Antisocial - Review

Zombies are everywhere in pop culture. The success of the Walking Dead has only helped to catapult them further into public popularity so it’s not surprising that the number of zombie films out there is so high. It’s not much different from the slasher movie fervor in the early 80’s and, like those, the zombie films desperately try to find a way to spin the concept in a unique way and set themselves apart from the herd.

Antisocial is a film with its “spin” based around social media. The plot concerns a group of college aged adults who are a small part of a larger worldwide obsession with a website called the Social Redroom. It’s basically a fictional version of Facebook where everyone can connect with friends, share pictures, post updates about their lives etc. but, unbeknownst to them, the site has been transmitting a subliminal signal which causes users to become addicted to the website. One day during a normal update to the site the signal goes bad and infects everyone with a virus that puts them into a violent zombie like state. Only those who haven’t accessed the site remain safe from the virus. Due to the nature of the transmission of the virus it only takes a day before most of the world is infected.

The concept of a visual or auditory signal that turns people into zombies via technology isn’t entirely new. Movies like “The Signal”, “Pontypool”, and even “They Live” utilize the concept to some extent as well as books like “Cell”. If done right, the concept can work incredibly well since most of us rely on these technologies daily and the thought of them turning on us is kind of unnerving.

Antisocial primarily wants to function as a satire hiding under the guise of a zombie film. The movie pokes quite a bit of fun at the people who use social media and is quick to point out the shallowness and stupidity of those who use it. There is, however, an issue with the way the filmmakers approach the topic. It’s clearly stated in the film that the signals transmitted via the site are what cause those to be addicted in the first place. This takes the blame off of the users and turns it from a film poking fun at a societal issue where the users are the cause of their own demise into a film where the users are the victim. I am fine with this approach as it makes sense in some ways so that we better empathize with the characters as victims but it doesn’t hold up as well as a satire of the social media generation. It would have been interesting had they removed the subliminal message aspect and just made it an unexpected side effect on all of the users as a result of a regularly scheduled update. This would have maintained the message about our current obsession on social media and the consequences of that obsession.

One additional issue with having the cause of the virus be dependent on a website is that the power has to stay on for the entirety of the film for it to continue spreading. If the world were really being overrun by billions of zombies in the matter of a single day the power grid and all communications would cease pretty quickly yet internet, cell phones and power continue to work right up until the end. It’s a minor flaw but difficult to believe.

While I take some issue with the overall message of the film there are aspects that work well. For one, the characters are likable. Some of them fall on the side of bland but at no point do we really hate any of them and I found myself feeling generally bad for some of them as they became infected. There is also some good effects work. Most of the effects are practical including one scene with a drill to the head which is effectively cringe-worthy. There is also some minimal CGI work but it blends well with the film and practical effects.

Overall Antisocial’s major failing is that it can’t fully pull off the satire angle that I believe the filmmakers were attempting. It works as a zombie film in the way that any post Night of the Living Dead zombie film works. If you can manage to take a group of people and hole them up in a house for an hour or so while maintaining some sense of suspense and whetting our appetite for gore then you succeed. It’s more a question of whether or not the film can distinguish itself from the others in the genre and, in my opinion, Antisocial doesn’t quite do that. However, I commend them on attempting something different and mildly recommend it.

Score:2/5

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