Horror Movie Review: Valentine DayZ (2018)

A love story set to the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse, combined with a high amount of cheesiness. Valentine DayZ is a hit and miss comedy horror movie from writer/director, Mark Allen Michaels.

Max (Dallas Valdez) is a mild-mannered older man who isn’t looking for love until it walks right through the door of the bar that he is drinking in. Her name is Sara (Carrie Keagan) and the two are smitten with each other from the moment they meet.

Unfortunately, the world is currently dealing with a severe outbreak of ‘bird-flu’ that is beginning to jump between hosts and humans are the new carriers. This strain causes the infected to become ravenous and violent beasts. However, in a twist, the longer someone is infected, the more brain-power returns to the zombie. This gives Valentine DayZ’s outbreak a fresher take on the genre.

As the virus spreads throughout the world, Max and Sarah’s relationship is inevitably affected when she is infected and becomes a zombie. Unwilling to kill her, and desperate for a way to cure her, Max has to dig into his past as a hitman to save the love of his life.

Love during a zombie apocalypse isn’t the most exciting premise of a horror movie and Valentine DayZ puts its one front and centre. No bad thing as both characters are likable and both actors are good in their roles. The problem is that we don’t spend enough time with them to really connect to them before Sarah is infected. An odd decision as Valentine DayZ has a non-linear structure, jumping around and between random, pointless characters. Segments that feel like padding, and really should have been used to enhance the relationship of the pair.

Or at least spend more time with the running dead, who really aren’t a major factor in the grand scheme of the story. Often, we hear about the apocalyptic events taking place rather than actually see them.

When we do get localised incidents, the style of zombies and the make-up does make up for the lack elsewhere. Especially when Max has to deal with some and is happy to say a pun or two.

Which brings us to the ‘comedy’ elements of Valentine DayZ, most of which miss and are extremely campy. Puns, bad jokes, and odd tangents. If you weren’t told beforehand that it had comedy elements, you might not notice, aside from wondering as to why the film is so weird at times.