The Horde (2009) - Horror Zombie

Le Horde "The Horde" (2009) - REVISITED, as part of the Terrorthon 10 program at the Somerville Theater. Reviewed in a spoiler filled article on this blog in August 2010, here is the second viewing of the film. The story plot is simple enough on an outward level but very complex in characterization. After a cop is killed by a local drug dealing gang, his cop friends make a plan to go execute the thugs. The night of the plan the cops are foiled and taking prisoner by the gang but right at that moment an airborne plague that reanimated the dead spreads fast and soon the gang and the cops are working together fighting for their lives against a horde of zombies. Fast zombies and aggressive they are hard to kill.
What is still great about this film is the interpersonal connections between the character. This is no simple good guys bad guys story. It is a web of long and short term relationships. The Ganster brothers from Nigeria, Adewale (Eriq Ebouaney) and the younger Bola (Doudou Masta) where the older has always looked out for the impulsive and easily anger younger brother. References to how they were treated in their youth in Nigeria make them more than just thugs but lets the audience see that they have a history. Lead cop Ouessem (Jean-Pierre Martins) holds resentment with female cop Aurora (Claude Perron) for having an affair with the cop they are seeking revenge for. It is his belief that the dead cop lost focus because of her. She has her own thoughts on this, she is carrying the dead cops baby and not only wants revenge but also wants to survive the horde to let the baby live. Tony, the wounded cop has feeling for Aurora and wished it was him she picked instead of the dead cop.
When the cops arrived the Gangsters including Greco (Jo Prestia) a drug dealer are beating a guy who is tied up and hooded in the bathroom. Hot headed Bola thinking this guy is the reason the cops are here shoots him full of bullets. This is poor choice since the zombie bug is in the air and soon the dead hooded guy is up and looking to bite anyone and everyone. It is established that shooting zombie guys in the head will stop them but it is still amazing how many times zombies get shot in the chest. Things go from crazy to balls against the wall very quickly and soon there are just three cops and three gangsters on the roof of the building watching the nearby city burn and hordes of zombies swarming around. Again I am struck by why would a horde of zombies head to this run down apartment building? Aurora, Ouessem, and Tony (Antoine Oppenheim) for the cops, Tony shot in the leg and needing assistance. Greco, Adewale, and Bola for the gansters and all recognizing that they do not want to be trapped in this building. So working together they will try to get out. You can question why they feel the need to get out, they can see hundreds of wandering zombies down there. Why not hold up and clear enough space to wait it out a while?
The travel down the building is scary and at time action packed. When Zombies attack Greco is stuck outside he safety door and has to fight off two zombies at once. The actor and former boxer is so up to the task. Great action until he finally makes it through the door but unfortunately is bitten in the leg. Tony and Aurora are separated from the others when a zombie woman attacks Tony. After they deal with it, in a great scene where Aurora fights like demon we hear more interpersonal information from Tony as he nurses a bite on his shoulder. He has had the hots for Aurora and was jealous of her relationship with the dead cop. She wants no part of his infatuation and seeing his bite get more zombie infected holds a gun on him and tells him to cuff himself. Not ready to go out that way Tony waits until she is handing him the cuffs and then BAM! cracks her hard into a wall mirror, knocking her out. Now love must be a fleeting thing because he leaves her there unprotected. Of course she just spurned him so maybe it was the sting of that.
Back at the gangsters, Adewale makes it clear to Ouessum that he is now alone with them and needs not be so sensitive to the increasingly unpredictable Bola. Adewale has to be sturn with his brother creating a shift in loyalty for the younger from his bro to Greco. These shifts in relationship keep the movie interesting in what is basically a survival story. They make there way to find a big old guy Rene (Yves Pignot) disposing of some zombies. He has been securing his area of the building and says he has killed a half dozen or so. Back in his apartment the racist Rene, he had fought in southeast asia and calls all the Zombies "chinks" and the survivors decide to head down the elevator shaft and then out of the building through the basement car park. Hopefully getting a ride. There is some funny stuff when Rene wants to cut off the leg of Greco so the infection won't spread. Of course Greco is having no part in that.
