Are there zombies in Army of Thieves?
When it was announced that Zack Snyder’s successor to his Dawn of the Dead remake would be heading to Netflix, fans were extremely excited. Though the 2004 film isn’t as good as George A. Romero’s original, it really does hold its own and is one of the filmmaker’s best movies to date.
Army of the Dead was released earlier this year, and unfortunately, it didn’t do too hot with critics. But despite pacing issues and poor dialogue, the film did meet expectations in one department — zombies and zombie kills.
And soon after Army of the Dead hit Netflix, spin-offs were announced. One of those would be a prequel film, also debuting on the streaming service, following fan-favorite character Ludwig Dieter (Matthias Schweighöfer), the safecracker.
Dieter’s solo film, Army of Thieves, just hit Netflix today, and it’s certainly worth a watch. However, it does have a different tone from Army of the Dead and unfortunately for those wanting something scary to watch in time for Halloween, it’s not a horror movie.
Minor spoilers ahead for Army of Thieves.
Unlike Army of the Dead, Army of Thieves is an action heist movie, not a horror-action heist movie. It even has some romance incorporated as well! Although it does have a TV-MA rating, it’s not because of any frightening images or gore from zombies.
Army of Thieves takes place in Germany, just as the zombie outbreak is starting in America. Because of this, Dieter (a.k.a. Sebastian Schlencht-Wöhnert) sees the action happening on the news, and he sees zombies in a couple of his nightmares. However, he never sees zombies in real life. The outbreak is barely even a subplot in the film.
Of course, Dieter does eventually travel to America and it’s there that he encounters zombies after he accepts the Las Vegas heist job. But none of that heist happens in Army of Thieves.
Although it’s unfortunate that this prequel doesn’t really feature zombies, it really is a fun and enjoyable watch. Schweighöfer is a fantastic lead as Dieter, whose charm and humor is not wasted in the film. I’d say Army of Thieves is better than Army of the Dead!
If you are looking for zombie movies and shows to watch on Netflix this weekend, check out The Walking Dead, Brand New Cherry Flavor, #Alive, or Day of the Dead: Bloodline.
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Both Army of the Dead and Army of Thieves are streaming on Netflix.
