My Thoughts on This Is Not a Test
Even bad zombie films can be fun, so whenever a zombie film is released, I am normally on it, eventually, and This Is Not A Test, is a film that ends up being quite messy, but one that also has its moments, too.
At the heart of it, is Sloane (Olivia Holt), someone who is suicidal before she even knows she’s going to be running from the undead - one minute she’s about to disappear, the next, her dad is barging in, and then, naturally, zombies show up.
I thought that opening was quite smart because it establishes stakes on two levels - emotional and literal - and it doesn’t waste time on any polite introductions, as you understand immediately that Sloane’s not just fighting for survival, she’s negotiating her own life, in every sense, before we get a time jump, where in one cut and she’s approaching the school, soaked in blood, with a new group of people.
This hints at a larger story without spelling it all out, but then, inevitably, it backtracks, where the tension ends up evaporating, and where the flashbacks make sense sometimes, but they also tend to over explain a lot, too.
The school setting is fine, as a high school is already a mini-apocalypse in itself, so combining that with zombies makes sense, but the characters at play are pretty undercooked, and you never really feel like you are watching a bunch of trapped humans, with no layers to them at all really.
There’s an odd tension in the way the movie treats adolescence too, as on the one hand, it clearly wants to explore the struggles of teenagers in extreme circumstances, but on the other, it often forgets that age should matter - the moral dilemmas, the choices, and the moments of self-realization could have been amplified by the fact that these characters are young, inexperienced, and still figuring themselves out.
Instead, those same conflicts would read almost identically if the characters were older, and even though I can see what it is trying, I do wish the story had leaned much more into the high school setting instead of treating it as a convenient backdrop for zombie attacks.
I also noticed the film’s approach to pacing is a little schizophrenic, as the early sequences are fast, chaotic, and exciting, where the zombies appear in practical, messy ways - there’s blood, mayhem, and a sense that anything can happen - nut then, once the group is holed up in the school, the story sometimes stalls to explain things that don’t need explaining.
It attempts to fill in gaps with flashbacks which undermines some of the tension, and it made the later acts feel less urgent.
But I did like the cinematography, which is crisp, with the production design being pretty solid, and there’s a certain polish to every scene - the school, the streets, the small set pieces - it all actually looks like someone cared.
Olivia Holt puts in a good performance as Sloane, and she sells her as complicated, reactive, and occasionally self-destructive in ways that make sense given the circumstances, as we watch her wrestle with the choices around her, both small and monumental, and the moral ambiguity of surviving alongside people who are equally scared is handled well, even if the characters themselves don’t always feel fully realized, and when the story plays it a bit too safe.
But, the movie is effective when it wants to be - the zombie attacks are tense, the suspense works at times, and it is also decent to look at, and with some straightforward action combined with the moral and emotional stakes just about made the film worth sitting through.
There’s a weird balance between competence and underachievement here though, where the movie knows how to make a solid horror moment, but it often shies away from letting the story breathe or the characters develop naturally, and instead just plays things too safe.
I can’t say I regret watching it - it’s smart enough to be interesting, dark enough to be compelling, and structured enough to make sense - nut I also can’t shake the feeling that it’s only half-realized - the film keeps explaining when it could show, and keeps closing doors when it could open them.
But as with a lot of zombie films, This Is Not A Test still delivers some fun, and it is the kind of movie that delivers a zombie experience with competence, but not one that will surprise you.
Just about worth a one time watch.
This is Not a Test Trailer
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