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229- Film Review: A44 (2025)
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It's top of Google (when you search for "vegan film released 2025") but what do Ant, Shane & Mark think of Vegan Zombie's...vegan zombie film?! The first twenty minutes or so is spoiler free, but do listen out for when we start to reveal plot points that aren't covered in the trailer.
For more about the movie & to watch, visit https://www.a44movie.com/
To see the trailer, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7IjH3H_EDQ
And for more of Vegan Zombie's youtube content, visit https://www.youtube.com/c/TheVeganZombie
As ever, we love hearing your views on the topics under discussion (or anything else!) so do drop us your thoughts via enoughofthefalafel@gmail.com
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Enough of the Falafel is a community of people who love keeping on top of the latest news in the world of veganism & animal rights. With the Vegan Talk podcast, we aim to develop listeners' (& our own) thoughts around key issues affecting veganism & the animal rights movement; giving our opinions, whilst staying balanced; remaining true to our vegan ethics, whilst constantly seeking to grow & develop.
Each week we home in on one topic in particular and pick it apart in more detail. If you have a suggestion for a future show, do get in touch via enoughofthefalafel@gmail.com.
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Thanks everyone for listening; give us a rating and drop us a message to say "hi"; it'll make our day!
Mark, Shane & Anthony
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Transcript
Introduction to Vegan Talk and Film A44
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello everybody, it's top of the list when you google vegan film release 2025, but does the feature film A44 feature as one of our favourite vegan movies?
00:00:11
Speaker
I'm Mark, and for this episode of Vegan Talk, I'm also joined by Shane and Anthony. So I think vegans go looking for trouble, even when they're not looking for trouble. That's not what butter's used for!
00:00:21
Speaker
Brrrr! protein take your lab grown meat elsewhere we're not doing that in the state of florida about your protein and what about your iron levels should i call the media and say hi sorry they're arguing like oh poor woe is me oh no hang on a minute you always pick the
00:00:44
Speaker
social injustice has connection another. That's just what people think vegans eat anyway. As long as you didn't get the wee brunions with the horns you'll be alright. Does veganism give him superpowers?
00:00:59
Speaker
I cannot fly around the city. I don't have laser vision. Hello, everyone. This is Shane. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Vegan Talk, and thank you for being here. Indeed, indeed. Hello, everyone. Anthony here.
00:01:12
Speaker
ah So this might be the first Vegan Talk episode you've ever listened to, in which case I'll tell you what it is. So in this show, we're just going to pick one thing. and talk about it in some depth.
00:01:23
Speaker
We do other shows, they're called Vegan Week, and that's where we focus on the news, but these ones, they're more timeless, I suppose, and the great news about that is that we've got over 100 other Vegan Talk episodes, so wherever you're listening to this podcast,
00:01:39
Speaker
go into your feed, scroll back, and you'll see loads more. They've got yellow background, black text, they're all vegan talk ones, and you can listen to them anytime you like.
Hosts' Backgrounds and Film Viewing
00:01:49
Speaker
So today we're going to be ah reviewing the movie A44. Ant and Shane have watched it. I have not seen it. I couldn't access it here down in far away New Zealand for some reason.
00:02:00
Speaker
So I'm going to be asking the questions. I have seen a trailer of A44, which is available on YouTube generically. And it was a two minute trailer. ah Horror movies aren't my genre particularly, but I found it quite amusing and a very good take on and the the horror genre. I mean, animal agriculture and animal abuse is rife with horror.
00:02:21
Speaker
So it's it's a very good subject matter. The trailer I saw, right? So there was the esteemed, but what's that doctor's name? the ed Is it Dr. Gregor? Dr. Gregor. Michael Gregor, yeah.
00:02:32
Speaker
Dr. Michael Gregor, How Not to Die and all that. and So he's in
Plot Description of A44
00:02:36
Speaker
it. It seems to be about a bug that infests meat. And when people eat eat burgers and and other animal products and so on, they turn into zombies. And presumably from there, the only people who are unaffected are the vegans in the community.
