The Canary Islands are holding. Behind fences and checkpoints, the last organised corner of Europe is still standing, but the food is running out, and the only place left to find more is a mainland that belongs to the infected. So a squad of soldiers climbs aboard a ship, and a young man with something to prove goes with them.
That is the set-up for Apocalypse Z: New World, the Spanish zombie sequel that arrived on Prime Video on Friday 30 October, just in time for Halloween. It is bigger, louder and more expensive-looking than the first film, and the hordes are genuinely impressive. What it gains in scale, though, it loses in heart.
Apocalypse Z: New World swaps the lonely road trip of the first film for a full military operation, and the zombies are almost the least of its problems.
Movie at a Glance
- UK availability: Streaming on Prime Video from Friday 30 October 2026
- US availability: Streaming on Prime Video worldwide from 30 October 2026
- Original title: Apocalipsis Z: Un nuevo mundo (Spanish, with subtitles and dubbing)
- Director: Carles Torrens
- Writer: Ángel Agudo, from the novels by Manel Loureiro
- Starring: Carlos Alcaide, Berta Vázquez, José María Yazpik and Mónica López
- Runtime: 98 minutes
- Genre: Zombie survival action horror
Viewer Match
- Best for: Fans of the first film, and anyone who likes their zombies in big, fast-moving crowds.
- Maybe skip if: You loved the intimate, one-man-and-his-cat feel of The Beginning of the End, or military action leaves you cold.
- Mood and pace: Grim, noisy and brisk, closer to a war film than a horror film for long stretches.
- Cinema or streaming? A Prime Video night in. You don’t need to have seen the first film to follow it.
- Spoiler level: Spoiler-free: we say nothing about what the mission finds.
From One Man’s Escape to a Whole Army
The 2024 original, Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End, became one of Prime Video’s most-watched non-English films by keeping things small: a grieving lawyer, his cat and a long, frightening journey south. Carles Torrens returns as director, with Ángel Agudo again adapting Manel Loureiro’s books, and this time they go wide. The second novel becomes an ensemble story about soldiers, survivors and the politics of a refuge that is starting to crack.
The idea is a good one. Agudo’s script loosely reworks the book with today’s anxieties in mind, from the memory of lockdown to the arrival of people seeking safety on the islands, and there is a sharp moment or two about who gets to be protected and who gets left outside the fence. It is a pity the film rarely slows down long enough to dig into it.
Hordes, Drones and a Bullring
Where New World earns its budget is in the action. Torrens stages his infected in huge, surging numbers, and the practical make-up and crowd work are a real step up from the first film. Two set pieces stand out: a tense stretch inside a military base, and a long, chaotic sequence in an abandoned bullring that is the closest the film comes to a proper horror showstopper. The aerial photography, much of it from drones, gives the empty Spanish towns a haunting scale.
The trouble is that, after a while, the zombies become just another obstacle on the route, like a locked gate or a broken-down truck. The film is so busy moving its soldiers from one firefight to the next that the dread drains away, and the shocks start to feel routine.
A Hero You Are Not Sure You Like
Carlos Alcaide carries the film as Roberto, the son of a politician blamed for the disaster, who joins the mission for reasons he keeps to himself. Alcaide is a strong, watchful presence, and he is at his best in the quieter scenes, where Roberto’s wide-eyed fear says more than the dialogue. But the script keeps him at arm’s length for so long that it is hard to root for him. Returning favourites José María Yazpik and Berta Vázquez bring some welcome warmth and a link to the first film, though they have less to do than fans might hope, and a busy squad of new characters rarely gets beyond a name and a gun.
At around an hour and a half, it at least never outstays its welcome, and the ending clearly points towards a final chapter that could bring back the character-driven storytelling the first film did so well.
Spoiler-Free Verdict
Apocalypse Z: New World is a slick, well-made zombie action film with impressive hordes and a couple of standout set pieces, but it trades the first film’s emotional pull for a familiar military mission and never quite gets it back.
- Performances: 6.5/10
- Direction: 6.5/10
- Screenplay: 5/10
- Score: 6.5/10
- Cinematography: 7/10
- Entertainment Value: 6/10
- Overall score: 6/10
Star rating: 3/5
Verdict badge: Stream It
One-line verdict: Bigger hordes, smaller heart: a solid Halloween-weekend stream that plays more like a war film than a horror film.
Watch the Official Trailer
See the survivors head back to the mainland in the official trailer.
Planning the rest of the week? Our Weekly Streaming Highlights has everything else arriving on the big platforms.
Do you prefer your zombie stories small and personal, or big and full of soldiers? Share your spoiler-free reaction to Apocalypse Z: New World.