Cast: Manny Luke, Erin Aine, Punkie Johnson, Christian Casillas, Carlo Mendez, Nichole McAuley

Directed By: Kyle Valle

Release Year: 2018

There is no audio description available for this title.

What Is it?: A group of cosplaying friends find themselves in the middle of an actual zombie apocalypse.

What Works/What Doesn’t Work: I struggled ethically on reviewing this title. I’m on the Tomatometer, and I’m getting some cold calls from really indie films. Someone in Germany has a short, another horror title wants me to review their film but doesn’t have audio description. I had a back and forth with a rep (producer?) for this film, and they were sorry they didn’t have audio description. I had some great exchanges about it, and I think there was an understanding of the total roll of the dice here.

Being blind, and not having audio description is a spectrum. yes, we should have it for everything, but some genres typically rely heavily on the visual aspects. It is often a lot easier to get through a documentary, a comedy whose focus is on the dialogue and not physical/prop comedy, or procedural crime dramas where detectives explain everything out loud all the time. On the other end, we have horror, action, science fiction, and fantasy, which more often than not are like stepping into a minefield on a wing and a prayer. Technically, you CAN make it to the other side, but your chances are slim.

I sat on this for a hot minute. Do I have anything to say? At the end of the day, here’s why this exists. This movie has been around apparently since 2018, according to IMDb, where it has been voted on a total number of 24 times. If you type in the exact title of the film, it isn’t even the top search result for its own title. This is a film people worked on, and while they didn’t think about accessibility, a film with an SNL alum is somehow falling into a black hole of obscurity.

Even if I end up rotten, I’m giving the film exposure it would otherwise not have. Even a rotten review on the Tomatometer pushes it closer to being able to have a score. Films have to be reviewed by a minimum number of critics before they get an average. If I go rotten, and then nine sighted critics review it as fresh, I’m helping to push it to a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.

But, yes, it’s a rotten review. So many reasons. They don’t really have to do with the films quality, persay, because I can’t even really get to that point. It’s a film about cosplayers. What are they wearing? in general, what do these characters look like? Audio description helps us follow characters through the film. I had a hard time remembering who was who, by matching voice, and figuring out how many were in any given scene. When they scream, I don’t know what at. when the zombies appear, I don’t know if its funny or scary. the tone for this film could go either way. When people are attacked, i don’t know how. It’s hard to track any deaths in the film, or to know how someone died. Was it bloody? Gory? It was as inaccessible. As I assumed it would be.

However, in the dialogue, there’s some promise. It is very self aware. It has a blaring pop punk soundtrack that made me think they were here to have fun, like Zombieland. I’m familiar with Punkie from SNL, and I could follow her voice. She is very committed to this film, and made me laugh just with a few one liners.

But, the glimmers of hope keep me from believing this is just some hot garbage that is destined to die on Tubi, in between other films general audiences didn’t know existed. With the amount of horror centric podcasts and youtubers, I’m surprised they can’t get a little higher profile.

Why you Might Like it: If you can see, this has the feeling of a nerd friendly zombie horror comedy. That could be your thing. And while this is a 2018 release, and not 2025, I can say without a doubt in my mind it wasn’t the worst film i saw this year, nor was it my worst experience without audio description.

Why You Might Not Like it: You’re blind like me. it’s a struggle. The struggle is real.

Final thoughts: There’s some spark of something in Zombie Con, which aims to entertain and target an audience that would probably like it, if they knew it existed. Sadly, for me, the lack of audio description puts too much distance between me and the film.

Rotten: 2.8/10