DVD Review: ANTISOCIAL Is An Impressive Entry Into The Zombie Canon

Antisocial is a well-crafted modern horror movie that follows a group of friends struggling survive when a zombie-like virus starts to spread across the globe on New Year’s Eve. The friends, trapped in house, follow the outbreak on social media – but this may be doing them more harm than good.

All of Antisocial’s behind the scenes credits are strong and the film comes with good production design and impressive cinematography. For a low budget movie, Antisocial looks great. It has a glossy sheen, showing that with the right tools and talent, low budget movies can look impressive. The film’s musical score is also a standout, helping to set the mood and keep things on the right side of creepy.

Acting is something that usually lets low budget movies down – but Antisocial has no problems on that front. The film’s cast members nail their performances and all the characters come across as likeable. You actually care what happens to these people, which is something that rarely happens in horror movies these days. Keeping the characters grounded and personable buys you a lot of goodwill in the genre and helps keep the audience onside when the more ludicrous plot elements kick in.

Director Cody Calahan has put together a strong debut and he could become a standout director in the horror genre. He gets the fundamental storytelling elements right and he understands the genre tropes. Calahan is able to create a movie that on paper sounds generic, but the execution feels fresh – even though we’ve see this set-up a hundred times before. He has attempted to do something new with the zombie sub-genre, while also using social media to add a touch of social commentary. There are probably a few too many unanswered questions left dangly, but the film’s reality makes everything seem rather plausible.

Good acting and strong tech credits help make Antisocial an impressive entry into the zombie movie canon. It has enough fresh elements to keep audiences entertained and the quality of the production means that this is essential viewing for horror fans eager to see something unique, while also making sure that the important genre elements are present and correct.

Special Features

Monster Pictures continues to quietly impress with its genre DVD releases. Antisocial comes with a strong 16 minute behind the scenes documentary. It’s short but comprehensive – but make sure you watch the film first, as it contains spoilers. The disc also contains a group commentary that helps to add more detail to the movie’s production.