Army of Thieves, the prequel to Zack Snyder’s 2021 zombie movie Army of the Dead, is now out on Netflix. Directed by star Matthias Schweighöfer and written by Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapter 3), the horror movie follows a crew of criminals who set out to pull off a heist amidst hungry hordes of the undead.
In September 2020, the streaming service announced that the prequel to Snyder’s Army of the Dead (which was yet to be released) was in development. Filming for the movie officially wrapped in 2020. However, since Army of the Dead was only released in May 2021, the film was held back until now. Army of Thieves is set during the early stages of the zombie outbreak, six years before the events of Snyder’s film and centres around one of the characters we saw brave a zombie-infested Vegas.
Pitched as a standalone feature in Snyder’s Army of the Dead universe, Army of Thieves follows the backstory of safe cracking whiz Ludwig Dieter (Schweighöfer), showing how he learned the tricks of his trade. Joining Schweighöfer in the cast for the comedy movie is Nathalie Emmanuel, Guz Khan, Ruby O. Fee, Stuart Martin, Jonathan Cohen, and Peter Simonischek.
Producer Deborah Snyder explained how Army of Thieves is different from the typical running Snyder zombie films we all know and love. Talking to IndieWire, she described the movie as “ a romantic comedy heist film.”
“It’s more like ‘The Italian Job,’ but it takes place in a world where these zombies exist in America, and it’s causing instability in the banking institutions,” she explained. “They’re moving money around, so it’s the perfect opportunity for a heist.” You can watch the official trailer for Army of Thieves below:
Army of Thieves currently holds mixed reviews, having a score of 68% on Rotten Tomatoes. The critical response to the movie is similar to Army of the Dead, which was still wildly popular on the streamer despite its mixed reception. We are curious to see if Army of Thieves can hold a spot on Netflix’s trending bar and continue Snyder’s success with undead stories on the platform.
Army of Thieves is currently available to stream exclusively on Netflix. If you are after more chills and thrills, here is our list of the best horror movies on Netflix right now.