Stream It Or Skip It?

Is it a shock to anyone that Disney’s Zombies franchise is back from the dead? The name certainly suggests it, but wow, we did not expect the musical fantasy franchise to drag on this long. We all thought Zombies 3 laid the would-be trilogy to rest, but today (July 10) Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires has risen to reanimate the now anthology by any means necessary. And does it succeed? Well, it certainly attempts to. But with a new main duo of monsters acting as a carbon-copy of the original films’ couple and a plot that’s been recycled four times now, this quadrup-quel coming to Disney+ on July 11 is solid proof that Zombies should’ve stayed dead.

The Gist: Via a comic book style intro that kind of resembles the mobile game “Episode,” the movie begins by explaining the complex lore of the Zombies Cinematic Universe. It all started in the town of Seabrook where zombies and humans hated each other, but then they learned to get along. Repeat the process with werewolves and aliens, and you have yourself a trilogy.

Anyway, all monster life in the ZCU is controlled by the moonstone. Once upon a time, a moonstone crashed into earth and split, creating two different kinds of monsters: the Daywalkers (a sparkly group in bright athleisure) and the Vampires (an edgy, leather-clad species who walk at night). The feuding sides view each other as the enemy and constantly fight for blood fruit, the only food that either species can eat. Gee, I wonder what they’re going to learn to do by the end of the movie! 

With recurring characters Zed (Milo Manheim) and Addison (Meg Donnelly) in tow, the Daywalkers and Vampires race each other to the blood fruit orchard — only to find that it’s blocked by a large gate that can only be unlocked with three keys. Oh no, it looks like the feuding races of monsters will have to [pause for dramatic effect] work together! This is the solution that Zed and Addison suggest, spreading the gospel of unity and friendship further into the monster world. Both sides agree to this arrangement, piling into a mysterious summer camp together that seems to have appeared out of thin air. All seems right until Nova’s dad pulls her aside and tells her to betray the Vampires and steal all the blood fruit once they get the gate open. Dun, dun, dun! 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: This film is like if High School Musical was frankensteined together with Nickelodeon’s live-action Monster High franchise. It’s alive, but at what cost?

Performances Worth Watching: Manheim as Zed is this film’s saving grace in terms of acting. In a movie fraught with canned line deliveries, his expert comedic timing makes the cheesy script worth a few chuckles.

Memorable Dialogue: Eliza as the car is flipping upside down: “The marshmallows! Save the marshmallows!” Ha-ha, I guess.

Sex And Skin: On the Disney Channel? No way.

Our Take: Let’s see, where have I heard this story before? Oh yeah — in Zombies 1, 2, and 3. I understand a franchise having an overarching theme across all its films, but come on. The plot of all four movies can be boiled down to this: “[Insert monster species here] appear and feud with other species. They fight, but must work together. They see past differences and become friends. Unity, understanding, happy ever after.” If you do that exact plot four times in a row, it’s bound to get stale even for young audiences. 

It’s true that the filmmakers have made a few adjustments to their formula here: the main cast leaves the town of Seabrook for the first time and ends up in the new, admittedly pretty set pieces of Sunnyside, Shadyside, and the random integrated summer camp. We also get introduced to some new characters, but unfortunately this is when the problem of repeating storylines becomes more obvious. So obvious in fact that the movie itself acknowledges it: Addison and Zed notice the budding romance between Nova and Victor and say to themselves, “Do they remind you of anyone we know?” The new forbidden duo is meant to be a cute mirror to the original couple when they first met: she was a by-the-books blonde girl, he was a curious monster boy, can they make it any more obvious? But the two teens aren’t just a mirror —  they are full-on clones of Addison and Zed with almost no unique character traits that set them apart. It’s abundantly clear that the filmmakers are desperately trying to freshen up the same tired storyline again, but despite all the surface-level “newness” of the film, all of their attempts fall flat.

Of course, Zombies 4 isn’t all worthless — the musical numbers are fun, well-choreographed, and set to surprisingly catchy songs that probably won’t annoy you too much if your kids put this movie on 12 times in a row. The film’s cheesiness also makes it a solid candidate for some good-old-fashioned ironic enjoyment, but then again, I can think of a plethora of other cheeseball flicks that do much better at being bad. And of course, the film sends a good message to kids, even if that message has been done to death. But these decent aspects of the film aren’t enough to disguise the fact that the world just didn’t need a Zombies 4. It says and does nothing new, and if the twist at the very end of the film is any indication, the franchise will continue to do nothing new for years to come.

OUR CALL: Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires is redundant, redundant, redundant. Am I repeating myself? Well, at least I didn’t do it a fourth time. SKIP IT.