00:02:52
Speaker
And there is an outbreak of this bug in this town somewhere ah in the United States. And most of the people turn into zombies. And the only people that aren't zombies are the ah vegans in the in the area.
00:03:06
Speaker
And that's as much as I could glean from the trailer. It looked funny. It looked very well done. I know it's a low budget movie. It wasn't on general release. This isn't Steven Spielberg or anything like that. It was done as ah as a passion project, I think. But it it looked to be very well in terms of the techniques and the appearance and all the rest of it. It seemed to be very well realized and very amusing.
00:03:30
Speaker
and also with a cutting edge point to make as well. So Shane, did did you, had you, so it it was made by a YouTuber, at a vegan personality called the the Vegan Zombie.
00:03:41
Speaker
Have you, had you heard of this guy before? Yeah, i had heard of him before. I've watched one or two of his cooking videos. And he I think he's known for having a cookbook. And I think he also does like little reviews. He'll go to the store and say, oh, what can you buy at this store that's vegan? Or, oh, I went to this restaurant or I went to Las Vegas. What did I eat that was vegan?
00:04:00
Speaker
And his real name is Chris Cooney. so ah So I knew of him. i don't I don't necessarily follow him. But yeah, I knew of him. I mean, that just in terms of the number of subscribers that he has, I i had an acquaintance who had a YouTube channel that that made money and to to the point that this this guy was wondering whether to leave his reasonably well-paid job to be a full-time YouTuber.
00:04:23
Speaker
And he didn't have 10% of the subscribers that the vegan zombie has. So I'm assuming that he's he's able to earn a living from this.
00:04:34
Speaker
That's an assumption. how many How many does the vegan zombie have? 173,000 subscribers at the moment. i't I don't know whether that's gone up since the film. i I don't think so.
00:04:45
Speaker
and That's a little spoiler as to what I thought. um But um yeah, so it's, I mean, that the chance of him grossing some money from advertising from his videos, like I think is almost certain.
00:04:56
Speaker
so So this is the Vegans On Me's first movie, is it? yeah Yeah, yeah. Like like um Shane says, he's done lots, lots of YouTube videos going back over a decade and then you know they're well watched and well liked.
00:05:13
Speaker
But yeah, in terms of feature films, this is a passion project that is his first and to date only movie. So Shane, what what's ah can you can you give us a synopsis of A44? Yeah.
00:05:25
Speaker
So basically, the movie opens in a small town in America. um I believe it was actually filmed in Syracuse, New York, which is where the vegan zombie lives. The main character is Harley.
00:05:36
Speaker
He lives with his mom and his dog, Indy. And Harley is very worried about his mom's health. I think she seemed like she maybe had some heart issues. And he's encouraging her to eat better eat He's putting out a lot of vegan options for her to eat instead of, I guess, what her normal breakfast is.
00:05:52
Speaker
She keeps telling him, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. You go live your life. And so he goes off to, i think it's college. It looked like a high school, but he's has to it has to be college. And interspersed with this, we see different news reports of that there is an illness that's been going around. And it's a strange new thing. And and it's it's something that you know if you're not feeling well, stay home.
00:06:16
Speaker
So when a anyway, Harley goes to school and I think he's in his biology class and he has Dr. Michael Greger as his professor and he's going on about like cell mutations or something like that.
00:06:27
Speaker
But in the meantime, this is in the trailer as well. I'm not spoiling anything. In the meantime, he's he probably looks out the window and he sees some guy kind of stumbling around sort of strangely. And, you know, so this is our clue again, something something's going on.
00:06:40
Speaker
The mom, Harley's mom, has had some kind of medical issue. She drives herself to the hospital. I don't know why she does that, why she doesn't get somebody to take her. But anyway, she drives herself to the hospital. And um some things are kind of strange at the hospital as well. People are not feeling well.
