We can all agree upon the fact that the zombie genre, despite being done to death, is functionally immortal when it comes to pop culture. “The Walking Dead” franchise is still going on (even though the spin-off shows have mostly been so-so); “The Last of Us” has an excellent HBO adaptation of the first game, and the second one is on the pipeline; and then every now and then a zombie movie/series pops up. It only proves that the appeal of this genre is not dying down, and a movie like Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End is a burning example of that. Directed by Carles Torrens, the movie is adapted from the best-selling novel of the same name by Spanish author Manel Loureiro. Since I haven’t read the novel, it is hard for me to say how faithful the movie remains to the book (not that it should matter, in my opinion), but as a movie, it is quite fantastic from beginning to end. What you see isn’t anything you haven’t seen before, but it is so well made that you get very much invested. Apocalypse Z part 1 ends on a huge cliffhanger, and we are going to talk about that in this article, of course. Let us get into it.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens in the Movie?
Is there anything worse than losing your spouse in a freak road accident when you’re in the middle of an argument? That’s exactly what happens to Malen when his wife Julia dies in the worst possible manner. Riddled with guilt and misery, Malen starts living an isolated life with their cat, Luculo. A year passes by, and suddenly, the world is threatened by a new virus called TSJ. Just like COVID (which was not part of the original book, I suppose, but makes its way into the movie narrative), it initially seems like the situation is not particularly alarming. But then the government starts identifying safe zones, and the chaos kicks in. Malen’s only relative, his sister Balen, pleads with him to go to Canary Island with her family. Her husband is in the military, and he’s being offered the privilege to move his family to the relatively safe island. Possibly for his cat’s well-being, Malen decides to go, but he has to return from the airport as all the flights get canceled. With no other option, he has no choice but to return home. On his way back, he witnesses the complete chaos that has now broken out, with people looting shopping malls for food and supplies. Still stunted by his trauma, Malen is unable to gather much.
A lockdown kicks in soon, and he is cooped up inside his apartment for the time being, with a cat to look after. Of course, Malen has already experienced the horror of the virus, as he has seen what it does to people—make human beings flesh-eating zombies who can only be killed by headshots. Anyway, Malen takes utmost care in securing his apartment before setting up a security camera outside. Much later in the movie we get to know that he is actually a lawyer who also knows his way around solar panels and stuff (Victor, who’s a very important character, dumbs that down to an engineer, though only to protect Malen from some really evil people). Thanks to his security camera, Malen gets alerted when the army comes for him (presumably to take him to some survivor’s camp), and he wisely keeps things quiet (that includes Luculo, who’s quite a handful), as his brother-in-law already advised him not to go with the government. Everything is okay for a while until Malen realizes that he will end up dying of hunger as he doesn’t have much food left. So he gets out of the house out of desperation, but the dude is smart enough to wear a wetsuit (which is harder to bite for the zombies) and carry a very cool weapon—a makeshift dart blaster. That proves to be quite handy, as Malen does have to save himself when a zombie attacks him outside. He fails to get lucky in terms of stocking up food though, as he doesn’t get much from some of the neighborhood houses, all of which are empty as people have gone to the government. But there’s one person who is left behind, an old woman named Gabriela.
Does Gabriela survive?
Other than Manel, the old lady is the only one left in the neighborhood. Thanks to her vast knowledge about every single house in the community, Malen ransacks some more houses to get some more supplies. That issue gets sorted when Malen decides to take a chance at the house of Joaquin, after remembering that he saw the man getting affected by the virus and taken away by the authorities on the day he came back from the airport. That ensured the house fell under a no-entry zone and all the food stock inside remained intact. Watching Malen and Gabriela finally having a proper meal after all the struggle has to be one of the high points of Apocalypse Z just saying. Unfortunately, nothing can last forever, and food is no exception. Just when they’re thinking about what their next move should be, Malen gets a radio message that is inviting survivors to a sanctuary sort of place (which is never a good thing, if you’re familiar with “The Walking Dead”). Pragmatically, Malen decides to try out his luck. Even though he tries to convince Gabriela to go with him, the old woman decides to not be a burden on Manel in this situation by ending her life. Heartbroken again, Manel sets out for the sanctuary on a motorcycle (that he found in the neighborhood, thankfully in working condition) with Luculo inside a cat carrier. He intends to go to the docks and take his boat, as traveling by water has to be the safest under the circumstances. Reaching the docks turns out to be one herculean task, with Manel stumbling onto hoards of zombies on the road. He loses the motorcycle and takes off on foot with Luculo in his hand, and finally, after a whole ordeal, he finds himself at the docks. What he didn’t consider was everyone already having taken all the boats—in an apocalyptic world, property rights are a non-existent thing after all.
