Dead Zed Hedz

The best satirical genre movie about a movie genre - as classic as Young Frankenstein or Spinal Tap.

The paradigm zombie film, and a horror movie that is also a classic film! ...a rare gem for the genre.

Belated review, but I must post it. Greatest zombie film of all time, and my favorite horror film. I have viewed both official cuts too many times - about 50 for the Romero cut and over 300 times for the Argento Zombi cut. Not only is this a stunning horror, it is also a blindingly great film which tackles several sociopolitical problems that were relevant at the time and still are today. No other film captures the essence of the zombie creature better than this masterpiece.

I finally capitulated and downloaded a cam; I can't wait any longer!
Romero is back at the top of his form. This is the true Dead movie for our era, not the uber-derivative studio action trash that Land was. This is biting satire, with necessary biting zombies. One forgets how proper zombies move until you watch some Romero. I love the inside joke comments on the "breaking ankles if they try to run" thing. The effects look amazing and they are memorable, unlike "Land". I can't tell definitively how high the cinematography level is here because I did resort to watching a cam, but if the story and acting are any indicator, this is a new benchmark in horror films.
It's so rare that a film not only fulfills the hype I have for it, but exceeds the excellence I expected. Romero is better off running his own productions, and this movie should show fans and him alike that it is the only way to go with the stories he wants to tell. Dawn was consumerism, and Diary is its media equivalent. Huge achievement.

a nice companion piece in the Romero cannon of zombie films
6-18-08
Rewatched over the net outage. The question I have to keep asking myself is would I be so biased to liking this if it weren't Savini's feature directing debut. And I've concluded this - if it weren't Savini's, I'd want to know whose it was because it's a damn good movie especially compared to what it has to live up to. I love the character/plot modifications. This movie allows you to more openly and loudly hate Cooper, and also to examine Ben as a full character, faults and all, and not just "the hero of the day". This Barbara is way more interesting than a shell shocked one , and the end of this movie stands on par with the end of its original (though they are complimentary of each other - boosting both endings to better dramatic heights than if there were just one ending).

It gets that extra half star (beyond the four) just because it kicks ass enough to have, for me, near infinite replay value.

When you take twenty years to follow up a concept, I expect better than a commercial trendy film that casts shadows of "Phantom Menace".

Horror Not to Miss List Commentary:
This is one of my top indie zombie flix, and I prefer it better to its other Australian peer Braindead by Peter Jackson. Though some audience members are frustrated with the genre-blurring that occurs because the film-makers are looking to up the visual ante of their movie, and they are thusly accused of being Spielbergian because of some of their additional creatures design and action-based horror scenes. I think it's all done just right, including the occasionally stiff acting. There are so many innovative zombie scenes, my favorite being a pair of walking legs with accompanying spinal cord, sans a torso. The protagonists are given action-style cinematic hyping, but it's justified and cool, not unnecessary and forced. Here's a zombie movie that not only bothers with continuity and structure, but the independent film-makers, two brothers, behind it further proved their dedication to this project by doing all of the CGI themselves on a 700mhz processor computer, for three years after shooting concluded. These effects are on par, and in some cases better, to what big Hollywood bucks is turning out even years later. This is truly proof that auteurs are still alive and, beyond that, still bothering to work with a concept/genre considered exhausted like zombies. Overlooked by zombie fans and totally misunderstood by mainstream viewers.

I had a gigantic article praising this cheese romp but it was either lost in the shuffle or removed because of the naughty language oooh

Anyways see this flick if you want great satire of the oddest movie genre in history (zombies).

"So Fucked Up" highlight:
couple of zombie hos beat a four foot zombie penis with ketchup and mustard containers for all of their mutually assured sexual pleasure

few films in the zombie genre achieve what Severed does: solid acting, great gore, awesome zombies, engaging screenplay, visual consistency. a must see for zombie fans

Horror Not to Miss List Commentary:
This is one of the best zombie movies you've never heard of. We get everything here - from gruesome outbreak, characters we'd like to see live, scenes where an audience member can actually be afraid of a lumbering dead thing, gore galore, gritty but not annoying (actually quite effective) cinematographic aesthetic, ambiguous/down ending, a survivor camp of grizzled brutal men, and an underlying corporate conspiracy that doesn't eat away camera time but nicely explains these zombies, Severed has everything a solid zombie movie needs.