Tony finds them and starts telling them of Aurora's demise when she appears behind him and puts a bullet in his brain. The remaining group, Aroura, Ouessum, Rene, Bola, Adewale and bitten Greco head to the elevator shaft. When the teacher Zombie appears they wound her by shooting out her knees and they following the leave of Rene, Bola and Greco start playing with her. This pisses Adewale off as he remembers his childhood in Nigeria and he confronts Bola. The wedge has now been driven between the brothers and the scene was the final straw in there separation. Bola sees his brother as siding with the cops instead of him. He is young and impulsive and when they get down the elevator shaft to within a few floors of the basement he and Greco take all the guns and leave the rest defenseless. We do not really have to be told what Bola's fate will be choosing a soon to be zombie over his brother.
The final push is on in this flick with the weaponless group making for the caretakers apartment because Rene knows he was a gun nut. We get to see the horde pressing up against the locked front of the apartment. Re-armed there is the final sprint to the car park. The horde breaches the building ratcheting up the pace and the gunfire. We have who will survive in the final minutes of what has been a very good zombie film. There is an epic last stand for one of the cast. Adewale finds out what happened to his brother and then gets to dole out some vengeance on the zombie Greco. This scene is very reminiscent of actor JoePrestia death in the movie "Irreversible" where he played the rapist of of victim Monica Bellucci, that being one of the most horrible unwatchable scenes on film, not his death but his crime that is. The downer but appropriate ending was one this reviewer could live with. On a second viewing this movie like the earlier reviewed "The Human Centipede" comes out with higher marks than I gave it the first time through. This is a very well written and directed film for a genre that is difficult to do well. Seeing it on the big screen was a pleasure as my first viewing was a home.
Rating (7.6) 5.0 and up are recommended, In the Zombiegrrlz System I say Go see it in theaters.

La Horde "The Horde" (2009) - Horror

La Horde (2009) -****Spoiler Alert**** A revenge plot gone bad leave a group of cops and a gang of thugs trapped in a dilapidated apartment building in France with a horde of zombies trying to get in and more already roaming around. Can they put aside their hatred and distrust and work together to get out of the building.
The film starts at the funeral of a fallen cop and the promise to his widow that the remaining team members will get revenge for his death. They meet four cops Aurore (Claude Perron), Ouessem (Jean-Pierre Martins), Tony (Antoine Oppenheim) and Jimenez (Aurelien Recoing) and put on ski masks for the attack on the gang who killed the cop. It a skyscraper apartment building and the elevator does not go above the four floor so to reach the gang they have a long walk. First is the problem of the downstairs guard. They subdue him and Jimenez sets the tone by coming over and killing him, they are here for a bloodbath he says.
They make their way up the stairs passing a couple people who still live in the squalor of the building. A woman we find out later is a teacher, the building Super who wants to join in on the raid when he finds out these masked men are cops. People who will see later in the film. The cops are obviously a tight group, family and family gets vengeance for their fallen comrade. They can here the gang members shouting as they get to the door, they prepare to blow off the lock, but the building super shows up gun in hand and loudly proclaims he can help them. This was all the gang needed. They shoot through the door hitting Jimenez and getting the upper hand on the cops. The cops are taken prisoner, the super is killed down the hall, apparently the gang is not someone to be taken lightly either. The leader is Adewale (Eriq Ebouaney) and his younger brother is Bola (Doudou Masta) Nigerians who sell drugs out of this apartment. With drug dealer Greco (Joe Prestia) and other henchmen Kim and Seb they start abusing the cops thinking they have something to do with a captive they already have in the bathroom.
While downstairs there is the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. Just shadows and sounds at this point but it is coming.
The Nigerians kill the cop Jimenez who was bleeding out anyway and shoot Tony in the leg to try to get answers. Bola the younger and less restrained gang member kills the guy in the bathroom. Things look bad for the cops when we hear the unmistakable sound of a zombie in the bathroom. When the door is opened the guy in the bathroom is a zombie and attacks. The gang members all shoot like seventy rounds all into his chest but he keep coming, he bites a member of the gang, they respond by trying with fist and feet to beat him down, until finally smashing his head in. Rule in zombie fighting, shoot for the head.
