Adam MacDonald has made some interesting, and creepy looking movies in the form of Backcountry and Pyewacket, so his newest which is an adaptation from a book This Is Not a Test had some expectations for what audiences could expect. However, making another teen angst zombie apocalypse movie when we’ve been hit over the head so many times with the same concepts, tropes, and execution makes the audience certainly feel like they’re part of the undead brigade. There is a lot that Adam MacDonald does within This Is Not a Test that makes it at least something fresh-ish, but some of the dialogue and writing screams random YA novel that your thirteen year old self would knock out over a cold weekend, or sitting on the beach with some of the most infuriating choices done by characters in quiet some time. Is it bad – no, but it’s certainly not good either, it’s just another plug into the zombie teenage wasteland we’ve seen a dozen times over.
The movie focuses on Sloane (Olivia Holt), whose entire character is defined by her broken family consisting of her sister Lilly (Joelle Farrow) and her abusive, POS father (Jeff Roop). While the zombie apocalypse seems under their way, Sloane is hoping to hear from her sister, but as the movie takes place pre 2000 the phone lines are down and she is stuck trying to survive with her high school friends, and the creepy teacher Mr. Baxter (Luke Macfarlane). One of the characters with Sloane is Rhys (Froy Gutierrez) someone whose uncomfortably obsessed with Sloane, Cary (Corteon Moore) and Trace (Carson MacCormac). Think Warm Bodies, but not, and think Anna and the Apocalypse without the music.
The issue here is not with the performances, but the material they’re given. A lot of the characters, Sloane aside, are underwritten and underdeveloped and thus leaves audiences without a character to connect to or be interested in. We don’t really care what happens to these characters past Sloane, and their decisions that lead to some of the most smack my head moments that continues to baffle the audience and get them hard pressed to have an ounce of sympathy for some of these moronic decisions that the characters make. However, MacDonald’s direction is the saving grace here as his competency and ability to make it feel like the 90s and at least have some low budget interest takes and looks for a zombie apocalypse. Without his steady hand and ability to craft this vibe and atmosphere created by his direction to breathe life into this generic enough teen zombie apocalypse, and Olivia Holt breathing some life into her performance, This Is Not a Test has a slight pulse, but it is a faint one unfortunately.
