Disney’s latest original movie series—Z-O-M-B-I-E-S—isn’t just for kids.
When the first Zombies movie premiered in 2018, I had no desire to watch it. Zombies? In a Disney Channel Original Movie? Yuck! Never mind the fact that I was already a little too old to be invested in a new DCOM; that hadn’t stopped me from watching (and loving) Descendants. But I knew I would not be watching their latest original, even with stars Meg Donnelly and Milo Manheim playing the leads.
Fast forward to 2020, and there I was, with a new Disney+ subscription and far too much time on my hands due to the pandemic. I decided to give Zombies a try. It was one of the best choices I could have made that year.
Zombies is a sweet, Romeo and Juliet-esque story. Addison (Meg Donnelly) is a cheerleader in the perfect town of Seabrook. Despite her perfect life, though, Addison is afraid that her biggest secret will be revealed. She isn’t as normal as everyone else in Seabrook. For some reason, her natural hair is startlingly white, and she must wear a wig to cover it and fit in. Other than her parents, the only person who knows this secret is her cousin and the school’s cheer captain, Bucky (Trevor Tordjman). Zed (Milo Manheim) is a zombie from Zombietown, a suburb of Seabrook that is separated from the main town by a barricade. Zombies are considered second-class citizens to humans, fearsome and disgusting, forced to wear the “Z-band” that sends electromagnetic pulses to their bodies to prevent them from eating brains. Zed and Addison meet by chance when Seabrook High decides to let zombies attend school for the first time ever—and it’s love at first sight. Or, more accurately, love at first punch.
Zed and Addison’s romance is adorable. Even when Zed becomes the first zombie on the high school football team, both the humans and the zombies conspire to keep the couple apart. They have clandestine meetings in zombie-safe rooms, leave notes in each other’s lockers, and even sneak out past Zombietown’s curfew to attend a very tame version of a zombie rave. You can’t help but root for their relationship, especially when they believe with such certainty that, someday, they won’t have to love each other in secret.
Zombies is full of fun, catchy musical numbers, and plenty of side characters that feel just as fully fleshed-out (no pun intended) as Zed and Addison. The movie’s message of acceptance and human-monster integration is timely. Adults will no doubt see the real-world implications, and children will be introduced to diversity and equality in a meaningful, yet easy-to-understand manner. This message carries into the second and third installments of the franchise, too. In Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2, Zed and Addison meet the local werewolves and discover that Seabrook’s past is even less perfect than they thought. Far before zombies came to be, the human founders of Seabrook took the town’s land from the werewolf tribe, forcing the wolves into hiding. They even stole the werewolves’ sacred Moonstone, turning it into a battery for their power plant. Then, in Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3, aliens arrive in Seabrook, unearthing another secret about Addison’s family—one that could change the town’s perception of her mother, Seabrook’s mayor, forever.
When Zombies 3 was released in 2022, we all believed that was the end of our time in Seabrook. After all, DCOMs rarely go beyond a trilogy. But this spring, we received news that another Zombies movie is already in the works! This installment promises even more monsters—vampires, this time—as Zed and Addison take a summer road trip on their way home from their freshman year of college. Will they meet said vampires in Forks, Washington as they travel back to Seabrook? We can only hope! But for now, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 4 will be here…someday.
