A posse of crooked cops, malevolent gangsters and a horde of walking dead are the centre point of this gruesome, tight, action packed, claustrophobic tale of retribution and escape. Penned like animals, on the top floor of a deserted high-rise block, these two opposing gangs find that they are not alone in the lair of bloodthirsty corridors of death. Joining forces to survive, they must reach ground level together or perish. Loaded with a bad ass attitude, guns, axes and extremely creative hand-to-hand combat sequences that project the fears and paranoia that are the fighting forces behind the need to survive, when caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time. An end of the world battle between gangsters, cops and zombies. La Horde is probably the best action film of the year. It doesn't work as an out and out horror but it is a balls out insane action film. The plot in cops and criminals join forces in a tower block as the End of Days happens and the dead return as bloodthirsty aggressive zombies. If you like action brutal, bloody and violent then see this. The plot isn't anything original but this film has verve by the bucketload. The scares are good and the tension is slowly built higher and higher. The only complaint is that the ending isn't clever despite being different.<br/><br/>Go see it if you love robocop/28 days later/dawn of the dead.<br/><br/>Great fun. Despite a plethora of zombie films being made around the world in the last ten years, very few of them are actually any good; I think the last one I really enjoyed was the Spanish REC. Good news, then, that the French have finally done themselves proud with THE HORDE, which turns out to be one of the most exciting - and desperate - zombie films of the last few years.<br/><br/>Don't go here looking for originality, because you won't find it. THE HORDE's storyline is nothing to write home about, and the cast is typical for those of us familiar with French cinema like DISTRICT 13. In essence, a group of gangsters, cops and eccentrics are cooped up in a run-down apartment block and forced to fend off the frenzied attacks of the living dead.<br/><br/>The characters are all hard-ass and the script is littered with tough-as-nails dialogue, but along the way there are some genuinely decent performances, particularly from Jean-Pierre Martins and Eriq Ebouaney, whose initial hostility gradually gives way to a grudging respect. But the characters come second to the direction, which is all about tense, close-quarters combat, and the film-makers don't skimp on the bloodshed either. This is a nasty movie, in which the zombies are vicious man-eaters all the way. There's even time for something new, in the form of some breathtaking hand-to-hand combat battles between humans and zombies which are like something out of THE RAID and just as great to watch. THE HORDE is a great little movie and one I'll enjoy rewatching in future.
Vladitann replied
293 weeks ago