As I mentioned in my review of day 2 of Frightfest, we were shown a “special sneak preview” of the French zombie movie The Horde. This meant that it was actually shown to us before the official world première, and as such there was a review embargo placed upon the movie. Now that it’s November and a US release date is set, I’m assuming that the date for the end of the embargo has well and truly passed, so here’s a quick review…
The story of The Horde concerns a derelict apartment building near Paris. It’s in a bad part of town, and controlled by drug gangs who have turned the building into a fortress impenetrable by police. A group of undercover cops storm the building, only to find themselves locked into a battle against the living dead, who rise during the siege.
From here on, the film progresses as you’d expect it to, but with a number of twists. The main thing to note is that the second half of the movie is pretty brutal. You’d have to expect this, given the high level of gore shown in recent French productions such as Inside, High Tension/Switchblade Romance, Frontieres and Martyrs. Here, the tension and gore really ramp up with some impressive sequences of devastation.
The general feeling I was left with was a decent movie with a great 3rd act, which most reminded me of a live action version of the video game Left4Dead, albeit without the different zombie mutant strains. Recommended.
Rating: 
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