La Horde (The Horde) (2009)

Directed by: Yannick Dahan, Benjamin Rocher
Written by: Arnaud Bordas, Yannick Dahan, Stéphane Moïssakis, Nicolas Peufaillit, Benjamin Rocher
Cast: Claude Perron, Jean-Pierre Martins, Eriq Ebouaney, Aurélien Recoing, Doudou Masta, Antoine Oppenheim, Jo Prestia, Yves Pignot, Adam Pengsawang, Sébastien Peres, Laurent Demianoff, Stéphane Orsolani

It's an unwritten rule in zombie film making that the beginning of the film is just a day in the life. Films which follow this pattern begin with people going about their various petty affairs, going to work, getting groceries, scratching themselves, and all the other common activities that make up humdrum existence. It's refreshing, then, that a film has finally been made which captures a scenario wherein the zombie apocalypse crashes down upon a completely unrelated drama.

A group of local police have become incensed by the death of one of their comrades. One of their own was cut down by a group of hardened criminals who have taken up fort in a social housing building north of Paris, France. The cops break in, bungle it all up, and manage to put themselves under the guns of the bad guys. The tension is heavy and it looks like a slaughter might be about to occur; and that's when the zombies rise up and strike.

This setup is extremely effective. Rather than rely on the tradition rather ho-hum beginning featuring everyday suburbia, La Horde instead opts to kick off with a heated battle between French cops and multi-national robbers. The two sides, confronted with a very strong and common enemy, rather grudgingly realize the sense in forming a temporary truce so that they might unite and fight their way out of the zombie mess.

Very little back-story is provided in La Horde, and this is to its favor. The characters never discuss whether a virus is turning people into "ragers", or if the devil is afoot. The cops and robbers involved simply do what people would really do - they fight to survive. The zombies themselves, at least in general appearance and mannerisms, do seem to be a refreshing throwback to the supernatural zombies of old; they are definitely not simply "infected" and are absolutely the risen corpses of the dead. They are fast, ghoulish, and preternaturally strong. Given the shots of firestorms raging across Paris, there is a definite feeling that this may go beyond a common zombie apocalypse; it might even be the holy apocalypse.

There is another common trend in modern zombie movies - the participants within it have been exposed to zombie mythology at least to the point that they know the cardinal rule of "shoot it in the head". Well, in La Horde, they haven't - and considering you're dealing with French cops, French drug dealers, and Nigerian thugs, this really isn't very far fetched. I doubt these guys are very big movie fans. They also don't shoot for the head very often, instead going for the easy target - the big rectangle of the chest and abdomen - and as everyone knows this won't stop a zombie from squat.

While their targeting is usually for the body, they're often not even good at that; frankly, their aim sucks. There is one particularly glorious scene, at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse, where a hulking zombie storms in and wreaks complete havoc. The hoodlums immediately unleash round after round into the monster, shooting both it and their comrade that it's busy chewing on. The execution of this scene is awesome; the bullets pound, pound, and pound some more into both the giant zombie as well as its hapless victim.

La Horde almost feels like a French cousin to the Spanish film [Rec]. Like [Rec], La Horde takes place mainly in the hallways of a multi-storied rundown apartment complex. The scenes are often dark, and the tension is high as you never know when some slobbering beastie might leap out of the darkness. Also like [Rec], there is an inferred supernatural force behind the uprising. The characters, however, do not carry any real similarity at all between the two films, and unlike [Rec], the people of La Horde never have the motive, or even a chance, of finding out what sort of evil is behind the raising of the dead.

And it is the characters that ultimately make La Horde worth watching. The film does rely on some basic stereotypes, however the personalities still feel fleshed out enough to be believable as real hoodlums and cops. While the Harvey Keitel clone and the fierce Nigerians are definitely fun characters, the prize for "Best Character" has to go to the old pot bellied Vietnam veteran. This old guy is pretty proficient with a hatchet, and has a fondness (or delusion) for referring to the zombies as "the Chinese". His constant Chinese references and other idiosyncratic behavior do much for comedic relief; yet he never gets so wacky as to take you out of the film.

La Horde is a well executed high tension film about cops and robbers fighting to survive against the zombie apocalypse. It doesn't necessarily break any new ground for the genre, but it is a fun film and definitely shows how to make a successful venture into what is extremely well-trodden subject matter; you make the characters strong, give them a real purpose that is identifiable and understandable, and then unleash the horde upon them.

La Horde is apparently languishing without a US release date. There was a rumor of an August of 2010 release earlier in the year, but that's appearing unlikely as time ticks on. Whatever the case - once it hits, if you like good old fashioned zombie survivalist horror, get your butt to it and enjoy.

Rating: (4 out of 5):