The Horde

Very full on and very violent in a RoboCop way as the violence in certain scenes just goes on and on but in a good way!

More violent than Mutants but not quite as scary or atmospheric, but still way better than anything coming from the US.

Recommended!

There is an "UNCUT" version released only in Germany so far but all of the extra 9 mins is at the beginning before it really gets going and is mainly talking! I would rather say it's an extended cut.

So you are not missing any of the gore/violence with this UK disc.

In fact I preferred the 93 min version as it got the action quicker which is really what we are all buying this for!

.....with more guns, gore and violence. Mix in some of the ingredients of the dawn of the dead remake and the left for dead game and you get the picture. The film has a frantic pace and the first scene is the discovery of a police officer found dead in a rubbish pit. At the funeral his collegues vow to kill the men responsible and track them down to a condemned and abandoned tower block on the city outskirts. The raid isn't too successful and the police find themselves at the mercy of the violent gang members. However, something stirs outside in the night and within minutes all hell breaks loose. The cops and gang members must reluctantly work together if they want to escape from the tower block alive. There are one or two scenes of complete overkill and plenty of blood to keep zombie fans happy. Don't really know to refer to them as zombies or not but they are like the infected in 28 days later. The film only really slows down in the middle for a short period before heading to a bloody and violent conclusion. Certainly one of the better zombie films to be released in the last few years and very enjoyable.

I think it's been quite obvious that the zombie genre during the past couple of years has been overcrowded, we've had the low budget stinkers that were really dull and forgettable but occasionally there have been a few gems out there that showed us the potential of these films and their high quality. Now it seems like the French have shown us yet another treat within this sub genre. Thankfully, The Horde is very much at the premium end of the quality scale. Like the other brilliant and brutal French horror titles, Switchblade Romance, Martyrs, Inside and Frontier(s) (whose director Xavier Gens served as executive producer on this film), The Horde is another example of the French investing high production values to reinvent horror for a modern audience, here producing a pacy, exciting and gory ride into the world of the undead. The set-up is simple: four corrupt Parisian coppers decide to hunt down the gang who killed their colleague, but after tracking them to an abandoned block of flats, and disastrously attempting to kill the ringleaders, the two disparate groups are forced to team up to defeat the zombie horde when the dead start to inexplicably rise again.

Fans of the genre will instantly recognize many of the set ups that come with a zombie film, and in this sense the film offers nothing new, but The Horde's originality stems from its claustrophobic location and the intensely strained relationship between the cops and robbers. The banter between the characters is excellent throughout and the film manages to cleverly shift your sympathies from one set of survivors to another as the story progresses, making it all the more difficult to guess which characters are going to make it out alive. The action too is fast, furious and thrilling - try to stop yourself from cheering when Claude Perron's tough cop takes on a zombie woman in perhaps the best hand-to-hand bitch fight ever caught on film.The Horde is every bit as well-made a film as any horror to come out of France this past decade; great cinematography, decent editing and FX, and strong performances. Doudou Masta is particularly impressive as the volatile loose cannon of the crew, and Claude Perron and Eriq Ebouaney make for muscular leading men (figuratively and literally) as head cop and gangster respectively, their uneasy alliance and underlying morality is highly reminiscent of the lead characters in the original Precinct 13.

Although the whole zombie siege theme has been done to death since Romero's Night of the Living Dead way back in '68, directors Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher attack their oft-told tale with so much vigour that this fact is easily forgiven. The spot-on direction, excellent decayed urban setting, gloriously splattery effects (enhanced by carefully considered use of CGI), and a whole lot of extreme fire-power combine to deliver a non-stop roller-coaster ride of splendidly gory action, whilst well drawn characters with emotional depth serve to enrich the film's basic set-up. With several brutal fist-fights between the living and the hideous screeching zombies, a thrilling, bullet riddled, blood drenched last half hour and a satisfyingly bleak, but perfectly fitting ending, La Horde is not only one of the most enjoyable of the new-wave of French horror films, but also one of the most kick-ass zombie films ever. The film however does have its faults - for one, after learning that zombies stop moving when being shot in the head, why do the main characters persist in shooting them in the body? - but, overall, The Horde stands out as a well-produced, smart zombie thriller in what is fast becoming an over saturated market. I highly recommend this excellent French zombie film, enjoy or as the French like to say Bon Appetit!.