Night of the Zoopocalypse (2025)

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I’m always down for checking out family friendly films, especially those featuring animals going on crazy misadventures like the recent Paddington in Peru I reviewed. When I first learned about Night of the Zoopocalypse last year, it grabbed my attention right away when the creators said it was like Madagascar meets The Walking Dead. Turns out they were right as it’s as fun as it is creepy, and is perfect for families looking for something different at the movies.

via YouTube

Based on a story by Clive Barker called “ZOOmbies”  (yes, the same Clive Barker of Hellraiser and horror stories fame), this wacky adventure takes place at the Colepepper’s Zoo where we enter the life of Gracie (Gabbi Kosmidis), a wolf that dreams of a more exciting life outside of the zoo where she’s tired of being cooped up in.

Turns out she’ll be getting her wish sooner than later, as it doesn’t take long for an alien meteor to come crashing into the zoo that evening, and for one of the rabbits to eat a piece of it, transforming them into a zombie-like creature that begins to quickly infect other animals there. After coming across the rabbit that ate the meteor piece and barely escaping being infected, Gracie realizes she needs to find a way to escape the zoo, but of course that won’t be easy as it’s locked down while closed for the night, and there’s zombie animals at every turn.

Thankfully she runs into some help in the form of a few other animals that managed to flee inside the gift shop, such as a French lemur that just so happens to know what’s going on thanks to watching horror films, a selfish monkey that’s only looking out for himself, a Hispanic capybara and a cynical ostrich that just wants out of this mess. Then there’s Dan (David Harbour), a mountain lion that also wants to escape and decides to work with Gracie and the others to do so, although the others are scared he’ll eat them.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well this movie blended a funny family film with just the right amount of horror as to not totally terrify younger viewers, even though there are moments where they push it, namely with the body horror bits which again I’m shocked were included. You can tell they tried their best to make things look cute even though it’s scary, as the zombie animals look like they’re made of gummy/jelly candy, and it’s more comedic than anything when they’re dismembered and scramble to easily reattach their missing limbs.

If you’re looking for something different for family fun at the movies, you’ll want to check out Night of the Zoopocalypse as it manages to pull off being a family horror film quite nicely that anyone can enjoy. I also forgot to mention in all of this zombie chaos there’s a super cute and lovable pygmy hippo named Poot (Christina Nova) that’s sure to be the crowd favorite, and will infect viewers and their kids with her cuteness.