00:06:55
Speaker
Harley gets out of class. He's with his friend Nick in the car. Their asshole friend Drew also gets in the car. And they start talking to some girls. And Drew kind of forces them to go to this diner to meet up with these girls.
00:07:09
Speaker
Harley doesn't want to go to the diner because Harley is a vegan and there's nothing at this diner for Harley to eat. But anyway, they sit down, they go to the diner, they're eating. And when they leave the diner is when, when the action really starts to happen. Because at this point in the day, more and more people are starting to suffer from this strange illness. And Harley and his friend Nick go to a grocery store where they,
00:07:32
Speaker
buy lots of vegan food and... um Some great product placement there. I mean... Honestly, you wondered if there was money from product placement at the way that they did this because I was like, oh, I know that product. I know that product. But anyway, he buys the food and they get attacked by the the store employee who's who's turned into a zombie.
00:07:53
Speaker
Meanwhile, the girls in the parking lot of the diner, they're trying to leave and they get attacked by a zombie in the parking lot. So that's that's kind of how this story gets started. And then the people who survived that initial attack, they go on to try to kind of find out why this is happening in their town, what's causing it and how they can survive it.
00:08:12
Speaker
That's the basic plot. okay Yeah. And I appreciate, Shane, you're sort of saying these plot points without necessarily saying much more than the trailer itself has done.
00:08:25
Speaker
And i think, like, let's try and keep that up as much as we can. But if we have to spoil some sort of ultimate plot points, then listeners, you have been warned from
Mixed Reviews and Criticisms
00:08:34
Speaker
from now on, we might go there.
00:08:36
Speaker
But we'll we'll perhaps try to avoid it if we can. I had a look on Rotten Tomatoes because it's it's on there and the and the reviews vary wildly. ah I can't think why. so Anthony, any any feelings about the film?
00:08:51
Speaker
Oh gosh, Mark, I have so many feelings about the film. So, so many. and And they're evolving all the time. they revol When I was watching the film, my feelings were pretty unilateral. I had one feeling, which I'll get to. But yeah, I want to say before I give my opinion, i've I've set up a vegan restaurant, a vegan cafe, and one of the hardest things about that when I was running those businesses was the fact that every man and his dog will pass judgment on your efforts.
00:09:24
Speaker
And, you know, very often when we do these passion projects or we do these big things, like it's involved huge amounts of money, time, blood, sweat and tears and all the rest of it. And just having some dispassionate knobhead walk past and go, um I don't think much to your burger or whatever.
00:09:41
Speaker
ah Most of the time, my human response to that was like, what? you like what ah what right do you have to to do that and unfortunately that's the world we live in when you put something out there anyone can can judge it um and from what i can see vegan zombie has done a great service to the animals in all of his youtube videos i think that's absolutely fantastic and they surely are his well currently have he stopped doing any work for the animals now That would be his legacy. That would be his big impact. And like Shane says, he does lots of useful stuff in terms of cooking, shopping, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:10:19
Speaker
Brilliant. Fantastic. Well done you. You can see what I'm avoiding talking about, can't you? But you asked the question, Mark. Anthony, you have to stop being so British you're going to have to say something negative now.
00:10:33
Speaker
um i'm um i'm gonna give one of the caveat i've never watched a full zombie film start to finish before i've watched horror i've watched apocalyptic films enjoyed them you know yeah i did not think this was a good film and i don't think it put veganism in a good light because i think the main character who's clearly the main character, who is the guy who's whose film it is.
00:11:01
Speaker
He's not a likable character, in my opinion. He's miserable. And he's supposed to be in college and he's like 49. He's older than his mum.
00:11:11
Speaker
Like, that's that's the biggest health worry I've got for his mum, is like giving birth to a child that's older than you. Yeah, that there were so, so, so many holes in so many parts of the film in terms of the writing, in terms of the acting.
00:11:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's low budget. That's fine. You can still do a decent job. I watched it with my wife. i I didn't make her, but I said, well, do you want to? Come on, this is what I'm doing for the night. do you want to join me?
