“Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse” a strange fish that blends irreverent humor, zombies and a lame coming of age story into a mostly unsuccessful horror comedy. The genre of horror comedy, by its nature, doesn’t take itself very seriously, which is a good thing.

When “Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (which I’m already tired of typing), tries to perform real character development, or when it tries to justify its lame jokes, it slips beneath the waves and starts to drown in its own nonsense. On the other hand, when it is just having fun with, and I’m not joking here, zombie strippers or weaponized weed whackers, it has marginally more success.

This film suffers from whatever the opposite of the Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks power team is – it’s helmed by a bunch of rookies with less-than-stellar credits. Director Christopher Landon’s most recognizable credit is serving as the screenwriter for five different “Paranormal Activity” movies.

To be honest, I haven’t seen any of the “Paranormal Activity” movies, but I’m surprised to learn that they have scripts. One of the writers previous working credit, according to IMDB.com, is a laughable attempt called “College Road Trip” staring Martin Lawrence and Raven-Symoné from back in 2008, which unsurprisingly received a 13% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The results are lackluster, at best. There are a few laughs, but they are hard won and often forced. This very much isn’t a movie for the kiddos, and in almost every case, isn’t a movie for adults either. It’s very hard to recommend outside of an eventual viewing on “bad movie night.”

2 of 6 stars