One of my favorite zombie movies of the decade. Fido is an interesting and comical social satire, exactly what zombies were meant for. Matrix star Carrie Anne Moss is married to Dylan Baker, living in a 1950's setting ; the couple decide, against Baker's wishes, to get a zombie slave for helping around the house. When the zombie starts to bond with their son, the couple is split by their feelings towards the "domesticated zombie". Just an awesome movie.

good genre flick and a great directorial debut

Definitely do not watch this unless it's the DVD version because the whole time you will be driving yourself mad asking, "Which is Fulci and which is Bruno Mattei?" Mattei clears that up himself in the DVD extras, so you need to see that.
Apparently, Fulci was sick and disinterested when he made this movie and it shows in his segments. It's still good and superior to any zombie flix rolled out today, but it is not comparable to Zombi 2. Zombie fans must see this, as it shows a culmination of the ideas brought forth by genre directors of this era. We have the white suits of 'The Crazies', the zombies of "Zombi 2', the relationship scenes with talking zombies akin to 'Return of the Living Dead', and the final death scene is awesome, clearly influencing today's storylines and set design. It's best not to view this as a Fulci film, but as a prototypical action film of the zombie genre.

"So Fucked Up" highlight: Momma's face begins falling into the soup

redeemed the RE movie franchise

There are no new additions to the zombie genre. For the action crowd, this delivers in terms of pacing. As a Resident Evil fan, I was far from impressed and saddened at how much the series is straying from the original concepts of Bio-Hazard (Resident Evil). Glad to see Wesker finally make a cameo. I'm not interested in the overdone hyper zombies; I liked the crows better even though that is a direct rip from Zombi 3. I am glad that it appears from the story arc that another movie is inevitable, which is great because the RE series is so far on a Miss, Hit, Miss streak so maybe the next'll be Hit.

REVISED 5-24-08 from 2 to 3
lost a longer review so quick recap: still nothing new or great zombie-wise, don't like the psionic stuff with the exception of the "fire sky explosion", movie should have started at its middle point (the Vegas showdown), Dr. Isaacs was a poor way to end the movie as the character was not developed into a intimidating presence prior to the fight unlike infamous Nemesis, Dr, Isaac's death is a repeat kill tactic in the series as opposed to something new, don't believe LJ turned before telling as is too cliche plot device, exact shot rips of Day of the Dead bunker complex that may look cool but do not look scary or iconic, hyperzombies in denim jumpsuits = shit costuming & reveals inability to pull off full body makeup. Hate the Clair Redfield, not any good, but like the new guy with the cabbies' hat and LJ's girl. Like Olivera's death scene, smoking a last jay while he blows zombies to bits, though this is an exact rip from the conclusion of the Dawn 04 Snyder remake mashed with Ed's death scene in Shaun of the Dead. Still glad to see Wesker. Lovin the loads of Alices, well rendered and effective. Liked some of Alice's kill chops in the Vegas showdown, and thought the monitoring subplot of her was as intriguing as RE:Apocalypse. Best shot: crane shots of zombies in Tokyo.

Can't slag this movie for visual effects or editing; it is all very professional and well done just not consequential or well plotted.

the first zombie movie I ever saw

a disappointing followup, Rave to the Grave might be better

The premise of The Crazies receives the treatment and production the concept deserves in this new flick. Enough blood to satisfy any media vamps out there, and more than enough story to hold the cynical horror fan tendencies at bay. Some nice little scenes of insanity, and I don't want to give anything away because you should just see it. There are a few things the discerning viewer would gripe about, but compared to its contemporaries, this is a freshly sliced chunk of violent psychological horror that implements enough fun little cinematic techniques to tickle even the staunchest of classical film students. This is a horror film that I can confidently recommend to those outside the horror hound camp; this is a damn good scary movie as well as a thoughtfully structured tale and depiction. See it!

