Written by: Ryan Dailey
The name James Gunn is synonymous with Films such as Slither, The Suicide Squad and The Guardians of The Galaxy trilogy. To a certain sect of the horror nation, their first exposure to Gunn was probably 2012’s Lollipop Chainsaw, which 2024’s RePop is a remaster of.
The Gunn penned video game follows Juliet Starling on her eighteenth birthday as she makes her way to her school, which has been overrun by zombies. Luckily for her classmates and the world, Juliet and her family are a clan of experienced hunters that strike down all things that go bump in the night.
The developers of this game took a huge gamble releasing this in today’s social climate. The protagonist, Juliet Starling, is everything “modern audiences” hate. She is bubbly, attractive and not afraid to dress scantily. The game is full of innuendo and buckets of gore, so much so that other “reviewers” refuse to give the game the time of day. Some outlets even go so far as to claim they reviewed the game in 2012 and another playthrough is pointless. The same website that reviewed the original The Last of Us, The Last of Us remastered on PS4 and The remastered version for the PS5. Yes. Three reviews for essentially the same game.
Lollipop Chainsaw harkens back to the XBox 360 and PS3 days of gaming, days when the girls were sexy,the men were masculine ass kickers and entertainment did not care about your feelings.
Fans of early 2000’s zombie movies and Buffy: The Vampire Slayer will love this game. Gamers that miss the days of mindless, tongue in cheek violence and grinding for new outfits and weapon skins, as opposed to breaking out the debit card and buying their way through the unlockables.
The price point is not terrible, retailing for 45 dollars, completely worth it and worth even more if this is the player’s first romp through Juliet’s zombie infested hometown of San Romero. Speaking of zombies, the zombies in the game are creative and different from anything the horror nation has seen in the zombie genre. The ghouls have personality, some derived from high school tropes, others are pulled straight from exploitation films of the 1970’s. The game is by no means lengthy, but the ride, albeit short, is worth the price of admission. The original game is considered a cult classic,and this remaster will bring more followers of Juliet into the fold.Lollipop Chainsaw RePop is available on Steam, the XBOX and Playstation platforms as well as the Switch.