Gen Z era maintains George Romero’s Living Dead Universe
Festival of the Living Dead is the latest offering in what could be described as a classic “Living Dead” franchise. On her birthday, Ash (Ashley Moore) gets the chance to go to the Festival of the Living Dead which is a festival taking place in a forest that seems like Burning Man and many other distant music festivals. However, Ash and her much cooler friends run into lots of trouble when they find that there are some quite off-putting things about the festival i.e. zombies actually walking around it.
It was directed by The Twisted Sisters Jen and Sylvia Soska – Festival of the Living Dead has been acquired by Tubi as one of their many original ninety-minute or less horror movies over the past few years. All have a formula in them; not necessarily bad though. From the clothes they put on to social-media posts circulating throughout it, Festival of the Living Dead oozes Gen Z aesthetics.
The dilemma that occurs feels reminiscent of any YA or teen comedy ever made. The main character protagonist here, Ash wants to go somewhere but she has to babysit her little brother instead. Enter her less cool friend, Iris (Carmen Biscondova), who will look after her brother so that Ash can see something she had dreamt about happening since childhood. When they drive there drugs are taken, an accident happens with their car then pave way for them as one lone zombie is seen ahead in road.
The buildup is formulaic but that’s not what makes this movie good at all because its basically just very clunky during its festival scenes themselves. Not many things make sense there and this may also be due to budgeting more than anything else rather than just not being conveyed effectively enough through it. That being said, it won’t hurt to stay awhile for this ride.
The only part from Night of the Living Dead universe is the festival, which commemorates the events of 1968 (guess we made it out of it okay as a society?). And yet, this is a plot point that doesn’t need to take away from any fun you can have with zombie tropes in this movie.
Such film would make George Romero proud because what he created still continues into another generation. The one problem here, though, is that Night of the Living Dead can be seen by some as an art film and Festival of the Living Dead does come off as just another overcrowded horror flick for streaming media.
However, it’s a fun entry but then again a forgettable one. While most of the Romero-made films in this universe carry significant messages about life or society itself, all Festival of the Living Dead really seemed to say is that kids are on TikTok most of their lives. It’s their gift and their curse these days in terms of how this film plays out.
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