‘Zombie Repellent’ (2025)

A dark comedy following a couple en route to Las Vegas to elope, ‘Zombie Repellent’ tracks Liz (Jada Krueger) and Chad (Taylor King) as they journey through remote country roads to their destination. With tension already mounting as Liz feels stress brought on by their venture, the two end up in a middle-of-nowhere town that harbors a dark secret.

Introducing the two as a mismatched duo, Liz is straitlaced and sensible whereas Chad exudes a somewhat churlish and unkempt air about himself. They break down on a dirt road and their car is towed to a nearby town. Establishing that the little hamlet has no cell service and apparently no one uses social media or even smartphones, the two are squarely placed in the perfect set-up for an impossible to escape horror scenario.

Staying at Mrs. Powell’s (Polly Cassiday Doyle) house, the two try to push aside the odd personalities they’ve come across and just settle for the night. Investigating a noise she hears after having gone to bed, Liz sees Mrs. Powell dragging a body across the yard and seemingly cutting it up in the basement.

The situation soon devolves and Chad goes looking for Liz, only for the two to independently discover that the town has a dark past. Historically a mining town, settler’s there had uncovered a mysterious ooze seeping from the mines, that turned the miners into the undead. Trying to seal the mines off with the undead inside, the townsfolk have become accustomed to the fact that every once in a while a few escape and wreak havoc. To battle a potential onslaught, the townsfolk arm themselves with ‘zombie repellent.’

Suffering a few casualties along the way Chad and Liz reconnect and decide to leave for their wedding. Sensing that something is off though, the two return to town to discover that they had accidentally taken part in an immersive zombie-survival experience. Discouraged, the two feel duped, but the actors involved offer to lend a hand and mount a wedding for the two.

Quirky and a little awkward, the film presents a novel idea that requires more than some suspension of disbelief. Some of the over-the-top acting is explained away at the end, when we discover the ‘townspeople’ to have been actors all along. With Krueger and King serving as the leads, their chemistry is often more mismatched than fitting, raising questions as to their ultimate compatibility.

Pushing and pulling along, the two leads happen their way across a few incidents. With a couple of effective jump-scares, the film largely serves as a meandering misadventure, where the two are mostly wandering about having expositional monologues delivered to them. Progressing at the pace of a slow stroll, the cast try their best at evoking fear and surprise when prompted, but perhaps poor editing renders their venture less than enjoyable.

Even with a clever, sort of twist, ending ‘Zombie Repellent’ feels too slow to ever cajole one into a genuine feel of terror or excitement. Attempting to balance it out, the film also falters when delivering more light hearted and humorous dialogue. The actors lingering too long on their lines, failing to deliver any punchy one-liners or in any comedic capacity really.

With an original idea, the film promises a fun and breezy zombie caper that has the potential to poke fun at a well established genre. What ‘Zombie Repellent’ manages to deliver is a slow and underdeveloped narrative that feels tiresome, with it's players too wooden and one dimensional to ever feel relatable.

Compounded with an underwhelming depiction of zombies in the feature, the film also fails on the zombie front, leaving little, if anything at all, to be enjoyed about the move. Made on a shoestring budget, the modest make-up and costume design could be overlooked, but the film suffers too many other shortcomings to be proposed as a fun hour and something of escapism.

Score: 1/4