#677 – Wyrmwood: Apocalypse (2021)

Film review #677

Director: Kiah Roache-Turner

SYNOPSIS: With a zombie apocalypse raging on, soldier Rhys takes survivors and delivers them to the Sugreon General to help them find a cure. Unknown to him is that the surgeon is killing them and turning their fluids into a secret formula that makes him more powerful. When Rhys delivers a woman to the surgeon and uncovers the truth, he teams up with her Sister with a plan to rescue her and put a stop to the surgeon’s evil plans.

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Wyrmwood: Apocalypse is a 2021 Australian post-apocalypse film and the sequel to 2014’s Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead. The film starts with the introduction of a new character, a former soldier named Rhys, who takes people to a surgeon who he believes is trying to find a cure, but in reality is killing the people and extracting a fluid from them to make himself more powerful. A separate intro sequence does reintroduce the characters Barry and Brooke from the first film, but they don’t show up again until half way through the film, meaning we’re left to focus on the less interesting new cast. On the whole, Wyrmwood Apocalypse does a lot of the same things as its predecessor; mixing high energy action and gore, but brings a more conventional narrative to the forefront, which slows everything down a little.

Continuing the Roache-Turner brothers filming style, the film is full of quick cuts, close-ups, and loud noises that keep the action flowing. As mentioned, the newer characters don’t really have much presence, and and less interesting than the characters from the original that reappear half-way through the runtime. having the main antagonist again being a mad surgeon or doctor does feel like a bit of a re-tread of the original, and I think there was scope to try something new. Given a seven year gap between the original and sequel as well, it is a long time to reintroduce the characters and its different quirks; the sequel goes half-and-half by making new story and characters, but also adding in the cast from the previous film half way through, and it probably should have stuck to one or the other. Overall though, Wyrmwood: Apocalypse is very much more of its predecessor: plenty of action, gore and over-the-top nonsense that is stylish and entertaining, but the new cast and a more typical story format does slow it down a little, making not quite as enticing as the original.