Salvador, the oldest of three brothers, wakes up to another morning. His leg is missing, meaning that he needs to use crutches to help himself to his feet as he gets ready for breakfast. Making his way down the stairs of the quiet home that he shares with his siblings, Salvador gets ready for the day. Reaching his hand into a bucket of worms, he mashes them up into a bowl, adds water, sprinkles honey on top, and downs them instantly in an old glass. Welcome to the world of Parvulos: Children Of The Apocalypse, a movie that has a limited run in theaters and is one of the best zombie movies of recent memory.
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While the movie might feature three brothers who are either teenagers or pre-teens, Parvulos is not for the faint of heart. This zombie film takes place in the middle of the woods as a zombie plague in a similar style to 28 Days Later has ravaged the world. Rather than the living dead bursting forth from the grave, the virus transforms its victims into ghoulish, blank-eyed wraiths that will eat anything, or anyone, to survive. Children of The Apocalypse is a story that might not feature hordes of zombies crashing through the brothers’ home, but it’s a story of survival that makes good on its apocalyptic setting and demonstrates how far a good premise can go even with a limited budget.
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Children of The Apocalypse
One of the strongest elements of Parvulos is its young cast in Salvador, Oliver, and Benji as they try to survive by any means necessary while attempting to decipher a dark secret they have sitting in their basement. Some zombie movies might give their protagonists a world to survive in like an abandoned mall from Dawn of The Dead or a contained township like The Walking Dead, but Children of The Apocalypse takes a different route. The three siblings are completely isolated from the outside world, deep in the forest, requiring them to make tough decisions to ensure their survival. As mentioned earlier, eating a handful of ground-up worms is far from the only gnarly decision they must make to make sure that there is food on the table.
Throughout the film’s runtime, we see the trio not just needing to make difficult decisions, but doing so in a way that audiences might not agree with. This opens up the stage for some thoughtful introspection for those viewing the film and how these children’s moral compass has been wavering thanks to their apocalyptic environment. It’s not an easy ride but that’s normally the typical route for most zombie fiction, in that the best of the best presents viewers with worlds that are both teeming with the living dead and the choices made by those hoping to survive them.
The Zombies Rise
As for the zombies themselves, these freakish abominations might have origins similar to the infected rage victims of 28 Days Later, but they look far more terrifying. Parvulos’ “undead” have stringy, thin hair, are constantly chomping their teeth, their eyes have long since lost any light they had when they were alive, and they are more than able to move more like a frantic beast than a walking corpse. Without diving too much into spoiler territory, there are two zombies in particular who perform some wild actions alongside their freakish looks that you can’t help but laugh at considering how the film manages to seamlessly blend uncomfortable humor and horror into one.
There aren’t a veritable ton of zombies that are crashing off the screen in Parvulos: Children of The Apocalypse but that’s ok. The horror film shines in focusing on its setting and the almost inhuman choices that the three brothers are forced to make. This doesn’t mean there isn’t some wild gore during important scenes however as the zombie film knows when to bare its teeth and wade its way into the waters of ultra-violence. The violence and bleak setting are made all the more hard-hitting thanks to the desaturated take that Parvulos presents its world in, routinely focusing on black and white while letting in color based on whatever scenario is taking place on screen.
If you’re looking to dive into a new world of horror, Parvulos: Children of The Apocalypse is in limited theaters for a limited time, so find a screening nearest you if you want to check out one of the best zombie movies in recent memory.
