Title: Parvulos
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Director: Isaac Ezban
Starring: Carla Adell, Mateo Ortega Casillas, Leonardo Cervantes
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins

What It Is: Three young brothers must work together to survive a hellish zombie apocalypse while trying to maintain some semblance of a normal life. When new threats appear at their doorstep, they quickly discover that their world is far more dangerous than they initially realized.

What We Think: THAT’S how you make a fucking zombie movie! Handling the Undead, take notes.

Holy crap, this movie is brutal with a capital B. If you’re faint of heart, don’t see it—because it is very disturbing. It took chances I haven’t seen a zombie movie take before, and frankly, I’m impressed. This film does not care whether you’re uncomfortable or not. In fact, it revels in discomfort. But I wouldn’t be giving it such a positive review if the story wasn’t there. The narrative is poignant and heartfelt, and the characters are morally gray—to the point where you aren’t always sure if you even want them to survive. Ultimately, this has to be one of the bleakest depictions of a zombie apocalypse I’ve ever seen. There are images that will haunt my nightmares. (For those who’ve seen the movie… the signpost in front of the house midway through the film is all I’ll say.) The dissolution of innocence in the younger boys is on par with Lord of the Flies. The places it takes our characters are very dark but understandable, with survival coming down to the fittest—and to family.

It’s so refreshing to see a zombie apocalypse story taken to depths most would shy away from. This feels realistically dark. At first, I thought the film was pushing its limits, but by the end, that boldness felt like a strength.

I love how disturbing this movie was. Genuinely. Delightfully creepy.

Oh, and the ending had a twist I did not expect at all—huge thumbs up for that.

Our Grade: A+, As an active consumer of the dark and macabre, this is definitely one of my new favorite zombie films. While other movies try too hard to achieve subtlety and miss the point of what makes a zombie movie great, this film says screw subtlety and blasts us with a hammer, showing how unforgiving a world like this would be. Absolutely beautiful in a very fucked-up way.