Cockneys vs Zombies Review

Whenever Shout! Factory hits us with a new release, I'm almost certain I'm going to dig it. At the very least I know I'm going to be entertained, their track record has been that good to me. Cockneys vs Zombies is one of their latest, and while I'll admit to being a bit tired of the whole zombie thing at this point, I still gave it a shot. Shout! Factory does indeed keep their streak alive, as this is one of the best examples of horror/comedy since Shaun of the Dead.

Cockneys vs Zombies centers around a group of bank robbers looking to pull off a heist in London. Two of the gang members plan to use their share of the money to keep their grandfather's nursing home from being condemned. Meanwhile, across town at a construction site, a crew unearths a sealed tomb. Believing there my be treasure inside, they break it open and unwittingly unleash the walking dead. The robbers must fight their way out of the bank, and across town to save the inhabitants of the retirement community from the flesh eating zombies.

This movie is not perfect. It's got just about every zombie movie cliche you've ever seen in it. The gore is almost exclusively CGI, and not even good CGI at that. The characters almost all fit squarely into one stereotype or another, with hardly a noteworthy performance among them. Still, despite all of that, this movie just works. It's at times hilarious, at times brilliant, and is entertaining from start to finish. For a sub-genre as saturated as the zombie one, movies like this are one in a million.

For horror/comedies, it's almost always the "comedy" part that makes or breaks the movie. In the case of Cockneys vs Zombies, most of the comedy surrounds the elderly at the nursing home, and it works so well. For example, imagine an old man with a walker attempting to "outrun" a group of shambling zombies. Hilarious! This movie is full of moments like this whenever the nursing home is on screen. In fact, it's when the movie switches focus to the bank robbers that things tend to drag a bit. I would've loved to have seen more with the old folks, and a little less with the others.

Cockneys vs Zombies is another fine release from the folks over at Shout! Factory. Their track record speaks for itself, and you know you're getting quality when you see their logo on the package. Fans of horror/comedies should definitely give this one a watch. Just keep an eye out for the baby...