Instapocalypse Short Film Review

The world we live in today is simply obsessed with likes, hashtags and breaking the mould to ultimately ‘go viral’. With the likes of Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram dominating our daily routines, the landscape of technology and the way in which we interact has forever changed. With that taken into account, talented Norwegian director Martin Sofiedal heads behind the camera once more and this time brings us his latest short film, Instapocalypse.

Instapocalypse sees our world ravaged by zombies, with our focus on two survivors looking to make their way through the dangerous terrain riddled with danger. Along the way, the pair come across a member of the undead who has an iPhone and consequently access to Instagram. With the pair obsessed with gaining access to the social media app and posting their own new photos, things spiral towards a confrontation and a possible fight to the death.

Taking a satirical approach to the idea of a zombie apocalypse and combining it with today’s attitude towards social media, director Sofiedal creates something quite inspired in his latest short, somewhat giving us a true-to-life snapshot of the world’s attitude to technological advancements. We all know that these days people simply cannot live without their phones and notably social media. You only have to roam the streets and take public transport to notice that the majority are fixated with their phones and the ability to communicate digitally.

One particular program of note is Instagram, allowing possibly the easiest of posting options in the form of images and videos, and with this well and truly in mind Sofiedal forges his rather humorous film. Determined to show just how ridiculous our fixation on Instagram has become, the director thrusts it into a world of life and death situation and still manages to hammer home that people are so obsessed with selfies and filters.

It plays out rather perfectly, the vain nature of the two characters and their obsessive desire to get one up over one another in search of popularity and likes is incredibly reminiscent of the times we live in and serve as the perfect message that phones and apps are indeed sapping away at life itself. The film adds that extra bit of hilarity in ensuring that the zombies themselves are even still adept to snapping some pictures of themselves and posting them on their very own accounts. Ridiculous in every way possible yet serving up plentiful laughs in its short runtime, Instapocalypse is relevant and to the point, and incredibly inspired.

Instapocalypse plays at Cinequest this month.