Are you ready for Baby’s First Barker?
Clive Barker isn’t known for family-friendly works. At all. But a few months ago, one of the rare exceptions, the short story ZOOmbies, became the animated film Night of the Zoopocalypse, which barely had a theatrical release. It’s ready to stream on your favorite VOD service, and it’s got such sights to show you.
One night, a meteor crashes into the gigantic Colepepper Zoo. One bunny, credited as Bunny Zero (Bryn McAuley), eats a piece and mutates into a “Gum-Beast” zombie. Pretty soon, Bunny Zero infects most of the zoo. The only survivors are Gracie the Wolf (Gabbi Kosmidis), Dan the Zoo’s new Mountain Lion (David Harbour), Xavier the Lemur (Pierre Simpson), Ash the Ostrich (Scott Thompson), Felix the Monkey (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), Frida the Capybara (Heather Loreto) and Poot the Pygmy Hippo (Christina Nova). They’ll have to figure out how to reverse the mutations before they’re next. That’s basically it, but there’s more.
This is a horror film made for those too young or too squeamish for the likes of Hellraiser. That much is obvious when you meet the monsters. Sure, the Gum-Beasts are grotesque, but they’re also surprisingly cuddly. It’s more amusing than terrifying when they lose a body part or two. One of them, a gorilla, not only falls apart, but struggles to put himself together correctly. Another gag, involving Gracie’s gumbied granny, will shock you until the punchline. The final boss, a mammoth chimera, is the creepiest of the monsters, but Barker has written and shown us much worse, so you’ll be fine. Those who have seen Mars Attacks! or Attack of the Killer Tomatoes will smirk when our heroes discover how to cure the Gum-Beasts.
Let’s introduce you to the pack. Felix’s pompous speciesm makes him hard to like, and he does nothing to change that opinion. You’ll be begging for him to get gumbied by his first scene. Still, it’s quite funny seeing him frustrated by a MacGuffin card-key just before that. Xavier is the movie nerd, constantly making references to his favorite films and their plot structures. I kind of wish we actually saw some of those films, even those made-up for this one, but I digress. He, Frida and Ash are much more tolerable than Felix, and they all shine during the penultimate battle. Poot, however, is a hoot, thanks to her cuddly design and ditzy personality. Finally, our two leads, Gracie and Dan, aren't innovative characters, but they have a good dynamic. You'll especially be riveted when Dan gets gumbied for a spell and attacks Gracie.
What else do we have? We do get an annoying use of the conflict ball just after Gracie and Dan encounter her gumbied pack. Fortunately, that lasts for a spell before the Gum-Beasts intervene. It's more fortunate that it's the only really annoying part of the writing; even Gracie and Dan's act two fallout is understandable. On the technical side, we get a striking purple and green color scheme, as well as some impressive battles with the Gum-Beasts. The character designs for the normal animals are quirky, while the overly cutesy animals adorning the zoo's sign are unnerving. Dan Levy, of the defunct band The Dø, gives us an entertaining soundtrack that would fit right in with the best 80's horror soundtracks.
Whether you want to call it Baby's First Barker, or Baby's First Horror Film, Night of the Zoopocalypse makes for a nice and spooky 91-minutes. Its writing is a bit simplistic, and a few characters were annoying, but I never found myself bored with it. Give it a go and you might be pleasantly surprised. I'll leave it to you to introduce your kids to Barker's other cinematic monsters at your own time. Take your time.
That's it for now.