World War Z is the 36th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Ian Weinreich, Dan Murrell, Jason Pickar, and Andy Signore. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 2013 apocalyptic action horror film World War Z. It was published on September 17, 2013, to coincide with the film's release on home video and Blu-ray. It is 3 minutes 28 seconds long. It has been viewed over 13 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - World War Z on YouTube
"What a waste of good source material." ~ Honest Trailers - World War Z
Script[]
In a world where zombies have already infected every facet of pop culture comes another zombie movie, but this time, it's got Brad Pitt. World War Z.
Get ready for the big-screen adaptation of the bestselling novel that's got everything you loved about the title, and nothing else, a film with so many production problems, people were genuinely surprised when it wasn't a complete disaster.
Meet Gerry Lane. He's just your average everyday super-attractive, scarf-wearing, Spanish-speaking, airplane-piloting, sharpshooting, skull-bashing, armor-crafting, arm-chopping, prisoner-interrogating, surgery-doing, slo mo vision-having, antidote-making, eagle-eyed stay-at-home dad. (Constance: All you do is make pancakes in the morning./Gerry: Yeah, but I'm really good at it.)
Travel the globe with Brad Pitt and the film's screenwriters as they stumble from set piece to set piece, tied together by the flimsiest evidence ever.
Gerry: There was a memo sent from this installation. It had the word 'zombie' in it. Do you know anything about it?
Soldier: It was an email, not a memo.
Come on!
Watch Brad Pitt survive an unsurvivable apocalypse thanks to a constant string of life-saving coincidences, like never hitting traffic in the middle of mass hysteria; finding an RV with the keys and a loaded gun inside; this friendly mugger showing him where to find medicine; this friendly Mexican family taking him in, no questions asked; these fast zombies who slow down as soon as they're about to catch him; this small child head-shotting a zombie on top of him; this plane dropping a ladder down to save him mid-takeoff; this Israeli soldier killing a zombie about to eat him; surviving this car crash; surviving this plane crash; surviving this spike through his stomach; and shooting up with a randomly-picked virus that happens to be curable while also serving as zombie camouflage. (shows a sniper) Wait, is that Matthew Fox?
So get ready for a by-the-numbers action movie full of PG-13 violence and none of these awesome things from the book (list appears as scrolling text):
Lobos
Phalanx
Quislings
The Celebrity House
Underwater Zombies
The Redeker Plan
Cuba
Iron Maiden
Alpha Teams
Anti-Zombie Wiener Dogs
Decimations Policy
Resource-to-Kill Ratio
Todd Waino
Shield Society
Castles
Hi-Tech Laser Weapons
Roy Elliott
Fire of the Gods
Doomsday Cults
Battle of Yonkers
Battle of Hope
Battle of the Five Colleges
Intelligent Socio-Political Commentary
Anything But Brad Pitt
Man, what a waste of good source material.
Starring These Zombie Movie Cliches: Dead Car Batteries, Flickering Lights, Shaky Cam, Jump Scares, Zombies Banging on Doors, A Kid With Asthma, Accidental Noises, and Obligatory Inception Bwaas.
The honest title for World War Z was "Brad Pitt Zombie Movie."
Brad Pitt Zombie Movie
Man, all those reshoots must've cost a fortune. How'd they pay for that? (shows Gerry drinking a Pepsi from a vending machine) Man, that really makes me want a Coke.
Trivia[]
- Screen Junkies have produced Honest Trailers for the zombie TV show The Walking Dead Seasons 1-3 and The Walking Dead Seasons 4-6
- An Honest Trailer Commentary for this episode was recorded and was available on the Screen Junkies Plus until the website/app was discontinued. Screen Junkies don't currently have any way of releasing the video.
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - World War Z has a 98.1% approval rating from YouTube. Many media sites commented on the tone of the Honest Trailer. The Hollywood Reporter described the video as "the kind of cruel-but-fair take on the movie that you'd expect from Honest Trailers, including lists of cliches and coincidences from the movie that just might make you realize that the movie wasn't as good as you thought it was when you saw it the first time." JOE wrote that this Honest Trailer was "especially good" and wrote that "every little cliche, mistake and obvious plot hole gets pulled apart here." In the same article, JOE also noted the Honest Trailer is "a little unfair on what wasn't the worst film in the world, but if you have seen it, it will definitely raise a smile or two."
Slash Film wrote that this Honest Trailer "might be the funniest yet. It makes light of the fact the film used so little of the source material, and included a ton of cliches, but still acknowledges that people liked it and the movie performed well." Slash Film also used this Honest Trailer to compare the different takes of Screen Junkies and the different channel CinemaSins, writing:
While many people despise the CinemaSins “Everything Wrong With” videos for being overly nit-picky and mean, it’s damn near impossible to argue with the Screen Junkies “Honest Trailers.” These serve a similar function, making fun of a well-known movie by pointing out its flaws. The tone is lighter and observations smarter, making the videos funnier and more, well, honest. (Germain Lussier, September 18, 2013, Slash Film)
Production credits[]
Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - World War Z
Directed by Andy Signore
Executive Producer Mitch Rotter
Series Created by Andy Signore & Brett Weiner
Episode Written by Spencer Gilbert, Ian Weinreich, Dan Murrell, Jason Pickar, and Andy Signore
Edited by Dan Murrell
Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey
External links[]
- The Honest Trailer for World War Z has a lot to work with - io9 article
- Video: The Honest Trailer folks tackle Brad Pitt's World War Z - JOE article
- An Honest Trailer For Brad Pitt's Zombie Movie 'World War Z' (VIDEO) - Huffington Post article
- 'World War Z' Gets More Honest - The Hollywood Reporter article
- Honest Trailer For ‘World War Z’ Plus Marc Forster Discusses Original Ending - Slash Film article
- Honest Trailer Nails 'World War Z' - Nerd Bastards article
- World War Z: Honest Trailer - Geek Tyrant article