Chaos begins with more zombie attacks until we have three gang members, Bola, Greco, and Adewale and three cops, Aurore, wounded Tony and Ouessem they lock themselves on the roof. We get the big reveal of how the city is burning. The survivors come to terms with the fact that if they want to get out of the building and possibly the area they had better work together. The directors Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher and the group of screenwriters have done a good job setting up subtle and obvious conflict not just between the groups but within each group. Already we see Adewale trying to restrain his younger brother Bola, and the fact that neither really has a lot of respect for Greco. There already are hard feeling in the cops too in that they failed in there attempt to kill the gang members. Still they all realize that in order to survive they all need guns, ammo and an understanding not to kill each other.
They make their way back to the apartment creeping along trying not to attract zombie action. They load up on guns and ammo. We learn that The death of the cop that started the film may have been contributed to by Aurore telling him she was pregnant right before he confronted these gang members and that the other cops blame her. To get out of the building they have to go down the stairs. They come across some zombie sounds on a floor and have to spread out the party a bit. Tony and Aurore are separated, Greco is stuck on the wrong side of the stairwell door when the zombies attack. A woman zombie tackles Tony and Aurora is there to help while two more attack Greco. He is quite the boxer and has a drag out fight with the two. He manages to get through the door but not before getting bitten by a zombie.
In the apartment Aurora kicks the female zombies ass finally smashing the head to bits. Tony is bitten on the shoulder. There interaction shows that Tony like Aurora but she is only interested in two things. Protecting the life of her unborn baby, and getting revenge for the death of its father.
The main group comes across an older man Rene (Yves Pignot) who is killing zombies on his own with an ax. They hold up in his apartment and we learn he is a bit off his rocker. He does suggest cutting the infected leg of Greco though. A good idea that we know won't happen.
Tony and Aroure have it out with their interpersonal stuff, he loved her but she did not return the feeling. She is bullshit and is going to cuff him, possibly in case he changes but he thinks to leave him behind. He begs for his life. He uses her confidence to make his move knocking her into a mirror and out.
All through there is good tension as people work reluctantly together. Bola always seems to need restraining from his brother. It really works as a diversion from the standard who will survive story adding to the already crazy situation. In Rene's apartment we also get to see the news on the TV and see that the undead have overrun the city but survivors are fleeing so there is someplace to try to get to.
Aurora wakes and has to deal with some nasty cuts on her face. Tony is gone
The main group comes up with the plan to head down the elevator shaft instead of the infested stairways. Bola doesn't like this plan but his Adewale sides with the cop Ouessem on this one creating a bit of a fissure between the brothers.
There is a scene next where the teacher from earlier, now in full zombie mode attacks. The main group shoot out her legs so she is crawling towards them. Bola and Greco start playing with her, getting close, laughing, dehumanizing her like a rapists with a victim. This pissing Adewale off and he shoots her in the head and confronts his brother reminding him how they were treated in Nigeria. This further foreshadows the split of the brothers, as Greco comments to Bola how it is not right to be treated that way. This is when Tony appears, he starts to explain that Aurora has been turned when BANG! his head is gone and she is behind him. "He couldn't be trusted" she says when confronted by Ouessem. " He was part of the family God Damn it" as now there is tension between the cops.
When they get down the shaft to the fourth floor, Bola and Greco hold everyone up taking there guns and leaving them. So sad for Adewale when his brother yells at him and then leaves him unprotected behind. The Group now consisting of Aurora, Ouessem, Adewale and Rene head to the Supers apartment on the first floor because Rene knows he has guns there.
From here in the movie you can guess the outcome for Greco and Bola. When the final group gets to the parking garage things get crazy. There are lots of zombies, self sacrifice and mayhem. I don't want to spoil it but the scenes are very fun to watch with the action ratcheted sky high. Finally when the last two make it out of the building and into the morning light the movie holds true to its form and ends satisfactorily. Considering how many writers were involved in this one I am amazed that they pulled this off as well as they did. They chose never to explore the cause of the undead, it was just a fight for survival through one long night.
Rating (6.8) 5.0 and above are recommended In Zombiegrrlz rating I would rent it.