All the info about This is Not a Test: Poster, trailer, cast list and more
- Carla Davis
- 55 minutes ago
- 2 min read
When Courtney Summers’ young adult novel This is Not a Test was first published in 2012, it got a lot of critical praise. In fact, Publishers Weekly described it as “The Breakfast Club meets George Romero.” It even received a sequel novella called Please Remain Calm.
Now This is Not a Test has been adapted to film, and I have to say, it looks pretty damned good! The story (at least in the novel) is seen through the eyes of a high school student named Sloane, who has basically given up on life. She and her sister have been abused by their father since their mother passed away, and Sloane often has suicidal thoughts.
Sloane and five other students are trapped in their high school with zombies raging outside, and her friends start to cave under the stress, becoming violent. As the danger becomes more prominent, “Sloane begins to see the world through the eyes of people who actually want to live and takes matters into her own hands.”
I’m a sucker for a zombie movie or series, and I really enjoyed the Korean series All of Us Are Dead, which was also set at a high school during a zombie invasion. The trailer for This is Not a Test shows a lot of blood and action, but it also shows scenes of the friends talking and confiding in one another, which leads me to believe it will be one of my favorite types of horror films: emotional horror. I love these movies, because they make you feel more invested; let’s face it, if you care about the characters, you want them to survive, and it hurts when they don’t.
This is Not a Test stars Olivia Holt (so good in Heart Eyes) as Sloane. It also features Froy Gutierrez (The Strangers: Chapter 1), Carson MacCormac (Clown in a Cornfield), Corteon Moore (From), Chloe Avakian (Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy), Joelle Farrow (Here for Blood), and Luke MacFarlane (Bros).
It was written and directed by Adam MacDonald, who horror fans will know from Pyewacket and Out Come the Wolves.
When does This is Not a Test release in theatres?
This is Not a Test will make its theatrical debut on February 20. Since it is an IFC / Shudder film, we can most likely expect it to stream on Shudder later this year.