The silence of a dying world is often louder than the screams. In Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End, the end of civilization doesn’t arrive with a bang, but with a slow, suffocating chokehold that turns neighbors into predators and safe havens into traps.
Director Carles Torrens invites us into a vision of Spain where the picturesque landscapes of Galicia become a claustrophobic cage. This isn’t just about outrunning the infected; it’s about outrunning the grief that paralyzed you long before the first bite was ever taken.
In a genre crowded with rotting corpses, this film attempts to carve out space by asking a simple question: when the world goes quiet, do you have enough noise left in your soul to keep moving?
Manel is a man already living in a ghost town of his own making. Still reeling from the tragic death of his wife, he has barricaded himself physically and emotionally in his home, with only his cat, Lúculo, for company.
While the rest of the world panics over a new, aggressive strain of a rabies-like virus called TSJ, Manel watches from the sidelines, convinced that his isolation is his armor. But isolation is a luxury that the apocalypse does not permit for long.
When his sister begs him to join her in the Canary Islands, a supposed sanctuary from the infection, Manel is forced to abandon his fortress. What follows is a harrowing odyssey across a fractured country, where the roads are clogged with the dead and the waterways teeming with desperate souls.
Armed with makeshift gear and fiercely. As he pushes toward a reunion that seems increasingly impossible, Manel learns that in a world stripped of laws, the only rule that matters is that you never stop moving.
✅ What Works
The Feline Emotional Anchor: The inclusion of Lúculo the cat is a masterstroke of tension. By tethering the protagonist’s humanity to a vulnerable animal rather than a child or another adult, the film creates a unique brand of anxiety.
Grounded Depiction of Collapse: The movie excels at portraying the procedural breakdown of society. The film leans into the uncomfortable familiarity of lockdowns, panic buying, and the slow cessation of public services, making the initial descent into chaos feel disturbingly realistic and relatable.
Atmospheric Isolation: The setting of Galicia offers a refreshing visual palette. Instead of the usual burning American metropolises, we get gray, rainy coastal roads and silent, lush greenery that contrasts sharply with the violence, enhancing the feeling of loneliness.
Resource-Based Tension: The film effectively utilizes the survivalist aspect of the genre. Watching Manel craft armor from magazines or scrounge for diving equipment adds a tactile, “MacGyver-esque” layer to the action that feels earned rather than superheroic.
❌ Where It Falls Short
Derivative Zombie Lore: The “infected” here are the standard-issue, fast-running rage monsters popularized two decades ago.
Predictable Human Antagonists: The introduction of the “evil humans” subplot in the second half feels inevitable and weary.
Uneven Pacing: After a strong, slow-burning opening, the third act rushes into a series of action set pieces that feel disjointed.
A “To Be Continued” Frustration: The film suffers from “Part One Syndrome.” The ending serves more as a bridge to a sequel than a satisfying conclusion to Manel’s immediate arc, leaving the viewer hanging on a cliff that feels constructed by a marketing team rather than a storyteller.
⚖️ Final Verdict 3/5
Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End is a competent, if slightly by-the-numbers, entry into the survival horror canon. It’s a film that will scratch the itch for zombie completionists and offers enough polish to be entertaining, but it lacks the bite to leave a lasting scar. Watch it for the atmosphere and the cat; just don’t expect it to rewrite the rules of the apocalypse.
