20 Most Disappointing Horror Movies of the 2020s (So Far)
9. Army of the Dead
Zack Snyder may be as aggressively inconsistent as filmmakers come, but it was tough not to be intrigued by his 2021 zombie heist film Army of the Dead.
Beyond the inspired idea of setting a casino heist in a post-apocalyptic, undead-infested landscape Las Vegas, Snyder's previous foray into the zombie genre - his 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead - bore surprisingly ripe fruit.
And while Army of the Dead gets some brownie points for its shamelessly maximalist approach to basically everything, as well as its game ensemble cast and buckets of gore, it's also proof of what havoc can occur when a streaming service gives a filmmaker carte blanche to do whatever they want.
For one, at 148 minutes in length it's too long by a solid half-hour, blatantly bogged down in excess subplots and characters as it is.
It's also a visual mess, Snyder deciding to shoot the film wide-open with a razor-thin focal plane, ensuring even his actors' faces struggle to remain in focus.
All in all, it's a big, loud, messy waste of a genuinely fantastic idea.