00:11:39
Speaker
And at the end of it, I used to be a school teacher. And I said, if that was put on by a group of year sevens, so that's like 12 years old, I would have said to them, well, well done, guys. You've done your first film.
00:11:52
Speaker
Would you like me to teach you some basic ways that you could actually do ah you know a slightly better job at this? Because, yeah, it's not think something you'd watch for the production value or the or the storytelling or what have you.
00:12:04
Speaker
And I realize I'm repeating myself, but I don't think veganism comes out of it very good at all. I didn't find anything compelling. I didn't think many people would.
00:12:16
Speaker
I think perhaps the people that it might appeal to would be vegans who like zombie films. And if that's the only target audience, then great.
00:12:27
Speaker
Because I mean, he's called, you know, his and his YouTube handle is The Vegan Zombie. We've got to assume he likes zombie films. He's worked tirelessly for 15 years producing content, initially for no monetary return.
00:12:41
Speaker
I'm assuming he's getting some some income for it now. If this is his hobby, then great. I just wouldn't show it to anyone. So that's my take, Mark. So as I say, the the the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes were from zero stars to five stars. And you can never tell it in a project like this whether there's anti-vegan trolls who are slamming it because it's a vegan-themed movie, or whether people are giving it five out of five or are passionate vegans who want to see something like this succeed, even if it isn't particularly good.
00:13:13
Speaker
So, Shane... That's what it is. Yeah. Is this a classic, Shane, up there with the Princess Bride? Is is this going to be a cult classic that kids are going to be watching Christmas time for the next 20 years? I don't think so. i liked it. There were times when I was watching it, i was telling Anthony this before we started recording. i was like I was laughing and I was thinking, am I supposed to be laughing at this? Is this supposed to be funny?
00:13:36
Speaker
ah thought the horror elements were very good. it It was gory. There was a couple of jump scares. um I thought those elements were good. The writing, especially the dialogue, was was not quite there.
00:13:50
Speaker
the acting was... um I think he basically just hired his friends to be in it. And they tried. Some some people were better than others. I think they tried. i mean, and vegans want to support this because it was an all vegan set.
00:14:05
Speaker
You know, he he wrote it. He did a Kickstarter. He raised a lot of money. The message is vegan. It's just a little bit clunky, kind of. i don't know, almost preachy how...
00:14:16
Speaker
harley talks about veganism and i don't know if that's just the writing or the acting because he would say they would say like so why are you vegan and then he would say well i'm vegan because you know it just did it it didn't sort of actually turning to the camera and saying well here's what it yeah clunky is is the right phrase and i i think he you say preachy Shane, he was the epitome of preachy vegan. it It was really bad PR.
00:14:46
Speaker
like Like at the restaurant, he orders an orange juice. I'm like, you're not even trying, dude. Like he he could have ordered a salad. He could have ordered fries.
00:14:57
Speaker
I mean, he did it. He was just, I hadn't thought about how he was miserable, but he kind of was a little bit miserable. was worst. He was the worst. He's the vegan. I want to spend time with the least.
00:15:08
Speaker
And we should mention there's a vegetarian in this movie as well. Although i wasn't sure she was just on a diet or she was actually a vegetarian. But there's a girl, Katie, who's a vegetarian who's eating salad.
00:15:18
Speaker
And um in the restaurant, they do have a ah conversation about this. Now, this i the restaurant scene I thought was the most accurate scene. of what it is like to be a vegan, because there was confusion about the difference between vegetarian and vegan.
00:15:32
Speaker
And there was like, well, why aren't you eating anything? All the questions that anybody's asked, if you go somewhere where you don't really have any options. I thought that people were a lot nicer to him and like a lot more interested in his answers than normally what you might see. But um I mean, I did feel like this is somebody who has actually sat through this scenario and knows what it's like.
00:15:52
Speaker
So are all the actors amateur, like is is is are there any professionals in this role or is this a guy with a camera and his friends and he's done he's written the script himself, he's got his friends to act and people who can't act and have never been trained to act are usually awful at acting. It's a real skill.
