Z
ombies are one of horror’s great contradictions. The shuffling undead is immediately synonymous with the most macabre of genres, yet at the same time, that community is sick to life and back of the classic monster. The question that any zombie movie has to tackle is how to make films starring them feel fresh. A question answered with every possible variation encompassing everything from extreme satirical horror to slapstick comedy with multiple stops at every point in between. Essentially, it’s next to impossible for a zombie movie to feel anything other than tired, it’s that over-embellished. Enter Jonathan Straiton’s Johnny Z, which is out on all digital platforms from Reel2Reel films.
Johnny Z‘s response to zombie fatigue is to move events away from the horror genre and into straight action. This is where we join stunt performer turned actor Felix Cortes as Jon Ray, a hoody-wearing-masked man who wanders the zombie-infested badlands to work off steam (I don’t know why either as it’s the one place he shouldn’t be). Elsewhere is an organisation run by the enigmatic Frank (David E. McMahon), who helps to maintain the thinly balanced status quo his organisation established in this apocalypse state. How did he do this? He has patient zero of the zombie outbreak in his possession (or patient Z, Michael Merchant) – or he did until he is found as part of a convoy and kept captive by Jon Ray in his farmhouse where he and his brother (Jason Delgado) live. Naturally, the two groups are on a violent date with destiny.
One for the only the most hardcore of zombie completist.
Along the way, there are visits to an underground zombie fight club run by a bicurious camp MC. And the buried lead is that Patient Z has strange regenerative abilities that allow him to pick up new skills by seeing them once – this sees Jon Ray and Z, later dubbed Johnny, practising martial arts stances together. And before I forget, people became zombies because of the “radiation” from wifi signals (Oh, dear).
That right-wing take on modern technology isn’t necessarily bad – after all, satire is a thing – and it doesn’t matter where something came from; it’s more important how well it beds into the narrative. Which isn’t great either, unfortunately. I have used the term apocalypse state because, for a zombie movie, beyond a recurring flashback, you barely break into double figures for the grizzly critters. The ambition outstrips what is financially viable, many times over. I’m not one to chastise a low-budget – that wouldn’t make me much of a horror fan if I did – this is an issue because repeatedly establishing a world order and then showing little of it makes it very difficult for a story to move forward. Implication isn’t really a something that fits with a sub-genre this traiditionally explicit.
As I mentioned earlier, it’s difficult for a zombie movie to escape the tired tropes and trappings, and when Johnny Z does escape those pitfalls, it is dragged back, kicking and screaming, by the lack of concrete world-building. Production values, cinematography, and blocking fare no better, with them all leaving much to the imagination to the extent that I often questioned shot selection. Something that shouldn’t come into a viewer’s head. Although admirable that Felix Cortes is making the leap from stuntwork to acting, most of the ensemble’s performances leave much to be desired save for a touching monologue from Jason Delgado.
On balance, Johnny Z is an overly ambitious project that lends an action spin to the idea of the domestic zombie, done in properties as varied as Day of the Dead, Warm Bodies, and Fido. Unfortunately, the lack of world-building and reliance on different but equally tired plot beats does nobody any favours; there’s even a dreaded sequel tease. One for the only the most hardcore of zombie completist.
Johnny Z (2023) is out now on Digital Platforms via Reel2Reel Films
