Unhuman is a 2022 Teen Horror film written by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton, and starring Brianne Tju, Benjamin Wadsworth, Ali Gallo, Uriah Shelton, Lo Graham, Drew Scheid and CJ Le Blanc. It's a Blumhouse Productions film that was created as an Epixnote Original and later released digitally by Paramount.
Ever (Tju) and Tamara (Gallo) have been friends since childhood, but have been growing apart. On a school field trip, they and several other teenagers are caught in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Holing themselves up in an abandoned art studio, the kids have to come to grips with an impending doom as well as the general insecurities and resentments that come with being in high school.
Tropes
- Boyish Short Hair: Ever's hair is cut shorter than any of the other girls' and even some of the guys'.
- Doing In the Wizard: There are no zombies. It’s drugs, very dangerous and volatile drugs.
- Drugs Are Bad: Very Bad Whatever Chip used on these kids is enough to make them seem like undead zombies with Tainted Veins, Ax-Crazy tendencies and extreme difficulty communicating.
- Expy Randall has shades of Billy Loomis a seeming Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold who is actually the mastermind of a dangerous plot manufacturing a horror scenario to make himself look like a hero and is willing to kill his classmates in order to keep the charade going.
- Fire-Forged Friends: All the kids, barring Randall and Steven, have formed a strong bond after the ordeal.
- Formerly Fat: Danny used to by heavier and it’s where his insecurities and assholery come from
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Randall, Steven, Wayne, and Chip all use being bullied as a motive drug, traumatize and ultimately attempt to murder a bunch of teenagers. Once the others learn what they are doing, all sympathy evaporates.
- Here We Go Again!: Randall and Steven are recruited to be the masterminds of a new "Scared Straight" program by the PTA after seeing how their plot inadvertently brought all the other students on the field trip together. That's sure to go smoothly for everyone!
- Her Codename Was Mary Sue: Randall and Steven painted a mural depicting themselves as badass heroes of the apocalypse with their respective crushes clinging to them as adoring damsels. They were smart enough to not show it to anyone else, but it being uncovered for everyone to see helps solidify their guilt.
- Jerk Jock: Danny and Hunt are typical bullies. However they are much better people than Randall and Steven.
- Not Quite Dead: After everyone boards the bus at the end, the supposed corpse of Mr. Lorenzo snaps awake, both revealing him to have survived and startling everyone in the process.
- The Reveal: There is no Zombie Apocalypse, the PSA on the bus was a recording and the “infected” were actually on incredibly volatile drugs. The whole thing was a plot by Randall and Steven to “scare the Jerk Jocks straight” and be the heroes so they could win over Tamara and Ever respectively. Their accomplices were the bus driver Wayne who hated Mr. Lorenzo for bullying him and drug dealer criminal named Chip.
- We Used to Be Friends: Ryan and Danny are revealed to have been friends before Danny lost weight and got popular. Ryan even laments that he Used to Be a Sweet Kid.
- Wham Shot: Ever finding the tape in the bus, revealing that the PSA announcement was fake.