00:16:11
Speaker
Yes. It's very hard. I mean, arguably Dr. Michael Greger is the best actor and in the film. yeah he He's a very believable teacher, I feel, but but he does have experience, you know, he's been on What the Health, he's, you know,
00:16:25
Speaker
His IMDB bibliography is quite quite extensive, so we should expect that from him. But i i it sounds like I'm hating on it, and maybe maybe I am. i to be To be clear, I think if someone wants to have a passion project and and go with it, fine. I don't think it paints veganism in it in a good light at all. I i think ah think the storyline, he in a sense, that's fine. If you took out all the vegan preachy dialogue,
00:16:55
Speaker
I think that would actually do a better but better example a better job for advocating for veganism because there's a kind of a message there of like eating animals can make you real sick. Obviously, it's a hyperbolic example. but but But does it? Because just watching the trailer, Mark was saying, okay, so the vegans aren't getting sick.
00:17:13
Speaker
But that's not how this works for some reason. Because there are people who don't get sick. who aren't vegan and I didn't understand how that worked. and i But the the disease, I could not follow how the ah whole story about how this disease started. I tried. i could not understand.
00:17:30
Speaker
but it was supposed to be something like CJD, which I thought was something like mad cow disease that contaminated meat. Yeah, that's what is. some people, like there's ah there's a point where they go find this doctor, Dr. Hamilton, I think her name is.
00:17:43
Speaker
And she kind of is explaining what happened and how this started and she has a a dad who's an older gentleman who she has tricked into being vegan. But he finds some jerky that of course Drew, the asshole friend that leaves around and he eats the jerky and like immediately he becomes a zombie. I mean Drew's been eating that all day and he doesn't he doesn't turn into a zombie for for quite a while. Sorry, that is a spoiler.
00:18:08
Speaker
So things like that just did not really make sense, you know? So I don't know about the... Then there was a whole thing about a slaughterhouse. Like, they went to a slaughterhouse. Oh, God.
00:18:19
Speaker
I didn't understand. And then at the end, like, the whole... the night The name of the movie, why it's called that, is Revealed. Did you catch that, Anthony? The guy... think Oh, yeah. At the very end, I think the guy, the guy, who oh he goes into the lab, he goes back into the lab. He was the one who told them about the doctor. And then there's the scientist there and you see his arm and he has. Yeah.
00:18:41
Speaker
Yeah. And I was like, I don't, I don't get Yeah, it's it's all very tenuous, isn't it? and it's but look But like I say, like it's it's his passion project. I went to see today a football match with my dad. that's That's how we bond. We go and watch football matches.
00:18:58
Speaker
This was a Welsh fourth division football match. And I was looking at the players thinking... I reckon I might be able to get a game, you know. um But but of course of course I couldn't, because e even that appalling level, I'm not good enough.
00:19:14
Speaker
But i'd I'd love to play football for a team in front of three people and a dog watching. that That could be a passion project of mine. And I think people have a right towards that. So I'm i'm not hating on Vegan Zombie for for doing this.
00:19:30
Speaker
But yeah, I just kind of think we should keep quiet about it and and and like dr gregor speaking of dogs the dog was excellent as far as actors that dog the dog actually was was very good to win an oscar the dog was the first animal to win an oscar yeah Well, I think that the movie is dedicated to the dog because unfortunately, this movie took like seven years to make and and the dog died a few years ago. But he he was excellent in the movie. And he was a vegan dog as well.
00:19:59
Speaker
I noticed that he was feeding him V-Dog, which is a vegan yeah dog food, which i watch I feed my dog. So um the dog was also vegan. As I was saying at the ah top of the show, it's a rich scene to to mine for horror movies, horror books and so on, and the industrialized slaughter of animals. it's it's It's a very untapped subject matter for zombie movies or any sort of horror movie. there there is a There is a death metal band called capital Cattle Decapitation, who rather than and they're all vegans, and rather than sing about... um
00:20:33
Speaker
Satan or or Hitler or whatever like that. They're singing about ah the processes of of ah of animal of animal agriculture in with a death metal sort of backdrop to it. So again, it's it's a very untapped scene of of information and of subject matter to make something like like this, but maybe a bit a bit better realised.
