Le Horde (2009)

 Written by Happywax on April 24 2011

 Rating  8 1/2 out of 10

 Directors  - Yannick Dahan

                     Benjamin Rocher

 Cast

 Claude Perron           -   Aurore

 Jean-Pierre Martins   -  Quessen

 Eriq Ebouaney           -   Adewale

 Aurelien Recoing       -   Jimenez                                          

                                      The French have been enjoying something of a horror renaissance in recent years, giving us some of the scariest and bloodiest movies that the genre has had to offer; La Horde, an apocalyptic zombie movie in the vein of Zack Snyder's Dawn Of The Dead and Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, continues this trend, being a hugely entertaining Gallic gore-fest packed with superbly executed edge-of-the-seat horror action.

The film sees a team of vigilante cops break into a dilapidated tower block in order to exact justice on the gangsters responsible for the death of one of their colleagues; the vicious criminals turn the tables on the lawmen, however, but before they can carry out the execution of their prisoners, an outbreak of the undead forces a change of plan: the bad guys must reluctantly team up with the cops if they stand any chance of escaping from the zombie infested building alive.

Although the whole zombie siege schtick has been done to death since Romero's Night of the Living Dead way back in '68, directors Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher attack their oft-told tale with so much vigour that this fact is easily forgiven. The spot-on direction, excellent decayed urban setting, gloriously splattery effects (enhanced by carefully considered use of CGI), and a whole lot of extreme fire-power combine to deliver a non-stop roller-coaster ride of splendidly gory action, whilst well drawn characters with emotional depth serve to enrich the film's basic set-up.

With several brutal fist-fights between the living and the hideous screeching zombies, a thrilling, bullet riddled, blood drenched last half hour and a satisfyingly bleak, but perfectly fitting ending, La Horde is not only one of the most enjoyable of the new-wave of French horror films, but also one of the most kick-ass zombie films ever. This one is definatly on Happys must-see movie list, and i'm pretty sure me and the Axemaster havent let you down yet. Make sure you check out the trailer below