The Infects

A feast for the brain, this gory and genuinely hilarious take on zombie culture simultaneously skewers, pays tribute to, and elevates the horror genre. Seventeen-year-old Nero is stuck in the wilderness with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents on an "Inward Trek." As if that werent bad enough, his counselors have turned into flesh-eating maniacs overnight and are now chowing down on his fellow miscreants. As in any classic monster flick worth its salted popcorn, plentiful carnage sends survivors rabbiting into the woods while the mindless horde of "infects" shambles, moans, and drools behind. Of course, these kids have seen zombie movies. They generate "Zombie Rules" almost as quickly as cheeky remarks, but attitude alone cant keep the biters back. Serving up a cast of irreverent, slightly twisted characters, an unexpected villain, and an ending you wont see coming, here is a savvy tale that thats a delight to read whether youre a rabid zombie fan or freshly bitten and an incisive commentary on the evil that lurks within each of us.