00:20:54
Speaker
I'm going to ask, going to Ant on the spot here. Ant, were the film highlights for you? um other than yeah Other than it ending, i um in a sense, Mark, I think I'd have to watch it again to to to pull out a highlight.
00:21:09
Speaker
LAUGHTER Just because, just because I think I love a vegan
Target Audience Discussion
00:21:15
Speaker
film. im Oh gosh, I'm going to sound really negative again towards the filmmaker and um I'm not. ah ah don't think he was trying to do what i look for in a vegan film. I've said this before on this show, but when when i did run my my cafe, my restaurant, you would get customers in there saying, oh, I thought I should give this a go because I watched What the Health yesterday. I watched get The Game Changers or whatever. So like the potential for these movies or documentaries, you know, they don't have to be dramatized with big budgets.
00:21:48
Speaker
It could just be a fly on the wall thing. But the potential is huge. And so I think my sense of disappointment and disbelief um ah whilst watching the film was so loud. I don't think I could enjoy it in the way that that Shane has been able to.
00:22:03
Speaker
And I think now I know that I think I could watch it and and enjoy things. I think once me and my wife, Alex, once we decided we didn't like the main character, we quite liked it when he was a bit weedy and one of his friends had to help him out fighting a zombie or basically when anything, when any ill befell him.
00:22:24
Speaker
ah Really, we quite enjoyed it because we were quite fed up of him. So, yeah, any time that he got battered around the head by a zombie, we were like, whoa! Let's get rid of him. He's rubbish.
00:22:36
Speaker
But yes, there there are there are more more positive points in the film, which I'm sure Shane will be able to extol the virtues of. Again, I like that restaurant scene. i felt like that was i i felt like that was definitely written by somebody who had been in that situation. I could relate to that.
00:22:51
Speaker
i And I'm not going to spoil this, but there's a at the end of the movie, there's a scene with the dog. Do you know i'm talking about, Anthony? Anthony? And that did not go the way I thought it was going to go. And I loved how that went.
00:23:03
Speaker
i was like, yes, finally, finally. i thought that was, I love that at the end. you didn't, you didn't. i Right. Okay. Listeners, we we're we're going to spoil something out. Let's spoil it.
00:23:15
Speaker
So fast forward one one minute. so So there's, Shane, you can fact check me on this, but there's like one vial of the antidote left. Yes. And the the main character has got this.
00:23:29
Speaker
Harley, thank you. blocked his name out. Harley has got this vial and he could save. No, because he he no he gets bitten, right? Yeah, he yeah yeah he gets attacked. But so does his love interest.
00:23:44
Speaker
His love interest has been bitten too, hasn't she? I don't think she i don't think she is. oh No, no, no. She's safe. But his dog has also been bitten. Yes, the dog is bitten, trying to protect him, and he's bitten.
00:23:55
Speaker
So they're both yeah about to turn into zombies. Yeah. And his love interest says, don't worry, I'm i'm going to stay here with you like what while you do this or or what have you. Yeah, she's like, use the vial, save yourself. Yeah, yeah.
00:24:07
Speaker
And then he gives the vial, like stabs the dog and gives the... the antidote to the dog rather than saving himself, which really is a pragmatic decision because Harley has been ah about as much use as a chocolate teapot thus far in the film. So um well done, Harley, for realising who is the more useful protagonist.
00:24:29
Speaker
But yeah, that's the one when I was watching videos afterwards and people were saying how much they loved the film. but That's the bit that I assume people are referring to when they say, oh, it made me cry and stuff like that.
