Army of the Dead

Army of the Dead is an American horror zombie heist film directed by Zack Snyder. Following a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted.

Zack Snyder has created the film and has likewise functioned as an screenplay writer and dialogue writer alongside Shay Hatten and Joby Harold.^[1]

Army of the Dead is the first Netflix film to score a wide release at a major theater chain. The movie played at roughly 600 theaters in total.^[2] A making-of documentary, Creating an Army of the Dead, was released on Netflix alongside the film.

Summary[]

"After a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries takes the ultimate gamble by venturing into the quarantine zone for the greatest heist ever."

—Official Netflix synopsis

Plot[]

A U.S. military convoy, codenamed the Four Horsemen, transported a secret shipment from Area 51. As the two soldiers driving the lead truck debated what it could possibly be, a couple crashed into them, causing the shipment to flip over and crack open in a fiery explosion. A zombie, Zeus, emerged from the box and began killing and infecting the soldiers. Zeus and two infected soldiers saw the skyline of Las Vegas, and headed there to begin infecting its residents. The military tried to end the rapidly-growing zombie outbreak there, but failed and was forced to quarantine the city, building a wall around it with shipping containers.

Several years later, Bly Tanaka approached Scott Ward, who had successfully survived the Las Vegas outbreak in the past, to offer him $50 million to lead an excursion into zombie-run Las Vegas]], crack the Götterdämmerung safe, and escape with the $200 million sealed within. Ward accepted the offer and built a team to head into the city.

Ward's plan was to split $45 million evenly between himself, Maria Cruz, and Vanderohe, who were the "family" group, and would then give his share to his daughter, Kate Ward. They wouldn't tell the remaining members the size of the shares, instead offering them each specific amounts. Marianne Peters would get $2 million, Mikey Guzman would get $500,000, and Ludwig Dieter would get $250,000. Guzman would later cut Chambers in from his own share. Martin was to tag along as Bly's representative, and Lilly was brought in to help them sneak beyond the wall. Kate forced her father's hand and joined the team in order to find her missing friend, Geeta. Lilly convinced them they also needed Burt Cummings, and with that the team was set.

They headed into the Las Vegas Strip, where they crossed paths with the zombie tiger, Valentine. Valentine guarded the outer edges of the alpha horde's territory, so her presence meant they couldn't safely continue. Lilly manipulated Cummings into letting her hold his gun, which she then used to shoot him in the leg. She explained to the others that they wouldn't be allowed to enter the alpha kingdom without playing by the alphas' rules, which included presenting an offering to their queen, Athena. Lilly convinced them Cummings was a worthless person anyway, and revealed her reasoning behind bringing him in the first place. She used his own ties to bind his limbs and waited for Athena and the alpha general to approach. They came and took the offering back to The Olympus, leaving the Las Vengeance heist crew to push forward.

They decided to take an indoor path to avoid flaunting their good will with the alpha horde, and encountered an underground mall lined with hibernating shamblers. To avoid waking them they kept their lights low, and Scott charted a path through with glowsticks. Martin toyed with the path so Chambers, who was the last one behind him, would end up crowded in with the zombies in the hopes that she wouldn't get the chance to present her worries about his motives to the rest of the group. While she proved much tougher than he initially presumed, Martin's ploy was ultimately successful, and Chambers was swarmed by the undead.

The rest of the group made it to Bly's Casino, where they branched off into four task-based groups. Peters went to the roof to prepare Bly's rescue helicopter for their escape, and Cruz joined her as backup. Dieter, Vanderohe, and Guzman headed down to the vault to crack the safe. Martin and Lilly did a perimeter sweep outside, and Scott took Kate up to the third floor roof to start up the backup generators. With the generators whirring to life, Vanderohe's safecracking team was able to get down to the Götterdämmerung chamber. They began to use shamblers to deactivate the boobytraps. Meanwhile, Martin made a deal with Lilly to capture Athena and take a vial of her blood. If she helped, Martin would ensure the people of McCarran Quarantine Camp were freed from the camps. Upon capturing her, instead of taking her blood, Martin took her head. Athena's death cry rattled through the skyscrapers, alerting the king of the zombies, Zeus, to the event.

Dieter managed to successfully break into the safe, but not before a WBC World News broadcast informed everyone that the nuclear strike on Las Vegas was being pushed up to less than two hours away. They still had plenty of time, so they briefly got lost in celebration. Kate used the excitement as a cover to sneak away and try to save Geeta, while Lilly used it to swap Athena's head in Martin's bag for a cash counting machine in an attempt to prevent Martin from taking the zombie infection beyond the wall. Meanwhile, Zeus found Athena's body and, enraged, sent the alpha horde to attack the human intruders. Bly's Casino was soon filled with alpha zombies, so the heist crew quickly gathered the money and headed for the roof.

Martin was the first through the service hatch, which he closed on Lilly, preventing the others from leaving. Scott and Cruz had already planned to go after Kate before getting tangled up in the alpha horde. Cruz was killed, but Scott went ahead and caught up with Lilly, who had used Vanderohe's saw to cut a hole in the wall to escape. They were joined by Guzman, while Vanderohe and Dieter lingered with the money. Van fought Zeus, but was no match. Dieter created an opening to save Van by hitting Zeus in the head and pushing Van into the safe, but Dieter was caught by Zeus as Van was locked inside. Scott, Lilly, and Guz fought alphas in the main lobby, with Guz taking a bite and bringing a crowd down with himself with a grenade. Scott and Lilly were the only two to make it to the roof, where Peters still needed a few seconds with the helicopter. Her delay allowed Zeus to catch up. Lilly pulled Athena's still-snapping head from the bag and held a gun to it. She urged the others to take off without her, and just as she hoped, Zeus stayed behind with her to save Athena. Zeus pinned Lilly's gun arm to a wall with his rebar rod to prevent her from shooting Athena, but Lilly managed to drop the head over the edge of the roof. Scott and Peters headed to The Olympus for Kate, and Zeus quickly followed them back.

While the chaos ensued at the Bly, Kate worked her way through The Olympus in search of Geeta, who she eventually found unguarded. They began to head back down to the ground floor, but were met with the zombies as they returned from the Bly. With Zeus between them and the exit, there was no way out, but Scott arrived on the roof and tossed aside the blockage between them and the helicopter. Scott, Kate, and Geeta went to the roof, but Peters had already left. Her conscience got the better of her and she returned, but not before Zeus could catch up and leap into the helicopter behind them. Scott and Zeus fought while Peters flew them from the city. Scott managed to destroy Zeus' brain, but Zeus had already bitten him in the struggle. The nuclear missile hit, and the helicopter was caught up in the pressure shift, forcing it to the ground. Peters and Geeta were killed in the crash, and Scott and Kate both ended up outside the vehicle. Scott spent his last few moments with his daughter, before she had to end the zombie he had become.

Vanderohe later emerged from the rubble with as much cash as he could carry. He wandered from the wreckage of the city, found a car, and headed to Utah. He found a small airport with a private plane he could charter, and he headed to Mexico City. As the plane approached its destination Van realized he'd been bitten.

Cast and Characters[]

Awards[]

The film was nominated for Best Horror/Sci-Fi at the Las Vegas Film Critics Society, Best Film Make-Up at the Saturn Awards, and won the Oscars Fan Favorite at the Academy Awards. Tig Notaro was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress by the Hollywood Critics Association Midseason Awards and Tom Holkenborg was nominated for Best Original Score - Horror Film by the Hollywood Music in Media Awards.