This zombie movie should be expelled from school.

“This is Not a Test” is one of the weakest zombie movies I have ever seen. It’s one that tries to enter “28 Days Later” and “Dawn of the Dead” territory, but doesn’t even reach the level of “We Bury the Dead,” “Zombieland,” or “Shaun of the Dead.” It promises you some zombie attacks and the complexity of it all (who is infected, what is there to believe, and can there be sanctuary?), but it doesn’t promise you anything else.

For starters, the main heroine Sloane (Olivia Holt) is as strong willed as young Celie Harris-Johnson in “The Color Purple,” as her introduction admits that her sister Lily (Joelle Farrow) left home, while she stayed and dealt with her abusive father. Is it really that hard for her to run away, too? This is the part when you’re glad he gets bitten by a zombie that makes her way into their house, and annoyed that the film tries to trick us into thinking he can be redeemed by saving his daughter. We later get that flashback of how awful of a father he is.

The zombie plot continues as she and four other students find themselves hiding out at their high school. She starts off worrying that she might be infected because she has blood all over her face, but she’s assured that she has to be bitten in order to become a zombie. Here are the other young survivors. There’s Cary (Corteon Moore), who seems to be the more responsible one, twins Grace (Chloe Avakian) and Trace (Carson MacCormac), who both lost their mother to the zombies, and there’s the nice guy Rhys (Froy Gutierrez). All they have is a radio that tells them the basically same thing about seeking shelter, a bottle of alcohol from the teacher’s lounge, and some barricades for the doors.

And there’s also Luke Macfarlene as their English teacher Mr. Baxter, who makes his way into the school with no memory of how. All he knows is how things are on the outside. He looks and sounds like a sleaze ball, especially when he has a gun. So, how could these teens trust this guy? This is the most consistent part of the film, whereas everything else becomes infected with flat characters and cynicism.

Back to Sloane’s weakness, at one point later in “This is Not a Test,” she gets blamed for someone’s death and gets beaten up by Trace without her fighting back. At least he’s restrained by the remaining survivors, and there is an apology later on. But this proves that this movie treats women like crap, and over glamorizes their abuse, leaving only the ending for the main heroine to rise to the occasion. Amazingly enough, she’s played by the same lead of “Heart Eyes,” who had a voice and attitude. Holt basically goes through the motions with scared dispositions and very little strength.

Written and directed by Adam McDonald and based on Courtney Summers’ novel, the story deals with depression, survival, betrayal, and death, but it all feels weak and overexposed. The zombie attacks have their thrills, but their camera angles feel like they’re trying to micmic the brilliant fast-paced shots of the “28 Days Later” franchise, and end up being muggy. Zombie movies can have their emotional weight without always going for the kill (“28 Years Later” and its back-to-back sequel subtitled “The Bone Temple” both proved that), and they can have their moments of grief (“We Bury the Dead” was a good recent example), but this one regarding the abuse and behaviors left me angry.

Would my review of “This is Not a Test” qualify as “Zombie Kill of the Week?”

Comment: “Yes,” “No,” or “Close But No Cigar.”