Jamie Bernadette finds herself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse in this very tense thriller written and directed by Jim Towns.

It has been sometime since a pandemic turned Los Angeles into a zombie apocalypse. In the midst of the chaos, ex-military officer Freddie has been vowing to destroy all zombies in his way as a means to relieve the pain he suffered since losing his daughter to the virus. During his excursion, he meets Claire, a young, privileged suburbanite who is under constant attack from a band of troublemakers, after she is nearly attacked by a zombie.

Desperate to survive, Freddie offers Claire a chance to go with him. As the two traverse to reach the quarantine zone perimeter, they find trouble in all directions. It’s not just zombies, but bandits who are also survivors who will do anything to do what they can to survive.  Freddie teaches Claire the necessary skills needed in case something should happen to him. When they reach a possible safe haven, Freddie suspects it’s not all it seems to be, but Claire is determined to stay. What will happen if this safe haven isn’t what it seems?

It seems like the zombie apocalypse genre is here to stay, especially thanks to the hit HBO series The last of Us, based on the video game series. This film, written and directed by Jim Towns, is quite a meshing of zombie apocalypse film and mismatched buddy action film. The story of a suburbanite and a ex-soldier traversing through an infested city is only driven by the performances of the two leads, Jamie Bernadette and Craig Stark.

Bernadette has proven to be the super tough final girl of the horror genre and as of late, she has proven to play more vulnerable characters who attempt to rise above, especially with The Furnace and now, this film. We get to see her character of Claire her play the victim and slowly undergoing training from Stark’s Freddie, who uses a big knife to take on the zombies and a gun to anyone else who stand in his way. There is a great scene where the duo run into a group of survivors led by Dan Buran’s Ciro with the film reuniting Bernadette with the excellent Maria Olsen, with the two appearing as heroine and villain in I Spit on Your Grave: Déjà Vu in 2019.

The very intricate twist of the film comes in the form of “The Garden”, a safe haven led by the hippie-like Hayden, played by Kaiwi Lymon. He charms his way to gain a group of followers. Two of these fellow survivors include Tina, by Dominique Swain, and Deirdre, played by Sadie Katz. It is clear Freddie has his suspicions right away as they are first tested in a military style manner before being embraced into the sanctuary. This leads to a shocking twist that is quite jaw-dropping because what happens brings both a sense of predictability and well, not so much predictable as this brings out some amazing performances for the actors involved in this turning point.

End Times is a great meshing of zombie apocalypse and buddy action film with excellent driven performances by stars Jamie Bernadette and Craig Stark. Jim Towns really delves us for a near 2-hour excursion into an infested world with some great supporting characters who somehow make an impact…and we’re not talking about the zombies so much.

WFG RATING: A-

The Asylum presents a Shadow Kamera Film and Entertainment production. Director: Jim Towns. Producers: Jamie Bernadette, Jim Towns, and Craig Stark. Writer: Jim Towns. Cinematography: Ray Karwel. Editing: Chris Villa.

Cast: Jamie Bernadette, Craig Stark, Kaiwi Lymon, Dominique Swain, Sadie Katz, Daniel Buran, Maria Olsen, Jessica Morris.

The film will hit select theaters and VOD on July 14.