Horror Movie Review: Aquarium of the Dead (2021)

Directed by Glenn Miller with a story written by Michael Varrati and a screenplay by Marc Gottlieb. Aquarium of the Dead is the 3rd movie in the Zoombies trilogy. It stars Vivica A. Fox, Eva Ceja and D.C. Douglas.

It’s hard to get excited about this movie knowing it’s the third movie in the Zoombies trilogy. A series that has delivered very little but crap. The series has its fans but we’re not one of them and you can read our reviews below.

2017 – Zoombies
2019 – Zoombies 2

So, we’re out of the zoo and into an aquarium. An Aquarium of the Dead.

The film wastes no time as we arrive at the Shining Sea Aquarium to find an aquatic resident dying. It’s an octopus and the staff are desperate to save it, injecting it with epinephrine in a last ditched attempt.

Unfortunately, this is the same contaminated epinephrine that first turned up in Eden Zoo turning those residents into blood-thirsty undead monsters. So, guess what happens here? The octopus dies, reanimates as a zombie beast and starts killing the staff before escaping into the air ducts.

Trouble is coming but luckily, they’re not open to the public yet. The staff around the facility though? They’re not so lucky as the secretions from the infected octopus begin to turn the other residents into zombies. We’re talking zombie crocodiles, zombie sharks, zombie crabs, a zombie dolphin, a zombie walrus and even… zombie starfish.

Yes, it is very dumb but it at this stage in the trilogy, it wears that stupidity as a badge of honour. That does make it more entertaining, but not by much. Aquarium of the Dead suffers from the same problems as the previous films in this series. A tired and formulaic story, bare characters, hit & miss acting and of course, awful effects.

The latter could be forgiven, knowing just how low-budget the movie is but they’re so bad at times, you have to wonder just how much was actually spent at all. To make matters worse though, the film opts to not show you anything at times. Instead, having the characters react to something off screen before running to the next area and so on.

This cast isn’t strong enough to make the threat convincing but the way in which the aquatic residents look is what really harms that aspect. The big bad of the movie being the original octopus which also happens to be the one with the cheapest looking effects.

The worst thing about Aquarium of the Dead though is just how uneven it is. Moving at a frantic pace one minute then grinding down to a teeth-aching level of slowness. It’s jarring and makes the whole movie feel like a slog. Which is a shame as Aquarium of the Dead is the best of the trilogy simply because it finally seems to understand what it is supposed to be. Too little, too late though.