Unhuman Review: Teen Snark Can't Save Zombie Breakfast Club Riff
Unhuman, a new film from Blumhouse and Epix, is a zombie horror with hints of The Breakfast Club. There's plenty of teen snark, but not too many jump scares. Unhuman's anti-bullying message, advertised as a "Blumhouse After school Special," feels like the truest portion of the film, even if it rings a little false in the context of its twists and turns. The film's second section is driven by the tension between Unhuman's teen characters, albeit the writing occasionally feels like it's trying too hard to portray a Gen Z voice via the eyes of grownups who did all their research on TikTok. All of this makes for an intriguing setting, but when the plot unfolds and pushes beyond the bounds of realism, Unhuman falls flat.
Unhuman is quick to put its clique-y bunch in jeopardy. Shortly after introducing Ever, Randall, Danny, Tamra, Steven, Jacey, Hunt, and Ryan, the teenagers find themselves aboard a bloodied school bus, fleeing from a bloodthirsty zombie. Soon after, radio broadcasts announce that the globe has been thrown into turmoil due to a chemical strike. Now the group must battle for their lives while squabbling, calling each other names, and attempting to determine who is capable of leading them to safety. Of course, things don't always go as planned, and by the time these creatures catch up with the teenagers, it's too late.
After that, the scares are all that's left, and Unhuman doesn't have much to offer in that department either. The concept is intriguing at first, but as the gang of headstrong adolescents progresses through this nightmare circumstance, the terror of Unhuman is all but destroyed by an early third act revelation that completely transforms all that has gone before it. It's not inherently a terrible thing to rely too much on jump scares, but when that's all that's left, a horror film is only as good as its characters.
Unhuman's central group dynamic undoubtedly produces some laugh-out-loud moments, but it also causes the film to be tonally uneven. It can't determine if it wants to be a zombie film, a parody of The Breakfast Club, or something else entirely. Narrative whiplash doesn't help matters, and by the time the film's denouement arrives, it's difficult to fathom any other conclusion. There's nothing worse than predictability in horror, and while Unhuman tries to throw some curveballs, it misses more than it hits.
Unhuman is quick to put its clique-y bunch in jeopardy. Shortly after introducing Ever, Randall, Danny, Tamra, Steven, Jacey, Hunt, and Ryan, the teenagers find themselves aboard a bloodied school bus, fleeing from a bloodthirsty zombie. Soon after, radio broadcasts announce that the globe has been thrown into turmoil due to a chemical strike. Now the group must battle for their lives while squabbling, calling each other names, and attempting to determine who is capable of leading them to safety. Of course, things don't always go as planned, and by the time these creatures catch up with the teenagers, it's too late.
After that, the scares are all that's left, and Unhuman doesn't have much to offer in that department either. The concept is intriguing at first, but as the gang of headstrong adolescents progresses through this nightmare circumstance, the terror of Unhuman is all but destroyed by an early third act revelation that completely transforms all that has gone before it. It's not inherently a terrible thing to rely too much on jump scares, but when that's all that's left, a horror film is only as good as its characters.
Unhuman's central group dynamic undoubtedly produces some laugh-out-loud moments, but it also causes the film to be tonally uneven. It can't determine if it wants to be a zombie film, a parody of The Breakfast Club, or something else entirely. Narrative whiplash doesn't help matters, and by the time the film's denouement arrives, it's difficult to fathom any other conclusion. There's nothing worse than predictability in horror, and while Unhuman tries to throw some curveballs, it misses more than it hits.