Z-O-M-B-I-E-S

**Z-O-M-B-I-E-S**is an American musical and dance Disney Channel Original Movie that premiered on DIsney Channel on February 16, 2018. The film is based on Zombies & Cheerleaders by David Light and Joseph Raso, and stars Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly,  playing zombie football player Zed and human cheerleader Addison who meet and fall in love, and who must lead their respective groups to co-exist with each other.

## Plot

Fifty years ago in the planned commuity of Seabrook, an accident at the Seabrook Power Plant resulted in an explosion which caused half the population of Seabrook to turn into brain-eating zombies. Those that weren't affected constructed a wall to quarantine the zombies from the rest of Seabrook in a territory called Zombietown. The government later created bracelets for zombies, called Z-Bands, that deliver soothing electromagnetic pulses to keep zombies from craving brains.

In the present day, zombie students from Zombietown transfer to the human high school, Seabrook High, where suburban life is filled with uniformity, traditions and pep rallies.

In Zombietown, Zed introduces himself to the viewers as he walks them through life in Zombietown, his sister Zoey who can't have a dog, and his father Zevon while making plans to join the football team.

On the other side of the fence, Addison introduces herself to the viewers as she tells them of her cheer camp experience and reveals that she wears a wig to hide her naturally white hair, since nothing will stick to it. Her parents are Missy, who is the mayor of Seabrook, and her father is Dale, who is the Chief of the Zombie Patrol which keeps the zombies in line. She also has a cousin named Bucky who leads her school's cheerleading team. The two respective sides of town both dance in excitement for the first day, with Addison and Zed leading the groups ("My Year").

Addison soon runs into another aspiring cheerleader named Bree, and they head to cheer tryouts. Tryouts are led by Bucky and his crew, where they dismiss and humiliate other prospective cheerleaders ("Fired Up"). Addison and Zed meet in a Zombie Safe Room and they start talking. When Addison realises that Zed is a zombie, she punches him in the face but later regrets it, and the two become friends and soon fall in love. The star-crossed lovers, who are now supposed to be together, keep their love a secret, but Zed's friends, Eliza and Bonzo, come to know of it soon. To win football games, Zed makes Eliza hack into his Z-Band to make him 'a little more zombie'. This leads to severe pain on his wrist and rashes on that area. Bucky becomes jealous that Zed is getting more attention than him, and makes sure Addison and Zed can't talk. The pair find some time together, and wonder about the future when their blooming relationship could be normal ("Someday").

Addison is invited by Zed to attend the zombie party in Zombietown with Eliza and Bonzo ("BAMM"). During the trip there, Addison meets Zoey who mentions that the zombies can't have pets. Eliza takes Zoey home with Addison and Zed share a moment in the "zombie park", which is just a garden of lights ("Someday (Reprise)"). Before the pair can kiss, the party is crashed by the Zombie Patrol, and Addison is taken home by Zombie Patrol member Gus. At home, Missy and Dale find out that she has a new crush and advise her not to do any cheering until they know who it is, not knowing that the crush is on a zombie.

On the big football match day, Addison tells Zed about her parents wanting to meet him, but insists that they would never accept Zed. Bucky finds out about Zed's Z-Band hack and has his followers Stacey, Tracey and Lacey steal Eliza's laptop to hack to Z-Bands. Before Homecoming, Addison insists to her parents that they don't want to meet her date, but is surprised when Zed shows up on her doorstep looking human. He and Addison leave her house and go on a date, where he admits he's been messing with his Z-Band, Addison tells him that it is the others that have to change, not them.

At the homecoming game it seems that full acceptance for zombies is almost there. When Addison and Bree start showing their sympathy to the zombies during a cheer, Bucky has them kicked off the cheer squad. Stacey, Tracey and Lacey succeed in their plot turning Zed, Eliza and Bonzo into complete zombies. This interrupts the game and causes the Zombie Alarm to go off. The Zombie Patrol captures them and has them detained. Later, Addison shouts at the crowd, telling them it was their fault Zed transformed into a full zombie. She then rips off the wig exposing her naturally white hair.

Following the incident, Zed, Eliza and Bonzo are returned to Zombietown. Addison states to the viewers that Bucky is changing the line-up for the cheer squad. Bucky is then shown cutting three members from his cheerleading group due to them sympathising with the zombies.

On the day of the cheerleader competition, Addison and Bree find Zed and Bonzo trying to stop Eliza from sabotaging the competition, and after Eliza talks with her friends, she realises that doing so is not the right thing to do. Bucky's team is failing because they do not have enough members, so Zoey tries to get in and help him. At first, Zoey is booed by the crowd, but with help from Addison and Zed, the zombies and cheerleaders come together to make a cheer routine during the Cheer competition. Zed and Addison tell each other they love each other.

Later, everyone has a block party at Zombietown. As Zoey finally gets her dog, the zombies and humans mingle with each other freely.

## Cast

* Milo Manheim as Zed
* Meg Donnelly as Addison
* Trevor Tordjman as Bucky
* Kylee Russell as Eliza
* Carla Jeffery as Bree
* Kingston Foster as Zoey
* James Godfrey as Bonzo
* Naomi Snieckus as Ms. Lee
* Jonathan Langdon as Coach
* Paul Hopkins as Dale
* Marie Ward as Missy
* Tony Nappo as Zevon
* Emilia McCarthy as Lacey
* Mickeey Nguyen as Tracey
* Jasmine Renee Thomas as Stacey

## Production

Production on the film began in May 2017. The film was shot in Toronto over 10 weeks.

## Release

The film premiered on Disney Channel on February 16, 2018.

### Ratings

During its premiere in the 8:00pm time slot, Zombies attracted a total of 2.57 million viewers with a 0.46 rating for people aged 18-49. Over its premiere weekend the movie reached 10.3 million viewers over 8 airings.