If you can make sheep scary, this movie does. As a contribution to the zombie genre, it's interesting and may be amusing to other viewers, as the script is obviously referencing tons of the more offbeat 70s and 80s zombie flix. I wasn't over or underwhelmed, but many will be likening this to Braindead (Dead Alive) no doubt. I recommend it, but it just didn't connect with me.

A completely handheld zombie movie that I like. How often does someone who so much hates the handheld horror style and is so critical of anything zombie movie remotely like a movie done this way? Not since "Diary of the Dead". [REC] did NOT meet my standards by any means. I might get accused of bias towards slow zombies and non-linear storytelling, but both of those things, done right, makes for a better film than a decent linear verite with fast zombies. Leave full real-time verite for serial killer movies, and fast zombies for cheap-o apocalyptic scifi thrillers or horror genre parodies.

There are cooler zombie shots in this than in "Diary of the Dead". Obviously the closeups of Diary were better, but the hordes in this scare and shock like the original "Night". This movie has one of the best nightshot scenes in horror film (when the farm-camp becomes unraveled), definitely the best indie work I've seen (yeah, I like the angle and orchestration **way** better than the ending of "Blair Witch").
For zombie lovers, a must see that captures the strangeness and insanity of surviving in a zombie world. Don't know why they're re-making [REC] into Quarantine instead of just putting this movie, as is, out in American theatres ('tis a British film).

Even though, it's 35 minutes before the plot launches into kill mode, it is obviously time well spent, as the characters feel like real people that I actually cared about. Considering that the premise is Rat-People, this is a very well written and engaging horror movie; in an age of overwhelming mediocre horror scripts, this story is refreshing, and if I were a rat, it'd be simply *the* cheese. Acting wise, the bit parts reveal some green talent, but the main cast are all pretty natural actors who maintain believable people, very hard in horror. The infected people/creatures of Mulberry Street, in terms of design and scare factor, are on par with Argento's Demons or some of Jackson's odder creatures in Braindead, and better than the rage victims of the "28 Later" series or Snyder's running zombies from 04's "Dawn" remake. I'd like to see some more rat people movies, but I just hope they're as compelling in terms of story and acting as this movie is. Talking of the image now, I love it. There is no huge focus on any particular kill or gore scene, but, for once, the editing works in conjunction well with handheld to create a sense of tension that does not require heavily calculated gore shots to scare the audience. This is a great and fun indie flick, and I hope to see more from this director.

Great "end of the world" and "empty society" scenes. Low on zombies and no real gore, but the two lead actresses are dead-on playing teen sisters raised by a military nut soldier. The story lags a bit in originalty and form towards the middle, but the dialogue is great and the premise of what causes the "zombies" is interesting. Recommended for those who like the "End of the World" subgenre and odd eighties classics. Gorehounds will be disappointed, but the thinking zombie watcher will find some novel parts.

An overall mediocre exterior of acting and plot premise, but with some great zombie gore moments. Has some really great atmospheric moments that a zombie fan must see. Some zombie fans hold this film in cult status, but I wouldn't go that far.

there's much worse in the zombie genre. acting is touch and go here, zombie fx are good, cinematography decent, but too short with a flawed screenplay

It was definitely worth the time I took to see it, but unlike some zombie movie reviewers claim, this is not better than Diary of the Dead.
It does maintain its tension, but there's really nothing beyond that. Am I supposed to congratulate a professional film crew for making handheld look decent (because I thought that was their job)? Am I supposed to be thrilled that they hired a capable editor? Because if that's all it takes to make a good horror movie, then The Blair Witch Project was a good movie.
All my dissing done, I simply was not afraid for the people stuck in the infected building. I applaud the creators for the three (of about twenty) obvious jump-scare moments included that stirred me.
The simple reason why I can't say this is a cherished new zombie classic is because I have no compulsion to ever see it again. The main actress does not impress me, and considering she is carrying about half of the film's tension, that's not very good. This is nearly a nonplot movie and there are no echoing themes or messages behind it. It's just another crew saying, "hey we can do just as well as your valued American independents (Diary) or your Hollywood cash (Cloverfield).
Worth a watch for sure, but just didn't capture me the same way it did for other viewers.

