This Is Not a Test Turns High School Into Ground Zero for Zombie Horror

Survival becomes a choice inside the locked halls of Adam MacDonald’s This Is Not a Test.

Adam MacDonald’s This Is Not a Test Brings High School Zombie Horror to Theaters Feb. 20, 2026

A familiar setting becomes a pressure cooker of fear in This Is Not a Test, the upcoming high school zombie thriller written and directed by Adam MacDonald, set to hit theaters on Feb. 20, 2026. A newly unveiled poster teases the claustrophobic nightmare ahead, positioning the film as a grounded, character-forward take on apocalyptic horror.

Based on the best-selling novel by Courtney Summers, This Is Not a Test follows Sloane and a small group of classmates who barricade themselves inside their high school as their town collapses into chaos. With danger pounding at the doors and certainty eroding by the hour, the film centers less on spectacle and more on survival psychology—what it means to choose life when despair feels easier.

The cast is led by Olivia Holt, alongside Froy Gutierrez, Luke MacFarlane, Corteon Moore, Chloe Avakian, and Carson MacCormac. First-look imagery shows the ensemble trapped in tense, low-light corridors—faces strained, exits uncertain—hinting at a story driven by internal conflict as much as external threat.

Olivia Holt and classmates trapped inside a high school during a zombie outbreak.

MacDonald is best known for his work in lean, reality-adjacent genre filmmaking, particularly creature features that emphasize human behavior under stress. That sensibility appears to carry over here, suggesting a zombie film that resists excess in favor of atmosphere, moral friction, and escalating dread.

With a trailer still to come, This Is Not a Test is shaping up as a measured, anxiety-soaked adaptation—one that treats the high school setting not as a trope, but as a crucible. If the poster is any indication, this isn’t about last stands or easy victories. It’s about what happens when the world ends quietly, one locked door at a time.

Director: Adam MacDonald

Screenwriter: Adam MacDonald

Cast: Olivia Holt, Froy Gutierrez, Luke MacFarlane, Corteon Moore, Chloe Avakian, Carson MacCormac