, Sophie Chikara, Jen Soska, Sylvia Soska
Check out the trailer here!!

55 years after the original zombie outbreak, as depicted in George A. Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, a group of teenagers left on their own for the week decide to celebrate by attending a musical festival commemorating the event. When a new outbreak occurs, the group, which includes the granddaughter of NOTLD’s Ben Cooper named Ash (Ashley Moore) and her best friend Iris (GOTHAM’s Camren Bicondova). The two besties have become estranged since Ash started dating preppy boy Kevin (Gage Marsh) which serves the main drama during this new zombie apocalypse.

Apparently, FESTIVAL OF THE LIVING DEAD was set to be released in early October, but after the tragic festival attack on October 7th, the film was shelved and released as a Tubi exclusive. While the Soska Sisters have delivered a few potent films, including the exceptionally good AMERICAN MARY, but I think a lack of budget might have knee-capped this film from the get-go. First off, if you’re planning on making a movie with a festival, you really should make sure you’re able to deliver on the size and scope of a festival. Lots of tricks, such as tight shots, reusing background performers, and limiting the time actually spent at this festival of the dead were used to make it seem like this was an epic event, but unfortunately, it still shows that they might have nabbed thirty or forty people to simply crowd around as extras. The time spent actually at the fest is limited, with the cast in cars going to and from the fest, reminding me of Jason Voorhees’ taking of Manhattan when he spent most of the movie on a boat. A good filmmaker can cover up a low budget in all sorts of ways, but the Soskas really weren’t able to do so in this instance.

Also, having gone to a few festivals myself, I think some of the usual things that occur at these things would have made FESTIVAL OF THE LIVING DEAD feel more distinct from all of the other zombie movies out there. Why is this festival such an interesting place to stage this event? Apparently, there is a meteor crater somewhere, but this is simply glossed over after it seems to be ground zero for the infestation. With this being the source point of the problem, one might think the group might have something to do with the destruction of the meteor that caused it all, but we never revisit it after its introduction. Problems like drugged out partiers, expensive merch stands trying to rip you off, trying to sneak whatever contraband one wants to smuggle into the fest, bands cancelling or being delayed or simply giving a bad show or an epic show—all of these things I associate with music festivals, but none of that is touched upon in the film.

What we go get is some ok effects, but nothing we really haven’t seen before. Over-used contortionist actor Troy James does his usual crab-walking schtick. Many of the zombies are simply searing masks while others seem to be sporting uninspired applications. These zombies walk or run whenever it is most convenient and can be inapacitate by smacking them in the face with a mike stand. So aside from the underdeveloped setting, there really isn’t a lot FESTIVAL OF THE LIVING DEAD offers by way of bringing something new to the subgenre.

What FESTIVAL OF THE LIVING DEAD does deliver on is a whole lot of drama. Ash likes Kevin, but Iris thinks Kevin is a tool. The twin sisters (not the Soskas, though they do make an onligatory appearance in the crowd) are bratty to everyone. Kevin’s buddy Ty is a douchebag to everyone. Ash resents her little brother Luke (Shiloh O’Reilly) since she has to babysit him instead of going to the concert. And wheelchair bound Blaze (Christian Rose) is in love with Iris, but is afraid if he tells her it will ruin their friendship. That’s a whole season of a WB show’s worth of drama squeezed into one movie but guess what? That’s not really what I look for in a zombie movie and it all feels like a distraction from the limited budget and lack of new undead ideas.

Thankfully, Ashley Moore is one hell of an actress and really shines here in multiple scenes of both drama and kick-assery. I checked her IMDB and she hasn’t done much, but hopefully she’ll do a lot more as she is the best actor of the bunch here. The rest of the crew are pretty strong as well and it’s the acting that ends up saving this run of the mill zombie outing and making it a breezy film that I can’t be mad at.

George A. Romero’s dead films might have petered out towards the end, but they always had something to say and tried new things with the zombie genre. I wish the Soskas would have at least tried to carry on some of the themes from NOTLD into this “sequel.” But all similarities are surface level. FESTIVAL OF THE LIVING DEAD is watchable as a low fi horror time-waster. Nothing to wake the dead about, but because of the solid acting by the cast and its breezy and rapid runtime, I recommend FESTIVAL OF THE LIVING DEAD to those not looking for anything deep between a lazy Sunday naptimes.