A wholly average movie until the zombie Nazis show up. Granted it takes them 53 minutes to appear, but it is worth the wait.

The makeup jobs are awesome, and blood on snow is always beautiful. In the very bloody and action packed conclusion, the film clearly gives tribute to Dead Alive (one of the characters was even wearing a t-shirt earlier on). The wide shots of the zombie army are utterly eerie.

This is a pretty fuckin awesome Z-budget film. If you think this is a bad zombie movie, you ain't seen bad zombie movies.

Would it be nice if there was better acting? Yeah, sure - that's always the answer for most movies though. How does this bad acting compare to typical zombie movie bad acting? It's a good 40% better than typical crap Z-movie acting, as in the acting is actually tolerable.

How about the visuals? The crew hasn't got millions, and I don't actually know how much they had to work with - but the effects in this are damn cool. I like the old fashioned use of production effects, and a lot of the makeup/fx is pretty damn awesome, definitely in the higher end of Z-movies.

Could the script be better and carry a bit more continuity? Almost always, but in this case, I'm too tickled by the parasite alien babies growing in zombies' scrotums and the end "solution" to the zombie plague. It's a funny and interesting Z-movie, and actually enjoyable.

I got this one added! Yay!

This is one of the better indie zombie b flicks I've seen (and I have seen ALOT of them). My rating for Zombie Wars is based on comparison to other films specifically in the zombie genre.

Basically, this is years after the zombie scourge and the semi-intelligent zombies have learned how to keep humans and breed them so tha they never run out of food.

A few units of "soldiers" are still about to protect the surviving people from getting nabbed for Zombie farmin'. A soldier gets captured by zombies after a surprise attack, and he lives in the Zombie Farm for a few weeks, hatching his escape plan for him and his tarzan-chick (the zombie farmed people are not allowed to speak).

Yeah the acting is shit and the plot is executed in a sloppy script, but the zombies look great. The action sequences are well cut, and the editing overall is great because it actually makes sense, as compared to about fifty other zombie films I've seen that must've been edited by the undead they were so incomprehensibly irrational. This production actually bothered (again slagging other worse zombie projects) to create a sense of setting and zombified (isolated, grungy) atmosphere with this movie. And it's a pretty good exploration of the "zombie intelligence" factor debate ever raging in the zombie fan community. The script may be wooden in terms of dialogue but the premise, sequence of events, and anchor scenes are all very interesting and well expressed.
Definite watch for zombie fans or anyone who likes their horror with tasty gourmet cheese on reel shaped crackers.

Nevermind that absolutely nothing in the movie is correct in the real world of physics or plane design, and you'll have fun.

I do think you have to be predisposed to z-horror and suspend more than disbelief - common sense as well - to enjoy this flick. That's true for most of the z-movie genre, but especially applicable here. You can also expect not to give a damn about any of the characters. My biggest problem with the movie - and this is one that z-films really shouldn't attempt - is that it breaks its own rules about the zombies. First they can run superfast, then they are pausing and retreating all the time. They tend to attack (in the neck because they haven't the budget to do that many bites) and they take their food back to a safe place, which seems all too convenient as when the zombie breakout does begin, it allows for huge lapses between attacks, or at least larger than would be if these were truly bloodthirsty zombies. Also it seems that a concord flight would not be this empty and I chalk that up to a budget that can't handle all those extras and added extra zombie violence.

All the characters suck except Frank who's got some decent one-liners. It's also very annoying how the characters can instantly produce extra weapons (note the extra handgun) after a sequence where one character just risked himself and the whole plane to retrieve a gun from the infested cargo hold.

Still, this is fun for zombie fans. The makeup is cool and I like the contact lenses. The job done on the Bennett zombie is the most exceptional. Some of the CG is damn annoying, but when they haven't the budget for more than five squibs, I expect that. The bathroom scene actually jumpscared the crap out of me. Zombies flying out of the plane is really damn cool too.

Still, I say avoid this unless you love ultimate cheese and zombie flicks as it won't be even worth the review if you don't dig this subgenre.