00:24:42
Speaker
Yeah, I wrote in my notes, I wrote, dog dies, exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point. Like, I was like, what is this? What kind of movie is this? And then I wrote, no, they saved the dog.
00:24:53
Speaker
And then I was like, so happy that that the dog didn't die. What kind of vegan movie kills off the dog? i mean Well, yeah, but i I think just my anti-Harley feeling was kind of like, well, of course you're going to save the dog and die
Film Climax and Ending
00:25:08
Speaker
yourself. Of course you are. That's exactly the kind of thing. But okay, then another question.
00:25:12
Speaker
Does he die though? Because he doesn't look the same as the other zombies. Like one of his eyes looks wrong, but the other one is still fine. So I feel like maybe the veganism protected him from full zombie mode. Yeah.
00:25:25
Speaker
Well, and then he kills off all the other zombies. Doesn't it? Yeah, yeah. Then he starts attacking the other zombies. What was your take, Shane? Do you... Because in a sense, the film ends before we see the floor littered with all of the zombies. Is your take that he does kill all the zombies and therefore...
00:25:42
Speaker
the world is safe again? or has he left it open for a sequel? Do we get to review a sequel in a couple years? No, maybe a couple years. you It'll be 16 years time. if it Yeah, is right I think that he saves Vanessa, who's who's his love interest. And i don't know what could possibly happen next in this movie, because he is still a zombie. And you presumably have to I mean all but 4% of the town are now zombies. So but I think that he is not fully zombie Is this movie shifting the Overton window would a non vegan having witnessed this movie come out a vegan? No, I think if somebody is not vegan and they watch this movie unless they just really love horror films
00:26:25
Speaker
Or they like B movies. You know, they're like, oh, I just really like to watch bad movies. They are going to be like not impressed whatsoever and not moved by the message. And I put message in quotation marks.
00:26:38
Speaker
i Yeah, I do genuinely think that it would put somebody off who might be interested in veganism. If if people are already signed up, fine.
00:26:50
Speaker
But the preachy dialogue and tone of the dialogue, I think if you had somebody who has not really dipped their toe into veganism or doesn't know much, I think it falls into every stereotype, negative stereotypes.
00:27:06
Speaker
And I think it would it would put you off. So ah I urge everyone listening, if you have an inclination to watch this film, then fine, go for it. You know, reward this passion project of this very dedicated YouTuber who has done a lot of good for the animals.
00:27:20
Speaker
Watch it. Do not show it to your non-vegan friends. Absolutely not. It's my opinion. You know who I think this would be great for is somebody who is like newly vegan, who's been vegan for just like a few months and they're really excited about being vegan.
00:27:34
Speaker
And you watch it and then you're like, oh, yeah. Oh, and look at theirs there's there's Tofurky and oh, they have oat milk. And, you know, you could it'd be like one of those things where you like see yourself in it. i think that maybe a new vegan could be excited about this movie. but But not if it's their first vegan movie. They need they need to watch a half decent one first.
00:27:52
Speaker
Because I just think... Like, what other fictional vegan movies are out there, though? No, no, no. I don't think there are any other... Okay, not not fiction. it can be ah It can be a documentary. It can be... um Right, but if they're looking for entertainment, vegan entertainment, which there isn't a whole lot... Yes, it depends on one's taste. But, yeah, I just i just want them to know that this isn't every vegan's sense of humor. This isn't every... Not all vegans!
00:28:21
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So there is there is still a gap in the market for a good, well-made, well-produced, entertaining vegan horror movie. And A44 has not filled that gap. Is that is that the general conclusion? Yes.
00:28:37
Speaker
Yeah. and And like I say, nor would I be able to fill that gap. So no for it credit to him for trying. But yeah, watch this space. Goodness me. what what What could abound next? What will we be reviewing next
Supporting the Vegan Artist and Listener Engagement
00:28:50
Speaker
Halloween?
