Monday, December 24, 2018

Anna and the Apocalypse: Zombieland in a High School Musical

By José Alberto Hermosillo

“Anna and the Apocalypse” is an extraordinary underground teen's genre - horror/musical with sensational dark humor. An instant cult classic!!!

When British co-writer Ryan McHenry worked in the seventeen-minute short film “Zombie Musical,” he never imagined a few years later, it will turn into a coming-of-age, high school musical “Anna and the Apocalypse.”

Anna and the Apocalypse display at the Arclight, Hollywood. Photo: José Alberto Hermosillo.

The director of this terrific film is the young and talented John McPhail, who placed all the elements together to make this fun-to-watch, vibrant flick. "Anna and the Apocalypse^ appeals to a new generation of film-goers.

To upgrade the short into the feature film, they added a few more novelty elements and characters to make the story more flamboyant and fluidly entertaining.

They shot the movie in twenty-eight days, averaging a record of seventeen sets a day in a non-sequential order.

At that time of the year in England, the weather conditions were challenging. During the production, the filmmakers had plenty of rain, wind, fog, and snow.

Having only six hours of daylight, they worked from dawn-to-dark. For that reason, pre-production was essential for the well-being of the film.

They also spent a week planning the climactic song “Hollywood Ending.”

During the shooting, director of photography Sara Deane always looked for that emotional beat that could drag the viewer's attention to a focal point. Miss Deane created a vibrant and colorful world through her lenses, and with the convenient help of the Christmas decorations made out of this zombie musical worth watching.

She added that working in the hallways was more challenging because space was limited and harder to light.

"Anna and the Apocalypse" combined the zombie assaults with gaudy and well-choreographed musical numbers.

“Anna and the Apocalypse” is a subversive story within the Zombie Genre.

The filmmakers mixed the romantic comedy with horror to help break the structure - beginning with the desires, goals, and dreams of every character, and foreshadow the outcome of the story.

In this highly original story, Anna and John (Ella Hunt and Malcolm Cumming) have to confront the evil teacher Savage, terrifically played by Paul Kaye.

For the central characters, the loss of a good friend gives real meaning to fight the Zombies.

The representation of zombies gets personal becoming a symbol of the undead, and depression-like Santa Claus is for happiness.

Director John McPhail wanted everyone in the film to feel real. He is a believer in character truthfulness.

McPhail firmly believes that actors are people, not kids. In the character's bios, he has to know where they are coming from and where they are going.

In McPhail's own words: “‘Jaws’ has the same structure of ‘Ghostbusters,’ and still are two different movies.”

Director is a huge fan of Musicals: “West Side Story,” “Cabaret,” “Moulin Rouge,” “Legally Blonde” on stage.

He worked with three other composers who had never done a musical before. They were making sure they were on the same page and used a comparable terminology that included respect for everyone and everything - honor the female characters, respect the zombies, and the bullies too.

The memorable music includes the terrific songs “Christmas Means Nothing Without You,” “Break Away,” “Soldier at war,” “Turning My Life Around,” “What a Time to Be Alive,” "Human Voice," and, of course, “Hollywood Ending.”

Even though this flick was made in England, it is not for the British only. American audiences can identify with the songs, the comedy, and all of those fantastic dead and alive characters.

The magic of cinema comes when a movie like this appeals to everyone.

The director said, “The comedy has a sparkle, and it comes from something real.” He added, “What America has brought to Grand Britain, now we want to give back, like this pleasing and surprisingly original film.”

The new hard-core fans of this genre can rejoice to know that the stage version of “Anna and the Apocalypse” will be touring at theaters around the globe pretty soon. Enjoy!