"So Fucked Up" highlight: main pretty boy character "rapes" a big breasted playboy bunnyish zombie that he keeps in a shed as a pet/sex object (can zombie sex be consensual?)

Revised rating: from 3 to 2. Definitely a movie that demonstrates why piracy is good for the industry: another way to filter the junk.
I can't say this won't become a guilty pleasure of mine, but I can say with extreme certainty that this is no more a significant movie for the zombie genre than say....Return of the Living Dead: Rave 2 the Grave. It's just an action fest; and if all you want is a zombie shooter, watch Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Land of the Dead, or the 04 Dawn of the Dead remake because this is just gratuitous without being focused or trying to accomplish anything. If you want gratuitous and self-indulgence that accomplishes something, watch the first Return of the Living Dead, any Fulci zombie movie, or the modern tribute Planet Terror.
What is wrong with this movie:
The zombie makeup: the zombies turn into blistered ugly things immediately in a way that is more akin to Argento's "Demons" than a person who has become infected with a zombie-ish strand. The makeup look for the faces is a uniform aesthetic, but unfortunately it is a very poor aesthetic design concept.
-Zombies with super-powers: again, these creatures are more reminiscent of "Demons" or "Dead Alive" than even the "28 blah Later" series or the 04 Dawn remake. These zombies can instantly leap like Spider-Man, bash barricades like the Hulk, cling to vehicles like treefrogs, and even dodge bullets Matrix-style. It is absurd and quite unscary.
-The zombie "intelligence" factor. These zombies can fire weapons, drive cars, and use stealth like Solid Snake to capture their victims. The filmmakers have to the gall to do another "Bub" but they don't have the sense to give him characterization and a clear plot purpose because they're too busy firing uzis at hyperzombies.
-No time spent developing our human survivors, or at least not any effective attempts. The younger brother and his girlfriend are on the right track in terms of characterization needed. Everyone else is under-developed because the movie is obsessed with showing nothing but zombie violence. Clocking in at a mere 81 minutes, too many opportunities to build characters we don't want to die are dismissed as quickly as the zombies overrun the town. The more I muse on this movie, the less I like it. But I am of the school that would prefer a zombie story that focuses more on the people trying to survive and, by doing this, reveals some interesting facets of human nature. I agree with Roger Ebert that "Land of the Dead" should have been a social drama set entirely inside Fiddler's Green with only the occasional mention or glimpse of zombies and Romero would have made a more resounding film. I whole-heartedly agree. These zombies run 50mph in the other direction, and they don't even give a scare like Snyder's version did.

Got this one added to Flixter meself!
Anyways, regular readers know I'm zombie-obsessed, so I watch every zombie movie out there. To say, "I've seen worse zombie movie"s sets a new bar for mediocrity, but I have seen FAR worse than this. The script is at least reasonably tight, the main zombies don't look great, but some of the effects implemented are well done. I like Greico's creepy insane scientist. The 'sleeping zombies' scene is pretty cool. Most low budget zombie movie have annoying combat outfits, but I actually like their rigs with the little green glow glasses, though some other zombie reviewers really didn't like the combat uniform design. I like the little cast of stereotypical characters sent out to attack the 'zombie base'. The best part of this movie is the underground survival base occupied by the remaining living humans of the military. The acting is better than most major release Dimension films. There are some zombie with nunchucks if you like that. And the eating scenes that are there are filmed well. with so many sloppily edited straight to dvd zombie flicks flooding the market nowadays, this is one of the few that is not only watcheable, but worth ripping the dvd when you're done renting it (good luck finding something this obscure for download, unless it's a seed of mine ;), and I was able to watch it in one sit-down. Usually I've got to give up twenty minutes in for most cheesy zombie movies. Also I do think the makeup for the main antagonist IS one of the few effective jobs, perhaps because of the contacts and the actor's ability, but I was genuinely scared by his makeup job combined with the angles and lighting.

