In a genre crowded with trope-filled zombies, Argentina’s Portraits of the Apocalypse takes us down a road less traveled, with a bold, tragic, and twisted reimagining that focuses more on humanity and less on the kill count. A puzzle-style horror anthology in both storytelling and tonality, the film covers four connected stories of a gruesome zombie apocalypse—the confusing initial outbreak, panic-driven choices, and the terrifying realities of survival that ask, “Would you even notice?”
Kicking it off with Murder at the Crime Scene, this dark comedy is the most lighthearted of the bunch. It follows a detective who arrives at the murder scene first, unaware she has bigger issues on the horizon. She slowly spirals into panic after making a mistake that forces a grisly cover-up before other officers arrive. Awkward fights with corpses and disgusting bullet retrievals transpire while she’s getting the worst advice from…herself. A slow burn with a killer ending twist.
Rats takes the outbreak from the streets to the home front when a nosy, overbearing mother-in-law wakes her family up in the middle of the night, demanding they deal with a rat in the kitchen — and oh yeah, the cat’s also missing. This segment took a while to get going, but once it did, it left no survivors. Gut-wrenching, killer effects and cool performances from this ensemble.
Along the lines of solitary zombie stories like 28 Days Later or I Am Legend, Ruby follows a mother who documents her pregnancy in video diary entries for her unborn child during the outbreak. We get glimpses of her life in seclusion, the conflicts she has with her partner, and the struggle to gather the basics, like formula, for their soon-to-arrive newborn.
“…these vignettes aren’t zombie-focused; they are instead cautionary, character-driven tales…”
I commend this segment for a realistic depiction of childbirth and enjoyed the ending, but once the rules were established, I wished the audience had been brought into the world with more dynamic scene coverage, rather than keeping us locked on the sidelines with a static camera, which, unfortunately, lessened many crucial moments for
me.
The final chapter, King of the Damned, brings us to a father seeking revenge and atonement with the zombie who killed his son. A haunting revelation of the outbreak’s emotional cost and of the lengths some would go to for a last moment with their loved one. For me, this was the most unique among the bunch, straddling sub-genres in really interesting ways.
The anthology format keeps the momentum fresh, with each segment revealing a new layer, making you quickly realize, especially once you hit ‘Rats’, that these vignettes aren’t zombie-focused; they are instead cautionary, character-driven tales pushing the limits of taboo subjects like animal murder, babies in danger, and warnings about the monster living in your own house.
While gooey gore is used sparingly throughout, it effectively makes each bite hit harder, drawing me in with bloody good living-dead makeup effects and body horror—though I found myself a little confused about the timelines. The dubbing will have native English speakers wanting more, with simple words and phrases mispronounced, which I found distracting, and I would have preferred the original Argentine release (love a subtitle).
Just when you think you know zombies, Portraits of the Apocalypse keeps us guessing. The film’s four segments are enjoyable, but some of the stories stick their dead drop landings better than others.
"…bloody good living-dead makeup effects and body horror..."
