Unhuman
Violence, language in dark horror-comedy that misses mark.
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Unhuman
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Unhuman is a 2022 dark horror-comedy in which a group of teens on a field trip must fight to survive what they believe is a zombie apocalypse when their bus crashes. Expect horror movie violence, blood, and gore, including scenes of faces being bitten, characters seemingly killed, and people falling out of high buildings. There's fighting with swords, crowbars, boom boxes, and blunt objects. One character runs into an abandoned house and falls into a disemboweled horse and its guts and entrails. Besides the horror elements, the movie is an attempt at commentary on bullying, cliques, and those unable or unwilling to outgrow and/or move on from their teen years long after high school graduation. Some teens get food and drink thrown at them, or are bullied for having braces or for their body types. "F--k" is often used. Adults are shown snorting cocaine, smoking cigarettes, and drinking booze and beer in a montage. A teen is shown vaping.
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What's the Story?
In UNHUMAN, Ever (Brianne Tju) and Tamra (Ali Gallo) are two high school best friends on their way to school to take a field trip for extra credit. Joining them on the school bus are bullied teens Randall and Steven (Drew Scheid) and their jock tormentors led by Danny (Uriah Shelton). After the bus driver takes a wrong turn, the windshield appears to be splattered with blood, causing the bus to careen out of control until it crashes in the nearby woods. While everyone seems to be unharmed, the radio warns of some kind of chemical attack, and when a disheveled mystery man whom the chaperone allows onto the bus in the interests of helping him ends up biting the face of the chaperone, the teens run out the back of the bus and for their lives. The surviving teens, including Ever, Tamra, Randall, Steven, and Danny, try to take shelter in a nearby rundown apartment building, but it doesn't take long for them to realize that the classmates and adults who didn't make it there have turned into zombies. Or so it seems. After fending off the "undead," Ever makes a shocking discovery and must find a way to tell Tamra and the others before they fall victim to an elaborate scheme that has run off the rails.
Is It Any Good?
This is a teen horror-comedy that doesn't quite hit the mark. Unhuman starts off like a standard-grade teen zombie horror movie that's a little too on the nose. It's quite aware of the tropes and clichés of movies like these, and with all its commentary on bullying, fitting in or not fitting in, and whether or not high school and adolescence mean much once teens are no longer teens, the "big reveal" doesn't seem surprising so much as weird and unwieldy. The only real mystery is to figure out who's behind it, and even that isn't terribly surprising.
It's a disparate combination of the John Hughes teen movies of the '80s and perhaps the '90s self-awareness of the Scream franchise. Some of the plot contrivances are required to do a lot of heavy lifting, and even with the absurdist humor element that's a part of this, it doesn't entirely add up. There are many talented actors involved in this movie, which makes it all the more disappointing.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about horror-comedies like Unhuman. How does this movie try to combine elements of the horror and comedy genres into one movie? Does it work?
What is the movie trying to say about bullying, high school, cliques, etc.? Do you agree or disagree with the messages?
How does the violence, blood, and gore compare to that of other horror movies you've seen? Was it necessary? Why, or why not?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: June 3, 2022
- Cast: Drew Scheid, Brianne Tju, Uriah Shelton
- Director: Marcus Dunstan
- Studio: Epix
- Genre: Horror
- Topics: High School
- Run time: 87 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: February 22, 2023
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