'Wicked Little Things' was annoying. After banging my head, to no avail, against my LCD monitor (perhaps thusly the ineffectiveness) for two days, that is really all I can say about this movie. The production, cinematography, and acting values are there but the story is too weak and illogical to match the 'effective scare' this movie is going for.
To zombie fans, file this under the "ghoul" category with "Creepshow" as these undead kids are conscious little buggers hellbent on revenge for the awful fillicide they endured in the collapsing mines.
The leads are played well, and sometimes the makeup is effective. The lighting is pretty much 75% on, so why wasn't I that thrilled? Because the execution of the story was poor, and again another zombie flick falls short.

A waste of time, talent, and funding. Only watch this if you are researching/interested in cultural ports and direct remakes. There isn't even substantial scenes here to make this worthwhile for genre viewers.

I've already had my say of hating towards the faux neo-realistic/found footage approach to film; it's simply terrible and rarely done right, and even then still marginally valuable. Believe it or not, this version is directed WORSE than the original [REC].

NOTED DIFFERENCES: (contains SPOILERS) The only added scene I noticed is that one of the residents breaks down the barrier and gets sniped followed by some shots of the CDC forces outside; the [REC] original may have had this but I can't remember. The sudden breakout in the stairwell is a good 200% less effective than the segment in [REC], and the same applies for the conclusion.

Pirate it or watch at stagevu, but be aware that you are squandering the invaluable resource of time.

An interesting take on the zombie model. No cannibalism, but plenty of scenes that will remind the astute zombie viewer of many classic shots.

Also called "Gangs of the Dead" this is a low budget zombie movie set in a warehouse in Los Angeles. Narcs, beat cops, a big drug dealer, and two rival gangs show up in time at the same warehouse for the zombie armageddon. The people have to overcome their obvious biases against each other in order to survive. Mostly set inside, not very tense, could have been far better written. Some zombie bits are decent but nothing memorable.

this concept had so much promise, but like many video game licences, it translates poorly to screen

This is the bottom of awful. Barely tolerable, tough not to turn off. Worst acting, script, framing, effects, zombies, etc. I have seen, and I have seen some shit. This is about six feet below shit.

This was so terrible that I struggled to switch this off, and I admit that I HAD to quit about 35 minutes in.

This guy just keeps getting worse as a director. If you ever wondered, hey what happened to that kid who made that shitty zombie movie with packaging promising a cult favorite called "The Dead Next Door" ? Then this movie is your answer. JR Bookwalter just went on to make even crappier movies. If you are blottered out of out your mind and you have seen everything else on netflix instant watch, then try to get through the first ten minutes of this movie. I dare you!

Do NOT be duped by this title. There is not a single legitimate vampire versus a zombie scene in the entire movie, besides this possibly being one of the worst movies ever. I got 11 cents for my copy of this at one of those national retail chain entertainment stores that does trade-ins. I was really surprised because I was sure they were going to charge me instead, like a waste disposal fee. Apparently, they slap it in a DVD case and, with hope, no one ever buys it, the store closes, and this finds it way liquidated into the dumpster out back.
That is really seriously how shitty this movie is.

I REALLY hate when a movie is so middle of the road in quality that I struggle with what I want to say about it.

I do know that I had high hopes for this film for many reasons. The satirization of zombie movies has hit a peak this decade, and I expected another whopper to add to the list. I also thought it might be more insightful on the genre, and do for zombies what Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon did for slashers. Also, whenever you title something American ___dadada____ it had better be damn good.

It's interesting how these zombies fit into normal society, but that's where the entertainment ends. Very minimal makeup, nothing for zombie fans to see here. Very stereotypical acting for a mockumentary that seems too influenced by 'The Office' (talkin Gervais and Merchant as well as the American bastardization) and doesn't feel realistic or fresh at all. Nice shooting for a handicam, but mind you this is supposed to be a professional documentary crew.

There's nothing exceptionally BAD, but there's nothing exceptionally good or worth remembering. The movie does paste the zombie onto the pattern of oppressed groups and common problems within oppressed minorities well enough. But there's not any horror to justify the utter lack of comedy, and vice versa.

Just lukewarm and leaving one with an "you could have done so MUCH better" feeling, as this movie packs more promise than your typical Z-budget, but delivers just as little.