Manel does find something useful though, even though he has to handle the horror of an abandoned boat with a baby zombie inside. He finally gets out on the water on a lifeboat, with Luculo still safe and sound in the cat carrier. But his luck seems to run out in the worst possible time, when the lifeboat gives away in the middle of the night, leaving Manel and Luculo stranded on the water. Fortunately, a Ukrainian commercial boat arrives out of nowhere and rescues them.
Who is Victor, and what does he want?
Victor is the only man in the boat who can speak fluent Spanish. He plays an instrumental part in convincing boat captain Ushikov to let Manel and Luculo in. He also tells them that Manel is an engineer, in order for them to be sold on the new guy’s effectiveness. However, all is not well in the boat, as Manel soon smells something shady going on in the boat, and his suspicion grows further with Victor continuously asking him not to poke his nose around. Not that Victor is evil; he is just scared for his life and wouldn’t dare to try anything against Ushikov. But Manel has to, and this movie has established the character so well that it’s not hard for us to believe in (and root for) him. So the lawyer tries to escape, and just as he is about to do that, he comes across other men who have been taken prisoners and are in worse condition. Rescuing these men turns into a nuisance for Manel as one of them lets his anxiety get the better of him, leading to one of the Ukrainian guards ultimately killing him. That of course puts Manel in a tight spot, but as fortune favors the brave, Victor chooses to do the right thing at this moment only. Thanks to him, Manuel manages to escape on a lifeboat. However, while escaping, the Ukrainians kills the other rescued prisoner, and Victor is also shot.
Does Manel manage to reach Canary Island?
Luck plays an important part in this story, but not for once does that seem to be forced into the narrative. So it’s not hard to accept that Victor happens to be a pilot who can fly a helicopter. And where do they get the helicopter? At the same hospital where Julia died a year ago. Life has come full circle for Manel after all, as he goes back to the same place where the love of his life once left him. This time though, he goes there with hope, as he remembers a helicopter being there from the last time. But when he and Victor reach there, they don’t find any helicopters. On top of that, they have to battle a horde of zombies, as the place is now swamped with them.
Somehow, Manel and Victor manage to get inside the hospital (with Luculo, of course), where they meet a group of survivors—the elderly nurse Cecilia, a younger nurse Lucia, and three little orphan kids who have lost their parents. Not only do the sisters help Victor with his bullet wound, Lucia also shows Manel the helicopter that he came for. It is still in the hospital after all, just not on the helipad but in the compound inside. And getting there is nothing but a suicide mission where the zombies are going to have a feast.
That doesn’t mean they are not going to try. During the attempt, sister Cecilia tragically dies after getting bit by a zombie. Things get further complicated when the Ukrainians come to the hospital for looting. For the time being, they don’t find Manel, Victor, or anyone else, but it’s only a matter of time. In fact, they unknowingly help Manel and co. by clearing off some zombies. Manel soon innovates a makeshift cage with hospital supplies and decides to use it to keep the zombies off while they reach the helicopter. Even though it proves to be an incredibly difficult thing to achieve, the plan does work out, and Manel manages to put Victor, Lucia, the kids, and Luculo inside the helicopter. He has to stay outside though and manage the zombies, while Victor finds a way to start the helicopter. With the Ukrainians returning, it seems like the odds are not in Manel’s favor. But our hero promptly turns it around by setting the zombie horde on the Ukrainians, while he dramatically gets away, hanging from the helicopter. Yes, Victor has managed to take the bird off after all. Finally in the air, Apocalypse Z unintentionally pays homage to the final scene of Jurassic Park, as everyone seems to be at peace after a long time. That is short-lived, as Manel soon receives a call from his sister, who asks him to not come to Canary Island, in a very panic-stricken voice. The call gets cut abruptly, leaving everyone in the lurch as the screen goes to black.
Will there be a sequel?
There has to be one, given this movie is based on the first book of the trilogy only. Quite fittingly, it is titled Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End. Manel’s story can’t just finish on a cliffhanger. We’ve got to know what happens to him after this, and even though Belen has been a minor character in this movie, we need to find out about her as well. With the Ukrainians done for, new deadly villains are going to come up for sure. Last but not least, Luculo the cat should remain unharmed. If anything happens to that furball, we riot. Well, I have started considering myself a fan of this franchise now.
