Grimmfest 2018 - Anna and the Apocalypse

Director: John McPhail

Cast: Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Sarah Swire, Christopher Leveaux, Ben Wiggins, Marli Siu

Synopsis: A zombie apocalypse threatens the sleepy town of Little Haven – at Christmas – forcing Anna and her friends to fight, slash and sing their way to survival, facing the undead in a desperate race to reach their loved ones.

Grimmfest say: It's exactly what it says on the tin – a Scottish Christmas High School Zombie Musical. A seasonal shocker with songs, taking its cues as much from Glee and High School Musical as from the classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Once More With Feeling", but filtering its John Hughes-style teen-angst through the rather less glossy homegrown high school environment of Grange Hill, and adopting a low-key, laconic and very British – or more accurately Scottish – attitude to the walking dead, reminiscent of such native-grown zom-com classics as Shaun of the Dead and Cockneys VS Zombies. With a star making turn from Ella Hunt as the eponymous Anna, and sterling support from TV comedy stalwarts Mark Benton and Paul Kaye, this bloody festive bauble looks set to become as much a part of the traditional British Christmas as Morecambe and Wise, Dr Who and the German Market.

What I'm Expecting: I'd hope for a film with a Shaun of the Dead feel; adorned with British humour and social commentary, with a Scottish accent. I suppose musically we'll get a kind of High School Musical feel, but it would be nice and apt, if we had an element of Edgar Wright's Baby Driver thrown in for good measure. This is one of the most exciting releases at this year's Grimmfest, and it's hard to imagine a better film with which to close the festival with.