WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Season 2 of Black Summer, now streaming on Netflix.
The zombie genre has showcased varying degrees of action sequences over the decades. It's evolved from slapstick horror in Night of the Living Dead to slow-burn, dramatic choreography in The Walking Dead, with 28 Days Later and Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead and Army of the Dead adding a new level of explosive intensity. However, when it comes to the best in the genre, that title goes to Netflix's Black Summer.
Season 1 was impressive, with people turning into fast-paced, undead linebackers in seconds. Killing the creatures required straight shots to the head, giving fans a violent, rabid and creepy essence a la World War Z. Season 2 kicks it up a notch as the series focuses a lot more on one-shot sequences.
The first comes when Lance is shot and killed by a carjacker in the premiere, resulting in him chasing the thief. Zombie Lance jumps onto the car and hangs on for a while, viciously trying to get in through the sunroof. The drone shots, side-by-sides and the overall cinematography are so dynamic, it puts the audience right next to the driver, moving around the vehicle to see the gentle giant turned into a monster.
Even the POV of the crash and Lance being tossed off feels so different to what other movies offer, all complemented by the shaky-cam style of Lance in pursuit or the bandit fleeing. It inspires an epic sequence later as Rose and Anna flee from zombies in the snow. Black Summer simply doesn't waste any dead space, evidenced by Spears also fighting through a zombie-filled cabin as he stumbles upon a cult.
However, Black Summer saves its best action sequences for later. Mance flees from zombies at a hangar as the heroes try to get into a plane. About a dozen chase him as he distracts them for the humans to escape, turning into an intense parkour session. The confined spaces of the airstrip -- the dilapidated hangars, beams and broken fences -- add a claustrophobic feel to the story, making it seem like the zombies are coming through the TV.
Audiences can hear them breathing, clawing and gnawing with Mance barely escaping at each corner, turning into nooks and crannies, using random things to kill them just when it seems he's hit a dead end. It doesn't feel cheap, gimmicky or soulless like how many run-of-the-mill zombie movies chart their action scenes. While the constant movement may elicit motion sickness, these scary moments are needled down with such precision and emotion -- whether it's the grand scope seen overhead or a compact spot where a zombie's inches away from a hero's face -- that Black Summer ends up cultivating a fear factor that's really second to none.
Witness Black Sumer's gory action in Season 2, now available on Netflix.