ZombieCON Vol 1. (2024) | Film Review
- Adam Williams
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
There’s a certain charm in indie horror that tricks you into rooting for it before it even gets going, and ZombieCON Vol. 1 kind of lives in that space – funny, messy, occasionally brilliant, and undeniably earnest. In short, it’s alright… not a total blast-off, but definitely worth sticking with once the zombies finally show up.
Just to start, the set-up could have been…sharper shall we say. The opening stretch moves along at the pace of a cosplayer knitting chainmail ready for their battle in Middle-Earth- it’s tedious and feels unnecessarily long (much like Gimli’s chainmail at Helms Deep). For what feels like the first third of the movie, it’s all talking, character beats, and convention hype (which is fine on its own), but when you’re primed for undead carnage, it overstays its welcome. By the time the bites and blood begin, I found myself breathing a sigh of relief.
To be fair, once ZombieCON Vol. 1 finds its groove, it delivers some genuinely fun zombie mayhem. The practical effects are surprisingly good for a micro-budget flick, with splattery kills and a satisfying crunch that horror fans will appreciate. The filmmakers opted for the fast moving, occasionally mystical undead creatures that keep the edge sharp and the stakes fun.
ZombieCON Vol 1. (2024) | Film Review
The actors are trying, bless them. You can see the passion in their performances, yet the squad often comes off more annoying than endearing. I don’t think that’s down to the actors though, I feel that’s more an issue with the direction and script. There are few moments it does come off rather like a student film, but I’ll admit that adds to its charm. Characters, unfortunately, lean heavily into stereotypes – the hot-headed leader, the doomsday prepper, the quirky best friend – and without much deeper flesh on those bones, it’s hard to truly care about their arcs. They all give it their all, but for the majority of the film it’s only surface deep.
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A zombie apocalypse born from a spiteful wish sounds ridiculous; I mean mostly because it is ridiculous, but that’s also part of the fun and quirkiness of this film. The film embraces its own chaos with a kind of affectionate wink: cosplay meets carnage in Los Angeles with swords and foam armor clashing with undead nasties. It’s not Shakespeare, but it wears its silliness proudly and has fun with how utterly ridiculous the entire concept for the film actually is.
There are highs here – energetic sequences, great gore moments, some truly funny jokes and bursts of creativity – but they’re bunched in the second half. The beginning sags and lags beyond belief, and character development unevenly divides attention between quips and crisis. The tone toggles between camp and pure chaos, and while that’s genre-appropriate, it doesn’t always stick the landing.
ZombieCON Vol. 1 isn’t a standout in the crowded zombie genre. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and it could’ve trimmed its opening to get to the juice sooner, but what it does have is A LOT of heart, energy, is remarkably unique (I don’t know another film even similar to this), and boasts some legitimately fun undead moments. The effects are solid, the kills memorable, and if you’re already into cosplay culture or B-movie horror vibes, there’s a lot here to enjoy. It shows promise, and while it’s nothing ground-breaking there’s enough fun buried in the flesh to hope the team goes bigger and sharper next time.
ZombieCON Vol. 1 is out now on various streaming platforms. You can check out the trailer below.
