Haiti, 1962. A man is brought back from the dead only to be sent to the living hell of the sugarcane fields. In Paris, 55 years later, at a prestigious all-girls boarding school, Melissa, a young Haitian teenager, confesses an old family secret to a group of new friends - never imagining that this strange tale will convince a heartbroken classmate to do the unthinkable. As director Bertrand Bonello (NOCTURAMA, SAINT LAURENT) moves fluidly between 1962 Haiti and contemporary Paris, these two disparate strands ultimately come together in a film that evokes Jacques Tourneur more than George Romero, and feverishly dissolves boundaries of time and space as it questions colonialist mythmaking.

“A political horror film that bundles the sins of colonialism with those of mischievous boarding-school girls. Alternating between a fact-based case of zombieism in 1962 Haiti and a clique of privileged students in contemporary France, the film brings the legacy of Haitian suffering and hardship to the doorstep of a Legion of Honor school with ties to the Napoleonic age.” —Scott Tobias, Variety

“Intriguing and rather beautifully realized…Bonello’s exquisite use of craft and a strong electro-rock score, is definitely a plus, creating an ambiance that bewitchingly accompanies the action.” —Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter

“Mixing political commentary, ethnography, teenage melodrama and genre horror, the film is an unashamedly cerebral study of multiple themes—colonialism, revolution, liberalism, racial difference and female desire—with its unconventional narrative structure taking us a journey that’s as intellectually demanding as it is compelling.” —Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily

“Meritoriously wields slow-burn for an electrifying payoff…. ZOMBI CHILD marches to an innocuous and bone-chilling beat before unfurling its tapestry of the sacred, absurd, and tragic.” —Caroline Cao, slashfilm.com

“It is less a straightforward horror film than a supremely disquieting drama, in which two not-obviously intertwined stories draw tinglingly closer together, like fingers running along your spine from opposite ends.” —Robbie Collin, Telegraph

The Belcourt Theatre does not provide advisories about subject matter or potential triggering content, as sensitivities vary from person to person.

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