Movie of the Week
Horror comes to the zoo
‘Night of the Zoopocalypse’ is a feast of chaos and comedy as mutant bunnies bounce onto the big screen.
A supernatural storm arrived in Ster-Kinekor cinemas today (28 March 2025) with the release of Night of the Zoopocalypse, a new animated horror-comedy that puts a wild twist on the zombie genre.
In the movie, a meteorite strikes a satellite, sending a charged fragment hurtling toward Earth. It crashes into the Colepepper Zoo and infects a bunny in the petting enclosure with an alien virus. The virus mutates the bunny into a grotesque, gummi-like zombie – soon known as Bunny Zero – which begins infecting other animals and turning them into slobbering, near-indestructible Gum-beasts.
Amid the chaos, a small group of uninfected animals bands together to survive and stop the outbreak. Gracie, a young timber wolf raised to distrust other animals, finds herself teaming up with Dan, a mountain lion newly transferred to the zoo.
Alongside them are a misfit group of unlikely allies: a hypochondriac lemur named Xavier, an arrogant proboscis monkey called Felix, a feisty capybara named Frida, and Ash, a dry-witted ostrich. They later rescue a timid pygmy hippo named Poot, who proves unexpectedly helpful in the chaos.
Photo supplied.
As the zoo descends into madness, the survivors face mutated gorillas, infected kangaroos, and amalgamated monsters formed from multiple Gum-beasts. The team of animals searches frantically for a cure.
Night of the Zoopocalypse is directed by Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro. The screenplay is written by James Kee and produced by Steven Hoban. The film is based on a concept by horror author Clive Barker and loosely inspired by his short story ZOOmbies.
The voice cast includes David Harbour (Stranger Things), Catherine McAuley (Hotel Transylvania), Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Avatar: The Last Airbender), and Briana-Lynn Brieiro (Gen V).
