Only a few weeks back, we were commenting on how the vampire genre, which has dominated the spookier side of cinema for the last several years, what with the likes of “Twilight” and “Let The Right One In,” was seemingly giving up the ghost, as it were, with zombie movies suddenly dominating the news. On the back of the immense success of AMC’s “The Walking Dead” and the recent horror-comedy “Zombieland,” six projects were announced in the course of three weeks, adding to a whopping twenty already in development. Could there possibly be room for one more?
Of course there could. The Hollywood Reporter brings news of a new British horror-comedy from Optimum Releasing (“Attack the Block“) and The Tea Shop & Film Company, entitled “Cockneys Vs. Zombies.” The film, which involves a group of bank robbers who accidentally unleash a plague of zombies, comes from the pen of James Moran, who wrote the cult 2006 horror-comedy “Severance,” as well as a few episodes of “Doctor Who” and “Torchwood,” and “Beyond the Rave” helmer Matthias Hoene is directing. It might sound a bit DTV, but a fairly impressive cast has been assembled that suggests it might be a little more promising.
Former “Bionic Woman” Michelle Ryan and rising star Harry Treadaway (presumably not to be outdone in the horror-comedy stakes by twin brother Luke, who’s in “Attack the Block“) topline, alongside Rasmus Hardiker, who’s about to have a big breakout as Danny McBride‘s manservant in “Your Highness,” “Cemetery Junction” survivor Jack Doolan, Ashley Thomas (“Shank“) and veterans Honor Blackman (“Goldfinger“) and Alan Ford (“Snatch“).
It’s a fairly decent line-up, particularly when it comes to Treadaway, Hardiker and Doolan, who’ve all shown their chops in recent fare. We’re certainly not entirely confident that this is a future genre classic — for one thing, that title is just indescribably awful, and the premise is pretty generic — but Moran’s a talented writer, for the most part, and the cast ensure that we’ll be keeping half an eye on this as it gets closer. Filming starts in a few weeks, with Optimum likely to put it out in the UK in early 2012. Either way, the winner will go on to play the victor of “Cowboys & Aliens” in the second round.
