This Is Not A Test (2026)
Official Synopsis
Sloane and a small group of classmates shelter inside their high school after a zombie outbreak consumes their hometown. Surrounded by people determined to survive, Sloane must decide whether she wants to keep fighting alongside them.
William’s Review
This Is Not a Test frustrated me more than a movie that was bad from the beginning would have. The opening is fast, brutal, and full of promise. The zombies move with the same aggressive energy that made 28 Days Later so effective, even though these are traditional bite-and-turn zombies. The first ten minutes made me think we were getting a tense survival movie with a strong young cast and plenty of action. Then the movie almost comes to a stop.
I understand what writer-director Adam MacDonald was trying to do. Instead of delivering nonstop zombie attacks, the story turns its attention toward the students trapped inside and how fear starts affecting the group. That can work. Some of the best zombie movies are really about what people do when society falls apart, but those stories need characters worth investing in. Outside of Sloane, I never felt like I knew enough about anyone.
The cast has plenty of familiar faces, including Olivia Holt, Froy Gutierrez, and Corteon Moore, and nobody feels like the problem. They just aren’t given enough to work with. The movie introduces conflict inside the school, brings in a questionable outsider, and starts suggesting that the survivors may be as dangerous as the zombies, but very little of it becomes engaging. It felt like the story kept setting up ideas without developing them.
Sloane does receive more attention than the others, and her situation gives the movie an emotional foundation. The problem is that the rest of the film doesn’t do enough to build around her. When the story reaches its bleak final stretch, it wants the emotional impact of something like The Mist, but it hasn’t earned that response. I understood what I was supposed to feel without actually feeling it.
There are still some good zombie moments, especially whenever the movie finally leaves the safety of the school. The creatures are fast, loud, and threatening, and I wish the film had maintained more of that early energy. Instead, it frontloads its best material and spends too much of the remaining runtime with characters who never become interesting enough to carry the quieter sections.
There’s a solid zombie movie buried inside This Is Not a Test. Unfortunately, the opening showed me that movie before the rest settled into something far less exciting.
I understand what writer-director Adam MacDonald was trying to do. Instead of delivering nonstop zombie attacks, the story turns its attention toward the students trapped inside and how fear starts affecting the group. That can work. Some of the best zombie movies are really about what people do when society falls apart, but those stories need characters worth investing in. Outside of Sloane, I never felt like I knew enough about anyone.
The cast has plenty of familiar faces, including Olivia Holt, Froy Gutierrez, and Corteon Moore, and nobody feels like the problem. They just aren’t given enough to work with. The movie introduces conflict inside the school, brings in a questionable outsider, and starts suggesting that the survivors may be as dangerous as the zombies, but very little of it becomes engaging. It felt like the story kept setting up ideas without developing them.
Sloane does receive more attention than the others, and her situation gives the movie an emotional foundation. The problem is that the rest of the film doesn’t do enough to build around her. When the story reaches its bleak final stretch, it wants the emotional impact of something like The Mist, but it hasn’t earned that response. I understood what I was supposed to feel without actually feeling it.
There are still some good zombie moments, especially whenever the movie finally leaves the safety of the school. The creatures are fast, loud, and threatening, and I wish the film had maintained more of that early energy. Instead, it frontloads its best material and spends too much of the remaining runtime with characters who never become interesting enough to carry the quieter sections.
There’s a solid zombie movie buried inside This Is Not a Test. Unfortunately, the opening showed me that movie before the rest settled into something far less exciting.
Amy’s Review
I was excited during the first ten minutes of This Is Not a Test. The zombie outbreak starts almost immediately, the zombies are fast, and everyone is running for their lives. I thought we were about to get a fun, intense zombie movie. Then they reached the high school, and I was bored.
The best way I can describe it is a boring version of The Breakfast Club with zombies outside. The movie gathers a group of teenagers in one place and tries to focus on their personalities and the problems developing between them, but I never felt like I knew most of these people. Sloane gets flashbacks and a real backstory, while everyone else feels like they are there because the movie needs a group.
I like several of the actors, which made the disappointment worse. Olivia Holt was great in Heart Eyes, Froy Gutierrez was in The Strangers: Chapter 1, and I love Corteon Moore in FROM. There’s talent here, but the characters aren’t interesting enough to keep the middle of the movie moving.
I also kept waiting for the zombies to become a bigger part of the story again. The school might as well have been Fort Knox because almost nothing could get inside. Apparently, fences confuse zombies. Once everyone reaches safety, the threat that made the opening so exciting mostly disappears, and the movie replaces it with arguing that didn’t make me care about anyone more.
The ending didn’t help. I won’t spoil what happens, but the movie becomes extremely bleak and expects the audience to feel something it hasn’t earned. I can handle a sad ending when the story builds to it. The Mist made me angry, but it also made me feel something. Here, I mostly felt disappointed because Sloane had already been put through so much and I wasn’t invested enough in the other relationships for the payoff to work. That’s what bothered me the most. This started with so much energy that I could see the movie I wanted it to become. Instead, all the excitement was packed into the beginning, followed by a long stretch that never found a replacement for it.
Watch the first ten minutes and you’ll see the strongest part. After that, I should’ve switched to one of my girly movies.
The best way I can describe it is a boring version of The Breakfast Club with zombies outside. The movie gathers a group of teenagers in one place and tries to focus on their personalities and the problems developing between them, but I never felt like I knew most of these people. Sloane gets flashbacks and a real backstory, while everyone else feels like they are there because the movie needs a group.
I like several of the actors, which made the disappointment worse. Olivia Holt was great in Heart Eyes, Froy Gutierrez was in The Strangers: Chapter 1, and I love Corteon Moore in FROM. There’s talent here, but the characters aren’t interesting enough to keep the middle of the movie moving.
I also kept waiting for the zombies to become a bigger part of the story again. The school might as well have been Fort Knox because almost nothing could get inside. Apparently, fences confuse zombies. Once everyone reaches safety, the threat that made the opening so exciting mostly disappears, and the movie replaces it with arguing that didn’t make me care about anyone more.
The ending didn’t help. I won’t spoil what happens, but the movie becomes extremely bleak and expects the audience to feel something it hasn’t earned. I can handle a sad ending when the story builds to it. The Mist made me angry, but it also made me feel something. Here, I mostly felt disappointed because Sloane had already been put through so much and I wasn’t invested enough in the other relationships for the payoff to work. That’s what bothered me the most. This started with so much energy that I could see the movie I wanted it to become. Instead, all the excitement was packed into the beginning, followed by a long stretch that never found a replacement for it.
Watch the first ten minutes and you’ll see the strongest part. After that, I should’ve switched to one of my girly movies.