A once watch for zombie fans MAYBE. I can't recommend this to anyone however, and I would never screen it to anyone. It's paradigm middleness earns its a 2.5 but overall the production rates a 3 and the acting isn't atrociously but also around a 3. The separation between this film's potential and what is achieves is so great a gap that I can't in good mind give it a 3.

This film does a terrific job at eliminating audience members - weeding out the weak. Do not watch this film if you can't handle: gratuitous gore of the intestine eating sort, explicit gay sex (between zombies using fresh improvised gashes as sexual orifices), frequent cross-cutting of "reality" and "film", and dedicating major segments of the film to an art house indie director criticizing art house and non-mainstream film.

But if you're a weirdo like me and think all of that sounds like a hella good time, you will or will not be disappointed ;)

Some things that are truly outstanding here: the director character's lover is constantly encapsulated in a bubble of silent film; the lengths to which this director goes to be "avant garde" and the heights to which those attempts accidentally succeed and the hilarious depths to which they intentionally fail. Otto, the main zombie character, is constantly battling for a sense of identity, and his story juxtaposed and interweaving with this director's vision (Up With Dead People is the title of her film) makes the titling very apt (which the title itself is a wink-wink nudge-nudge satirical jab at fringe cinema).

Ultimately, this is not so much a film about zombies as it is a film about film; the zombie aspect is merely used as fuel for probing the subject of identity in both the personal and social arena.

Hot Gay Sex notes: for those looking to avoid poorly done zombie sex and see hardcore human/human (in appearance) gay male sex in the context of narrative feature, around 1:20:00 is the best example; beyond that you're on your own and in for some zombie/zombie, zombie/human combos

A fun 80s style zombie flick. Slow to start, but the zombie outbreak is worth the wait.

RE-EVAL 09-17-2010
Lost half a star for the fact that it does play like a string of cut scenes from a game and is too brief with no real emotional meat to it other than nostalgia for RE fans. I was being too generous when I gave this sucker four stars; I imagine I was just so relieved to finally get a full length animated horror/scifi that didn't suck, especially one from my favorite game series. Now I just remember how much the movie left me wanting more, mostly because it's a two act flick and needs a third not to satiate my insatiable lust for more RE, but because the story requires it to have real depth of meaning and emotional investment in the characters.
_______
Far better than the live action Resident Evil movies. Puts forth a solid case for the end of live action for horror and scifi films, despite the obvious presence of the uncanny valley appearance and speech-to-lip synch problems. The action sequences look great. The movie is basically in two parts: the first is a zombie outbreak in an airport and the second is a massive battle with a G-Virus boss-type character set in a sprawling lab.

Fans of the series will love this, and general zombie fans should also check this out. The script plays out like it's just a collection of cutaway sequences from the video game, but that's fine because the game storylines are still superior to the live action scripts that were filmed.

Character design for the "boss" character is top notch, as is the layout for the WilPharma lab where the battle takes place (it would be an AWESOME setting to play in a game). The first half with the zombie outbreak leaves one wanting more, and RE fans will rejoice at Claire brandishing an umbrella to take out zombies and may squeak when we get to see Hunnigan's office from a perspective other than a com-screen for the first time.
Great to see what Leon's been up to since RE4 and explanation of the rollover of Umbrella into other corporations is a must-know for RE/Biohazard players and fans. My love for the game series and the excellent CG rendering tip my score up to four stars, and if the visual quality were lesser, this would be getting three and a half.

Here's another Z budget zombie crapfest I've gotten added to the Flixster database (and the Zombie Movie Database as well (zmdb.com)

This is Bruno Mattei's last film, and everything you'd expect from the master of low budget zombie action. The plot is absurd, though heavily recycled. The dubs are intolerable. The makeup is half-assed but somehow charming. The end veers off into some unrelated scifi territory, and offer some truly odd bits of costuming and set design.

If you like Z movies, this is a good intoxicated weekend watch, but put against any other film standard, this is beyond intolerably bad.

sadly, the film can't beat or even match its own first reel

another suprisingly good sequel

The first half of this film is great, then the remainder is unjustifiably terrible. Detailed review to come.

