Movie Review: This is NOT a Test

This Is Not A Test Movie Review by Matt Boiselle 

This Is Not A Test: Directed by Adam McDonald, written by Adam McDonald and Courtney Summers, and starring Olivia Holt, Froy Gutierrez, Corteon Moore and Missy Peregrym.

Synopsis: In the midst of a zombie outbreak, a small group of high-schoolers find shelter in their own school.

It’s truly funny how some films affect us and our preferences while some others are simply looked at as a “one and done” with no further thought given to them. My choosing, for example at my point in life (and horror viewing journey) has seen me become extremely jaded towards the found-footage and zombie sub-genres. I literally believe that I’ve seen it all when it comes to these presentations, no matter how their offered up to the masses, yet oddly enough at times there will be that one movie in the heap that catches your eye and makes you appreciate what you’ve just taken in – enter “This Is Not A Test” from director Adam McDonald.

The film right off the rip comes at the audience like a 2004 “Dawn Of The Dead” mirroring: a small town that quickly falls underneath the crushing aftermath of a full-blown invasion of the undead. These zombies are track-star fast, savage as all hell and unrelenting when you have been cornered by one (or multiples). Olivia Holt holds the lead-role here as Sloane, a teenager in a broken family (mom has bailed on the drunken father), leaving her and her sister Lily (Joelle Farrow) to essentially fend for themselves against his bullying, domineering fashion. Not before long Lily flies the coop as well, leaving Sloane to deal with the abuse solo, but it’s nothing compared to what’s attempting to beat down the door, and Sloane hits the high road and ends up at the place where she’d have figured she didn’t want to hole up: her own high school. She’s then joined by a handful of classmates who have banded together in an all-out struggle to defend themselves against the outside world. It plays like a zombie-film textbook with all the familiar tropes: if you’re bitten you’ll be infected shortly, destroying their brain works to take them out, and at this point, if you even try to head outside to escape, you’ll be chow for the deceased, all the while one of those mysterious radio announcements giving details about precautions sounds off occasionally (voiced by Missy Peregrym).

But here’s the twist: like a myriad of zombie films before this, you can read the results with your eyes closed, however there was just something about this movie that appealed to me in its directness & prosaic activity. The small band of students work well with each other, with budding romances and challengers to authority so prevailing that you almost get a “Breakfast Club” vibe from it. Can this emerging faction sustain long enough to make their way to what seems like a closing window of security? Only time will tell, and we’re right in the middle of all the levels of teen angst that can be tossed at us, but for the most part, McDonald tosses it against the wall and makes it stick – the gore is adequate, the zombies rage hard enough, and the outside world, while still encompassed within its small-town look, ultimately feels forlorn and depleted. At the end of this one, I’d absolutely revisit “This Is Not A Test” again and see if my feelings remain the same.