Over the weekend I stumbled upon the teaser trailer for a Scottish coming-of-age zombie musical titled Anna and the Apocalypse. The film premiered over the weekend at Sitges Film Festival in Spain and tells the story of a teenage girl named Anna and her friends as they fight – and sing – their way through a Christmas-time zombie invasion to reach the supposed safety of their school, not knowing if their parents and friends will still be alive when they get there. The film is currently seeking a U.S. distributor and this year, my Christmas wish is that they get one.
The film is based on a 2010 BAFTA-winning short film titled Zombie Musical, which was written and directed by Ryan McHenry. Anna and the Apocalypse was supposed to be McHenry’s feature film debut, but the writer and director sadly passed away in 2015 after a battle with a rare form of bone cancer. Though he was unable to direct due to his passing, McHenry did work on the film’s original script along with Alan McDonald. McHenry was also the film creator behind the popular internet meme “Ryan Gosling Won’t Eat His Cereal.”
Shot on location in Scotland, the zombie Christmas musical stars Ella Hunt (Our Robot Overlords) as Anna, with Mark Benton (The Halcyon) as her father Tony and Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones) as the wicked antagonist Savage.
