Critic Reviews

The film, as entertaining as it is, doesn’t exactly further a genre that has been stale since the success of 2013 rom-zom-com Warm Bodies.... What’s promising about Scouts Guide, though, are its unlikely heroes.

Genre fans close in age to the characters depicted onscreen should be appreciative of the enjoyably familiar mix of inspired comedy moments, smart zingers, grossout gags and nudity offered by the apostrophe-phobic Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse.

It’s all too dumb and ribald for most tastes, but if you liked all the zombie comedies that came before, well, here’s another one.

A likable horror-comedy with a satisfyingly high splatter count.

It doesn’t have the laughs or the killer cast of “Superbad,” but there are gory giggles aplenty in this B-movie addition to the genre that displaced vampires once Edward impregnated Bella.

This “Guide” is not for everyone; it gleefully earns its hard-R rating. But folks who enjoy their teen humor splattered with zombie guts won’t be disappointed. Scout’s honor.

On the plus side, the film is high energy and moves quickly. And some of the zombie gore effects are fun, reaching nearly Raimi-esque heights of splatter during the climactic battle. None of it is really scary, though, especially since it’s so predictable.

It doubles down on gross-out sight gags that 13-year-old boys should find hilarious, if no one else.

The aim here seems to be to replace startled gasps with shocked guffaws. The results are contrary to Scout Law — not Kind, Clean or Reverent.

The gags are mostly puerile and uninspired — like the film was dreamed up by a bunch of tired, wired 13-year-olds; it has their insistence but little of their invention.