00:28:50
Speaker
Yeah. We should also say that this movie costs $3.99. I think that's both in dollars and pounds, right? Is that the budget? so No, but we support it. We have now supported a vegan artist. and and we you know So if you just want to support veganism and his attempts.
00:29:08
Speaker
Yes, I think there might be ways that are more direct than doing it through YouTube. Not not being facetious, I did watch a little bit of a Q&A that he'd done on making the film.
00:29:20
Speaker
And I think he said that he gets about half of the proceeds if you go through YouTube, which admittedly is what I did. But there might be other ways. i think there was a platform. Yeah, I watched on Google Play. He said something else like Tubi or something maybe. Tubi, that's right. Yeah. um So that might that might give more ah more of a payout to him. It's just a few dollars. But yes, all adds up, I'm sure. I should say that besides um Dr. Michael Greger, there was another celebrity cameo in this film.
00:29:49
Speaker
Oh, go on. It was ah one of the news anchors was Jane Vela's, Vela's Mitchell. And she, I don't know if you know about her. She is, ah she does like Unchained TV. She's a, she's a vegan and animal rights ah activist in, I think in California.
00:30:05
Speaker
And I've seen her on a ah few things. She has like a little TV station called Unchained TV. And she's well known in the community. So I also recognized her. i didn't want Michael Greger to get all the, all the credit.
00:30:17
Speaker
No, absolutely. Absolutely. So thank you listeners for listening. And what do you think? Have you seen A44? If you have, here's how to get in touch. To get in touch with us, just send us an email at enoughofthefalafel at gmail.com.
00:30:34
Speaker
We see ourselves as a collective. our listenership stretches all around the world and everyone's opinions, questions, feedback and ideas are what helps shape the show.
00:30:46
Speaker
Go on, send us a message today. enough of the falafel at gmail dot com And of course, as well as sending us or instead of sending us a message, you can always just ah like the show. You can ah leave us comments at the end of where it appears on Spotify. You can subscribe to us. There's lots of things you can do that um not only helps you get the show quicker and sort of on demand when it comes out two times a week, but also makes it a bit easier for other people to find too. So
00:31:17
Speaker
Thanks in advance to anyone who's been able to do something like that. You're going to want to know the next time you can tune into Enough of the Falafel. That will be on the 15th of December.
00:31:29
Speaker
And it is going to be the three of us again, myself, Shane and Mark. But we're going to be doing one of our vegan week shows. So that is where. We talk through the news and just while we're talking about upcoming episodes, look out for, we don't stop over Christmas time. We've got our Christmas quiz that is released.
00:31:49
Speaker
So it's not a quiz about Christmas. It comes out at Christmas. It's a vegan-y quiz. That's coming out on the 25th of December. And then we've got two vegan news awards of 2025 episodes that will come out just before new year. And traditionally the the second part of that will come out on the first day of the new year, 2026.
00:32:08
Speaker
twenty twenty say Anyway, that's enough of the falafel for this episode. Thanks to Mark and Anthony for all your contributions. And thanks again to everybody for listening. This is Shane and you've been listening to Vegan Talk from the Enough of the Falafel Collective.
00:32:26
Speaker
This has been an Enough of the Falafel production. We're just a normal bunch of everyday vegans putting our voices out there. The show is hosted by Zencaster. We use music and special effects by zapsplap.com.
00:32:41
Speaker
And sometimes, if you're lucky, at the end of an episode, you'll hear a poem by Mr Dominic Berry. Thanks all for listening and see you next time.
00:33:07
Speaker
This episode may have come to an end, but did you know we've got a whole archive containing all our shows dating back to September 2023? twenty twenty three That is right, Dominic. There's over 100 episodes on there featuring our brilliant range of different guests, people's stories of going vegan, philosophical debates, moral quandaries, and of course...
00:33:29
Speaker
around a dozen news items from around the world each week. So check back on your podcast player to hear previous episodes. And remember to get an alert for each new episode, simply click like or follow and also subscribe to the show.
00:33:43
Speaker
Thanks for your ongoing support wherever you listen to us from.