Apocalypse Rising (2018)

Director: Richard Lowry

Writer: Gregory P Wolk (Screenplay)

Starring: Hunter Alexes Parker, Shane Samples, Justin Lebrun, Johanna Rae, Victoria Steadman, James R Frey

 

Plot: They came from a doomed world to save us from the same fate.

 

Runtime: 1 Hour 23 Minutes

 

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

 

Verdict: Wonderfully Self Aware

 

Story: Apocalypse Rising starts as we head to the planet Rathe on the brink of collapse through war. Mia (Parker), Magnum (Samples), Karl (Frey), Phoenix (Lebrun), Beset (Rae) and Thora (Steadman) escape the planet searching for a new home, Earth.

On Earth they must learn the new culture and teach the wars that war will be destructive, but a new threat for both appears, they must join forces to fight for freedom against the undead.

 

Thoughts on Apocalypse Rising

 

Characters – Mia is the one from the crew with the ability to see the future, once leaving Rathe, she is the only one that sees the future coming to Earth which will follow in the footsteps of their own. She does have an air of innocence about her which helps her stand out from the rest of the species. Magnum is the muscles that will help in any fight, be objectified by the women of Earth and show he has the brains to. Phoenix is the pilot of the crew, he fills the role of the one that gets the extra laughs while trying to keep the group together. The crew is rounded off nicely with each one knowing their place in the world, with the aliens not understand Earth, when it comes to the human characters we get the wonderfully named India Jones one of the scientists on the dig.

Performances – Hunter Parker in the leading role shows the innocent strength needed for this role. Shane Samples will be the one you remember most, he is built like a tank and his ability to hit the humour lines with complete deadpan reaction makes his character feel different to one with the same look. The rest of the cast do a good job and fully embrace the characters mentality.

Story – The story here follows a group of aliens that flee their dying home planet and find themselves on Earth needing to prepare the planet for the same destruction their own planet faced. The story is completely self-aware of what it is saying which does help, we get to play on the idea that humans aren’t as smart as them, being in the same tone as an Army of Darkness from start to finish. We do dive into religious history while searching for how the impending destruction can be translated from biblical text. The story could have become laughable if we didn’t have the self-aware side behind everything.

Comedy/Fantasy/Horror/Sci-Fi – The comedy in the film does come from how the alien interact with the humans, with certain reactions being over the top. The fantasy world puts us in the horror idea of zombies mixed with religion. With the sci-fi elements of the film coming from the world where aliens have come from their own planet to help Earth to not make the same mistakes.

Settings – The film keeps the settings simple, we have Rathe which looks like our generic planet, with the Earth settings surrounding a dig, which helps with the religious side of things.

Special Effects – The effects are low budget and we can tell, it doesn’t take away from the film.

Scene of the Movie – The self-awareness this movie shows.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Would like to know more about the side characters.

Final Thoughts –This is one of the most self-aware movies you will ever see, it gets the laughs when needing and never takes itself too seriously.

 

Overall: Fun self-aware film.

Rating