Festival of the Living Dead – TUBI Review (1/5)

FESTIVAL OF THE LIVING DEAD on Tubi is a sequel to Romero’s zombie classic Night of the Living Dead. Unfortunately, it’s a missed opportunity in far too many ways. Read our Festival of the Living Dead movie review here!

FESTIVAL OF THE LIVING DEAD on Tubi is a sequel to Romero’s masterpiece original Night of the Living Dead (1968). In this new zombie movie that takes place in the present, the story follows Ben’s grandchildren 55 years after the original zombie incident.

I can admit that I definitely expected too much from this Tubi zombie movie. Not only because it’s billed as a sequel to George A. Romero’s original, but even more as it’s directed by the Soska Sisters. I’ll get back to them later. The runtime is just shy of an hour and a half, which is one good thing about it.

Continue reading our Festival of the Living Dead movie review below. Find it on Tubi from April 5, 2024.

Have we learned nothing?!

Festival of the Living Dead is set more than 50 years after the zombie attack that took place in Night of the Living Dead (1968). The morbid nostalgia of the original zombie attack has been turned into a music festival.

A solid premise, in my mind, as all the various bands could make for awesome zombies. In my opinion, this could’ve been used for comic relief as the low-budget style is also used. However, there is no comedy in this movie, and that does result in some issues for me.

To be blunt, it simply does not work. It’s not really scary and everyone keeps doing the wrong thing.

We meet best friends Ash (Ashley Moore from I Know What You Did Last Summer) and Iris (Camren Bicondova from Gotham) as they’re getting ready to celebrate Ashley’s birthday. They love punk rock, so when they get the opportunity to go to “the Festival of the Living Dead”, they just have to go.

Side note: There’s a whole issue with not being able to go due to Ash having to babysit her younger brother because her parents are on their “second honeymoon” and I call BS. Not only is their daughter on her way to Harvard, it’s her birthday and her favorite band is playing at the local music festival, yet her parents just took off?!

In any case, we all know that the festival will turn into a new zombie fest. Everyone ends up having to defend themselves – and do a terrible job at this – or be devoured by the living dead.

A missed opportunity!

In the 1968 movie, which may be a cult classic now but was very much a low-budget movie back then, Ben was portrayed by Duane Jones. In this 2024 Tubi zombie movie, the low-budget feel is still prevalent.

Unfortunately, the characters are overwhelmingly unlikable. Even those who aren’t tend to make all the wrong decisions. While I can appreciate the old-school horror style, I am very much partial to the Scream approach of being smarter now. We’ve learned plenty from horror movies, so why not use it?!

And in the case of Festival of the Living Dead, the story plays out in the universe of Night of the Living Dead. As in they know zombies are real, so they should have the common sense to act accordingly.

This means not trying to reason or talk to zombies, but rather shoot when you get the chance.

Alongside Ashley Moore, Camren Bicondova, and the young Shiloh O’Reilly as Ash’s younger brother, we have a fairly big supporting cast. Not all of them are good in their roles, but the three just mentioned deliver solid performances.

I also want to mention Andre Anthony (The Night Agent, Guess Who, Scream VI) and Gage Marsh (It Lives Inside) as very stereotypical characters, but they portray them well.

Watch Festival of the Living Dead on Tubi now!

Festival of the Living Dead was directed by Jen & Sylvia Soska, who I have a soft spot for ever since watching American Mary. This was their 2012 horror movie, which they also wrote the screenplay for. I don’t know what I expected them to do with this zombie universe, but certainly more.

Of course, they didn’t write the script for this Tubi movie. That came from Helen Marsh and Miriam Lyapin. This appears to be a screenwriter debut for Miriam Lyapin, but Helen Marsh previously wrote the Tubi movie Deadly Midwife (2023), which is one of their better Tubi movies. Even the IMDb rating is at 6.6.

If you like zombie movies and have a soft spot for Romero’s 1968 cult classic, then you should obviously watch Festival of the Living Dead. However, if you want an awesome horror movie experience, you’ll be much better off watching American Mary which stars horror icon Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps).

Festival of the Living Dead is on Tubi from April 5, 2024.

Details

Director: Jen & Sylvia Soska AKA The Soska Sisters
Writers: Helen Marsh & Miriam Lyapin
Cast: Ashley Moore, Camren Bicondova, Andre Anthony, Christian Rose, Shiloh O’Reilly, Gage Marsh, Keana Lyn Bastidas, Maia Jae Bastidas