As a zombie loving film student living in East London, Cockneys vs Zombies is a film that really made me think ‘This is a film that I’d absolutely love to have been involved in’. It’s a low budget zombie horror film from London based filmmaker Matthias Hoene, and Hoene is clearly someone with a very good knowledge of horror and a keen eye for what works in the genre. With a large helping of humour, a number of absolutely beautiful shots, and an incredibly badass war veteran played by Alan Ford, Cockneys vs Zombies really does have a lot going for it, and it’s hard not to be impressed by this zombie flick set in the English capital.
Before watching the film I must say that I didn’t have particularly high expectations; I’ve watched a lot of low budget horror films in my time, many of which have failed to impress and long been forgotten. Cockneys vs Zombies perhaps had a harder job to do with me than most, it’s set in the area that I currently live after all, an area in which I’ve filmed a few short films myself and I therefore really didn’t want the film to let my current area down. With Cockneys vs Zombies, Matthias Hoene most certainly succeeded in making me feel proud to be a budding filmmaker in East London.
Michelle Ryan, formerly of Eastenders fame, is one of the film’s key stars here, I also spotted Gary Beadle making a brief cameo, and there are a few others involved in the film as well with Eastenders/East London connections. There are thankfully no Dick Van Dyke style cockney accents present here, the key cockney’s all seem to be pretty well cast and the film definitely delivers in this area. As I mentioned before, Alan Ford’s character is particularly brilliant in the film, and for me this was one of the most standout elements of Cockneys vs Zombies. With a low budget comedy horror film such as this, there is much emphasis on the quality of the script and the quality of the acting in order to make it work, and in my eyes Matthias Hoene has certainly succeeded here in making sure that all elements of the film are strong enough to make it work and make it work well.
Cockneys vs Zombies is a tasty little mashup of comedy horror and action film conventions, combining nicely to form a 90 minute feature film of fun that will no doubt please fans of British horror films. There’s enough here to keep you entertained for the film’s duration, and if you’re looking for a bit of light entertainment on an evening then you can definitely do a lot worse than sitting down with Cockneys vs Zombies. There’s enough gore here to please the pure horror fans, enough light-hearted humour to please the comedy fans, and a healthy helping of action thrown in there as well just for good measure.
Cockneys vs Zombies is a film that’s well worth a watch, and it’ll also be interesting to keep an eye out for director Matthias Hoene and screenwriter James Moran in the future to see what they come up with next. Moran appears to be involved in writing a new film for 2013, Silent Night of the Living Dead, so I’ll certainly be checking that one out and seeing what that film has to offer; if Cockneys vs Zombies is anything to go by then I should surely be in for another British horror treat!
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
