Like every zombie-themed movie ever, this low-budget American feature directed by debutant Steven Pierce (co-written by Pierce and James Allerdyce) has a subtext; this one so close to the surface it’s barely sub, about schisms that divide communities. Quite often, the factions in zombie stories cleave along class lines or ethnicity. But Herd mixes the formula up in a number of interesting ways; for starters, by casting as the heroines lesbian spouses Jamie (Ellen Adair) and Alex (Mitzi Akaha), city dwellers on a camping trip trying to heal marital wounds after the loss of a child.
Thus the women are already semi-outsiders in rural Missouri where they’re visiting, although it’s near where Jamie grew up. Not that this puts her more at ease, given an abusive childhood growing up with her father, Robert, (Corbin Bernsen), that inclines Jamie to be suspicious of the locals and assume the worst of people, sometimes with justification and sometimes not.
But in this backwoods, being recogised as queer isn’t as dangerous as being mistaken for someone infected with a virus that makes people grow pustules on their faces, vomit, lose the power of speech and try to cool their ferociously pained foreheads. These quasi-zombie victims are called “heps” by the locals, who have broken into warring militia groups trying to defend themselves against the infected. Everyone is jumpy as a frog and armed to the teeth with assault weapons and handguns; the women almost get shot when Alex breaks her leg and looks suspiciously unwell from a distance. Luckily, another person recognises her from high school and they’re offered shelter, but how safe will they be in the long run?
The story beats are mostly reasonably predictable here, but Pierce tweaks the formula cleverly in the last act, with the script proving playful about which strangers turn out to be the biggest dangers and confounding viewer expectations in interesting ways. Take redneck Bernie (Brandon James Ellis), a beefy guy who seems to be a typical gung-ho beta male in the militia pack that the women meet up with; that’s true, but he also has a lovely singing voice as evidenced in a campfire rendition of the hymn Will the Circle Be Unbroken? and there’s a real gentleness of spirit there.
Indeed, Pierce clearly has a feel for folky-country-indie vibes, which comes through in Alexander Arntzen’s original score. The sound of things is vitally important here, in more ways than one, so listen closely to all the noises, from whispers and moans to whistles and screams.
• Herd is released on 23 October on digital platforms.
