Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

So I heard about this movie last year and I actually really wanted to see it. I believe I remember it having a limited release but something about it seemed like a lot of fun. I guess I didn't see it because I had heard that the reviews for it were less than stellar and I tend to be pretty stingy when it comes to movies that I go out and see... except for those that people request, I go out and see those right away.

But after seeing this film, I have to wonder, why didn't this movie do better. Its hilarious!

Scouts Guide focuses on three teenagers in high school who have been in the Boy Scouts since they were very young. Ben Goudy (played by Tye Sheridan) and Carter Grant (played by Logan Miller) play the two Scouts who are trying to be popular and they feel like being in the scouts makes them nerdy and unpopular. Of course there's a fat even nerdier kid named Augie Foster (played by Joey Morgan) who is more into the Scouts than they are and expects the other two to stay in the scouts because they are friends.

Ben and Grant are invited to a senior party and they want to ditch the scout camp out they are having to go to it and leave Augie. At first this starts off as a pretty typical raunchy teen comedy where the goal is to get beer, get laid, and have a crazy time being popular in high school… then the zombie apocalypse happens.

Soon, Ben, Grant, Augie, and a super hot, like incredibly hot, out of their league like nobody’s business hot woman who went to their high school named Denise (played by Sarah Dumont) are paired up to get out of town before the military bombs the city. But first they need to find the secret senior rager that Carter’s sister and Ben’s secret crush is at and save her before the zombie apocalypse happens and everyone dies.

Like I'm not crazy right? There's really no way right?

The best comparison I can give to this movie is Super Bad in the zombie apocalypse. Now you’re probably not going to have as much memorable moments in this movie as you did in Super Bad. You might not have the same amount of quotable lines in this film as you would in Super Bad. At the end of the day, is this movie as good as Super Bad? Well it depends in my opinion.

Super Bad is a movie that I actually think is a little bit overrated. The part of that movie that really succeeded was the fact that they had a lot of actors and actresses that ended up being really big stars. Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Emma Stone, Seth Rogen, Bill Hader, that is a stacked cast with a lot of talented people. That being the case, you are going to get a lot of funny moments and its going to stick in your memory more.

The truth is, Scouts Guide is probably not going to blow your mind or be as memorable as Super Bad, at least not for the majority of people because it’s ripping off a lot from Super Bad. It’s the typical story of the teenagers going to the popular party and they get distracted on the way there by some crazy hijinxs, they learn about friendship, and the party doesn’t turn out to be all its cracked up to be and they should learn to enjoy what they have. Except it has zombies. There is even a scene where they go to get beer from a liquor store despite being under aged. Is it as good as Super Bad’s scene? No, nothing is going to beat the old woman saying, “Enjoy  fucking Jewels!”, but I think Scouts Guide takes a very creative take on a story that I’ll be honest, is a little bit of rehash.

A big part of the movie is how the Scouts basically are Mcgyver and they can use any objects in their vicinity to create something to get out of the situation or fight the zombies. I think the problem people found with this movie was that it was less about fighting zombies and more about surviving. The weird thing about this movie was that it was really inconsistent about what the zombies could do and how they were programed. Some zombies were your typical zombies you see in The Walking Dead where they just limp towards you and try to bite you. But then you had zombies that could pole dance or sing Brittany Spears. And don’t get me wrong, this was actually something I was a fan of because it showed zombies in a different light and gave me a chuckle here and there. The problem with it was that there was never really an explanation as to why the zombies could throw people across the room, why they could have the motor skills to hold and shoot a gun and yet they’re still zombies. It could have been a really creative idea, but it really didn’t amount to much.

That being said, I actually did really enjoy the jokes in this movie. Yeah a lot of it was pretty juvenile, but the minute that you realize that this is less a zombie movie and more a Super Bad with some zombies, I think it’s something you might enjoy. Doesn’t make the jokes any less juvenile but I had a lot of fun with it.

Now… at a certain point the jokes do kind of reach a point of diminishing returns. Depending on your maturity level you might reach that point earlier, but if you’re like me, it comes at the end where you may say… “yeah they might have taken the raunchy jokes too far”. But it’s the end so that’s not a huge deal for me.

The three main characters of the film are three pretty lesser known actors. The best well known is probably Tye Sheridan who played Cyclops in X-men: Apocalypse. I actually have been watching more and more of him in recent months and I’ve come to enjoy him more and more. But overall, the three Scouts and the incredibly hot, no way these guys could ever get a girl this hot, over the top hot woman  are pretty fun and make up a good team. I think their reactions to the zombies who have their own pretty funny reactions makes a movie that you’re probably not going to write home about but is a fun horror comedy.

I get the feeling I’m in a little bit of a minority based on the reviews of this film. Let me know what you think? Go and check out Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse and let me know what you think. It is streaming on Hulu right now, give it a watch. Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me requests for movies I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I’ll leave you with this. Maybe you've seen this already maybe you haven't but here's the guys who tricked their sister who was on anesthesia that it was the zombie apocalypse and when they went on Ellen. Enjoy!