In this French zombie horror, a group of cops are determined to avenge the death of their colleague and close friend who’s been murdered by gangsters. Resorting to vigilante justice, they infiltrate the gangsters’ hideout at the top of a suburban high-rise apartment block, only to be overcome, captured and badly beaten by the criminals. It’s precisely at this point, when the cops and the gangsters are at their most violently opposed, that they realise that there is something weird going on outside.
It turns out that all the commotion is being caused by a horde of flesh-eating zombies, who are making their way into the building, and the sworn enemies inside the apartment block are going to have to work together if they want a chance of survival.
Your enjoyment of The Horde will depend on your appetite for no-frills, middle-of-the-road zombie pics. If you don’t expect too much, you’ll be adequately provided for. It’s an economical film; a straight-ahead hour and a half of tense drama with bursts of bloody action, but the ultra-basic story is fleshed out by some entertainingly manic performances, particularly from the gangsters. And when the eponymous Horde finally reveals itself in all its hideous glory, it’s an impressively full-on experience, given the evidently limited budget.
The film is essentially a throwback to the Romero/Carpenter school of horror from the 70s, and while we probably don’t need another one of those, it doesn’t really hurt either. The disc’s extras are as unambitious yet as solid as the film itself: a reasonably substantial 20-minute making-of feature and some adequate but forgettable deleted scenes.
Overall Verdict: Fun but forgettable low-budget zombie horror pic.
Special Features:
‘Making of’ featurette
‘Rivoallan’ (9-minute short film)
Zombie concept art
Storyboards
Teaser trailer
Easter Egg – rehearsal of a scene
Reviewer: Tom René