School's Out Forever

This adaptation of a 2009 Young Adult novel by Scott K Andrews was released in the Covid-19 era, which made it seem rather prescient, and it proves to be sturdy genre fare that nods to myriad zombie movies - as well as BBC's vintage Survivors. When a global plague wipes out much of humanity, except for those with the blood group O negative, the surviving pupils at an English public school battle to stay alive. Oscar Kennedy is the scholarship boy trying to keep his head when skirmishes with locals escalate into full-on conflict. As the bloodshed intensifies, the authoritarian tendencies of his posh best mate (Liam Lau Fernandez) come to the fore. The drama is a tad over-extended, but there's more substance to this comedy horror than you might expect, even if it misses the zingy mischief of Shaun of the Dead. Some viewers may be alarmed by the brutal violence perpetrated by gun-toting schoolboys, yet, in essence, this is an entertaining and thought-provoking cautionary tale about societal disintegration.