Remember at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic when actor Jared Leto went into the wilderness alone and then came out a month later to find the world changed? Well that scenario is exactly what happens to the protagonists in Steven Pierce’s, Herd. Jamie (Ellen Adair) and her wife Alex (Mitzi Akaha) go on a camping trip in an attempt to fix their failing marriage. After Alex is injured, the pair return to civilisation only to find it overrun with zombies. Luckily, the two are taken in by Big John Gruber (Jeremy Holm) and his clan of survivors. All is not well though as a rival militia wants their supplies. Have the women jumped from the frying pan and into the fire?
A same sex couple trapped in a gun-toting Southern American state is the perfect environment for tension even before throwing warring factions and zombie apocalypses into the mix. However, in spite of its enticing ingredients, Herd is a little numb. No one element is pushed hard and so everything just hangs in the air. The best way to describe Herd would be to say that it feels like a filler episode of The Walking Dead. That is not to say that Herd is a bad film, it is simply lacking that spark to fully excite the audience. There are several narrative directions posed, but Herd never ventures down any direct route, favouring instead to amble across all. This unfocused approach leaves the viewer struggling to connect with the characters and the story.
What Herd does spend a great deal of time with, is Jamie’s past. The story flicks back and forth between the present and two separate points in Jamie’s life. The first is her first meeting with Alex during which the pair instantly connect. This bond is a stark contrast to where the couple find themselves now. With the camping trip a failure at working through their issues, could the apocalypse mend their marriage? Amongst all this, Jamie also flashes back to her tumultuous relationship with her father. Her anxiety about him is linked to their location, the camping trip having been near her hometown. Jamie’s apprehension to be confronted by him takes up a lot of space within the narrative, but is another disappointment.
Despite few zombies and a hazy plot, Pierce does achieve some memorable moments. First, the premise of stumbling upon the apocalypse is wild. Imagine waking up one day and finding the world completely changed overnight. The second moment comes during a standoff between factions when a young boy is placed in control of a weapon and told to guard the people. That there are more capable grown-ups in the boy’s presence, albeit female, is a perfect example of toxic masculinity. At the same time, watching the fear on the young boy’s face is a chilling reflection of the very real reality of child soldiers in other countries. Pierce also manages to create an inventive ending that warns of the dangers of acting too soon.
A zombie film with few walking corpses, and a story of warring factions that plays as more of a stalemate, Herd is a hard film to fully access. With so many unfinished pathways, Herd ultimately lacks a fully formed identity. The knock on effect is that the audience are disconnected from Pierce’s attempts at innovation and the overall feeling is that of a film that is simply fine when it could be much more.
Herd
Summary
Despite its best efforts, Herd unfortunately leaves the viewer wanting more thanks to a meandering plot with an unclear focus.
Herd was reviewed at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest 2023. A UK home entertainment release follows on 23rd October 2023 via High Fliers.
