John McPhail

Anna and the Apocalypse review

John McPhail's Christmas zombie musical comedy was warmly received on its festival debut and has picked up a solid following through its theatrical and DVD releases over the last couple of years.

Taking a formalistically rigorous approach to its genre-mashing premise, Scottish zombie-themed Christmas high school musical Anna and the Apocalypse operates rather like an end-of-term festive show made by spirited amateurs blissfully unaware of its general naffness. Director John McPhail has admitted in interviews he didn't really like musicals before signing on to make it, and that shows in the lifeless choreography, which is more filler than Thriller, something not helped by the disappointingly banal X Factor-style songs (by Roddy Hart and Tommy Reilly) and a weak script that lets the cast's haircuts do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to characterisation. As for the horror elements, the use of zombies as a coming-of-age metaphor is promising but ineffectively exploited and the gore is about as effective at disguising the film's overall dullness as a tacky bit of tinsel on a fake Christmas tree.

Anna and The Apocalypse preview

Before filming began McPhail phoned each member of the cast, which he hand-picked himself. I wanted to tell each of them that this was a collaborative process."