On the Saturday March 8, 2025 edition of “The Richard Crouse Show” we’ll meet Paul Sun-Hyung Lee. You know the Canadian Screen Award winner as family patriarch Appa on “Kim’s Convenience,” and as Inspector Albert Choi, the new head of Station House No 4, on “Murdoch Mysteries” and as Captain Captain Carson Teva on the Star War series “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett” and “Ahsoka.”
Today we’ll talk about all that and his new film “Night of the Zoopocalypse,” a new animated adventure now playing in theatres, a space virus turns the animals at Colepepper Zoo into gummi-bear looking zombies. As an animal apocalypse develops, a timber wolf and a mountain lion search for a cure and a way to stop Bunny Zero, leader of the mutants.
Then, we’ll meet British actor Lucien Laviscount, star of “Emily in Paris” and the new rom com “This Time Next Year.” It’s the story of two Londoners, Quinn and Minnie who meet by chance and realize they were born in the same hospital on the same day, a minute apart, but their lives have gone in different directions since that day.
Each week on the nationally syndicated Richard Crouse Show, Canada’s most recognized movie critic brings together some of the most interesting and opinionated people from the movies, television and music to put a fresh spin on news from the world of lifestyle and pop-culture. Tune into this show to hear in-depth interviews with actors and directors, to find out what’s going on behind the scenes of your favourite shows and movies and get a new take on current trends. Recent guests include Chris Pratt, Elvis Costello, Baz Luhrmann, Martin Freeman, David Cronenberg, Mayim Bialik, The Kids in the Hall and many more!
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SYNOPSIS: In “Night of the Zoopocalypse,” a new animated adventure now playing in theatres, a space virus turns the animals at Colepepper Zoo into gummi-bear looking zombies. As an animal apocalypse develops, a timber wolf and a mountain lion search for a cure and a way to stop Bunny Zero, leader of the mutants.
CAST: Gabbi Kosmidis, Scott Thompson, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and David Harbour. Directed by Rodrigo Perez-Castro and Ricardo Curtis.
REVIEW: The name Clive Barker is synonymous with horror. The Bram Stoker Award winning writer and director’s oeuvre, like “Hellraiser,” the “Books of Blood” and “Nightbreed,” is the stuff of nightmares, but the latest film adaptation of his work is very definitely aimed at a family audience.
Based on an “original concept” by the horror legend, “Night of the Zoopocalypse” is a colourful zombie adventure that is more “Hotel Transylvania” than “The Walking Dead.”
The action begins when a small asteroid crash lands in the zoo’s rabbit house. When a cute and curious bunny takes a nibble of the extra-terrestrial treat, they’re turned into a mutant with a bad attitude and otherworldly, smooth skin.
As the alien virus takes over the zoo, Gracie (Gabbi Kosmidis), a young quirky timber wolf and gruff mountain lion Dan (David Harbour), lead a crew of animals to safety and, hopefully, a cure.
Like “The Blob” for kids (recommended age: 8 and up) or “Madagascar” with zombies, “Night of the Zoopocalypse” is a monster movie in love with monster movies. There’s even a film buff character, a self-aware red ruffed lemur named Xavier (Pierre Simpson), who comments on the action. “Act three is the best,” he says. “Everything comes to a head.” It’s a cute gimmick that harkens back to b-horror movies and adds to the retro genre feel.
Also appealing is the character design. The mutant characters are easy to spot. Brightly coloured with the strange gummi like appearance, they are hideous and hilarious and wouldn’t have been too out of place in a Roger Corman b-movie.
Alongside Gracie and Dan, the hero animals—a capybara, monkey, and ostrich—are exaggerated versions of real animals that are more in line with traditional kid’s CGI 3D animation.
Kids may not get the thing that makes “Night of the Zoopocalypse” so much fun. They’ll enjoy the characters, the antics and the themes regarding teamwork and acceptance, but the movie’s real selling point, for me anyway, is the way it pays homage to low-budget horror films. From the premise to the look of the film, directors Rodrigo Perez-Castro and Ricardo Curtis conjure up a horror epic for film fans, young and old.
Sometimes called the “Stephen King of children’s literature,” R.L. Stine has inspired bad dreams for decades. The author of hundreds of horror fiction novels for youngsters, including the classic “Goosebumps” series, returns to the big screen this week with “Zombie Town,” a teen horror comedy based on his 2012 novel of the same name.
The action takes place on one eventful night in Carverville, a small town named after legendary b-movie horror director Len Carver (Dan Aykroyd). “This whole town is just a bunch of zombie following idiots,” grumbles Mike (Marlon Kazadi), the only guy in town who doesn’t like zombie movies.
It’s the eve of the premier of Carver’s latest “flesh drenched extravaganza,” his first film in decades. “You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll kiss your five bucks goodbye!” screams the film’s trailer. Everyone in town is excited except for Mike, who works at the theatre, and will have to watch the film whether he likes it or not.
When Carver takes ill before the show, the screening is cancelled, but Mike’s friend Amy (Madi Monroe) convinces him to give her a private screening. As white light bounces off the blank screen, strange things begin happening. Mike and Amy protect themselves from the weird glow with film cannister lids embossed with an ancient symbol.
The symbol’s mystical power protects them from the film’s magical spell, but outside the theatre, all over town, the good folks of Carverville have been transformed into the living dead. “You have to get over your fear of zombies,” Amy says. “It is just us and them now.”
Mike and Amy realize that if they are to save themselves and their town, they must track down Carver and put an end to his film’s zombie curse.
The zombies in “Zombie Town” may amble around with George A. Romero style menace, but this is no “Night of the Living Dead.” Thrills and chills are few and far between, pitched toward the younger end of the YA scares of “Goosebumps.”
Director Peter Lepeniotis aims for an Amblin PG-13 feel, that mix of plucky young people and the supernatural, but falls just short because the film has no real menace. Sure, the town has been zombified, but the peril and the frights are kept to a minimum. Raising the stakes and ramping up the horror may have given the movie more edge, without risking the alienation of the core audience.
It’s a bit of fun to see Aykroyd ham it up as the tormented filmmaker in “Zombie Town,” and cameos from Chevy Chase, Henry Czerny and “Kids in the Hall” alums Scott Thompson and Bruce McCulloch add some texture, but overall it doesn’t bring quite enough life to the undead.
