15 Things We Learned from the ‘Anna and the Apocalypse’ Commentary

Anna and the Apocalypse held its world premiere at Fantastic Fest in 2017, and it immediately made its mark as a rather unique piece of entertainment.

A Scottish horror/comedy – a zom-com, to be more specific – that’s also a musical and a coming-of-age tale? A difficult combination in the wrong hands, but the filmmakers were able to shape it into something special that holds up years later and after numerous rewatches.

Now keep reading to see what I heard on the commentary for…

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Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

Commentators: John McPhail (director), Alan McDonald (co-writer), Roddy Hart (co-composer), Tommy Reilly (co-composer)

1. The opening song over the credits is “Christmas Means Nothing Without You,” and while it’s meant to be a recognizable hit, the song was actually written and recorded for the film. They couldn’t afford to snag an existing song.

2. The film was originally meant to open with a musical number featuring all the extras who we otherwise first meet after they’ve become zombies. It was going to follow them through town, singing and dancing, but they weren’t able to do it due to increasingly terrible weather. The song would have been “What a Time to Be Alive.”

3. McDonald was a school teacher before being able to write full-time, and he was thrilled with the look of the building they used for the school here as it reminded him of the one he previously taught at.

4. Co-writer Ryan McHenry is credited with conceiving the story for the film – he reportedly was watching High School Musical with his girlfriend and recalled wishing that Zac Efron would start eating someone’s brains – and even made a short film of the idea that eventually became this movie. He tragically passed away from cancer before the film was made.