HERD ** USA 2023 Dir: Steven Pierce. 97 mins
Jamie (Ellen Adair) and Alex (Mitzi Akaha) decide a canoeing break in the Missouri countryside will help their marital woes: Jamie lets out her pent-up frustrations about the job she hates, the city life she resents and her dislike of having kids. Alex spills her guilt (there’s a lost-baby tragedy haunting the backstory) and frustration at Jamie’s tendency to shut out her emotions. As the camping trip exposes their individual flaws and bugbears, a boating accident forces them to take refuge in a town struggling to contain a zombie virus. Though, in one of the most consistent themes in modern zombie cinema, it’s the rednecks with shotguns we need to worry about the most.
This character-driven piece from co-writer / director Steven Pierce has suitably grotesque-looking, pus-filled, loudly shrieking zombies (or, “heps”) and the language of the divided, paranoid, post-Covid U.S.A.: “We’re not gonna be sheeple!” It’s also weighed down by heavy handed exposition and character beats, including flashbacks to Jamie’s unhinged father. Though sincerely acted, it is, at times, unintentionally amusing, including what should be an impactful scene of Jamie raging at her Dad’s corpse: “Every time I hear Johnny Cash or see the score of the Royals game…”
It works hard to capture the inherent prejudices and homophobia of middle America, and the eponymous “Herd” is not the barely seen zombies but the extended “family” of singular, insular bureaucrats and survivors led by Jeremy Holm’s detestable Big John Gruber, who disturbingly talks about getting “that tingle” when the subject of violence comes up. This far from safe refuge comes complete with spontaneous singalongs and condescending “little lady” phrases.
Short on undead action and long on cliches, it plays out like an extended episode of THE WALKING DEAD during one of its various dull periods, with familiar constitution-quoting local militia. Huge kudos for a convincing same-sex couple at the heart of the story, however, and also for a refreshingly optimistic outcome.
Review by Steven West
Herd arrives on Digital and DVD on 23rd October 2023 in the UK from High Fliers Films