I am not sure if these Biosyn infected people qualify as zombies, but that broaches the whole "Do infected rage people who break some traditional zombie rules still count as zombies?" And I say yes, because they are addressing the same issues of apocalypse, human vs. altered human, survival, etc. And let us not forget that the "modern zombie" (the Romero zombie) is quite a departure from the pre-existing Voudon zombie, so it is only fair that the infection zombie make some big departures from the undead cannibal or modern zombie. Still, these things are not strictly zombies and sorry to cut into a brief genre analysis, but that is what the person I was watching this with posed to me so I carry over this awareness into this review.

In terms of visuals, the cinematography is much better than expected for a low budget; in fact, it has some very beautiful highlights that definitely registers above average. Some little CGI bullets and bullet flash are annoying,but the CGI "throbbing/pulsating infection spots" look incredibly cool.

The story is cool but not totally innovative (synopsized) for the apocalyptic genre, offering more of a mashing of many elements we have seen and read before. It is executed nicely with rapid plot turns to keep one engaged. The acting is a bit on the poor side, which is the only big problem with this film. The Biosyn-zombie creatures also walk very funny (they run hunch-backed) so it is tough to take them seriously. The rest of the plot focuses on corporation soldiers and "resistance" soldiers and other fringe survivors, which is more interesting and is obviously all about revealing what the whole Biosyn thing is and why it is.

This is a well executed serious take on the outrageous b horror-exploitation flicks this writer usually makes.

This is effective as a "make you think about fucked up shit" movie, not a jumpscare thriller or a gore showcase. As such, it has to make some characters that matter, and it does. These characters have dimension and their actions correspond to what we can expect of them.

I watched it twice. Would serve as a nice boys' version companion piece to Teeth in the category of modern (super fucking weird) sexual development horror.

Damn awesome, especially visually, but I didn't connect with the characters and humor on any level comparable to how I do with zombedy classics Shaun of the Dead or Return of the Living Dead. I hope they hire me to pen the followup.

Since this is my primary specialty topic, I'm glad to see that there is finally a nice intro doc to the whole zombie film scene. This is by no means a complete history or an indepth examination of the genre, but it proivdes a good intro for undead virgins and has reviews with several legends for dedicated z-fans. It's streaming on Netflix so if you have Netflix, you have no reason not to watch this nice bit of film-gut filler.

It's watchable, and when you're trudging through the zombie genre, that's a helluva accomplishment. I originally saw this on the Crackle.com ZombieFest to promote Zombieland, and as of April 21 2010 it is still available for free viewing there ( http://www.crackle.com/c/Zombiefest# ). I picked it because it was the only full length piece I had never heard of.

This is really only territory for initiated zombie genre addicts. It's an outbreak movie with one central setting. Acting varies from mediocre to tolerable. Don't remember much about the zombie makeup (which means it wasn't stellar) and won't be bothered checking. I give this three stars instead of 2 or 2.5 because I distinctly remember a few scenes where characters sneak out and back into their hiding area. The filmmakers did a great job at capturing the tension of such a situation (trying to get past or outrun zombies to your tiny entry point to safety) by confusing cross-cutting that makes you feel panicked and suddenly disjointed within the space defined. I would watch it again on a night when I want mid-level zombie thrills and can't stand to watch "Days of Darkness" again.

I have no idea why the hell this is on Flixster when they've explicitly told me in the past that they will not include any television with the exception of feature lengths made for TV. Anyways, I loved it and have watched it several times. Brilliant critique of modern media culture in the dialogue and setting, with a generic zombie plot as the backdrop. Annoying attempts to rip off Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later" visual style. Denied four stars because of the visual incompetence. Part by part review and highlights with several screencaps on my blog: http://impraving.blogspot.com/2008/12/dead-set-hits-us-torrent-sites-review-n.html

Somewhat entertaining if you, like me, are addicted to zombie films. The makeup is often sub-par, but the acting level is much higher than most Z-movies. There are also some really impressive (non-action) gore installations. Available on Netflix Instant Watch, so check it there if you're a zombie addict.

Super Z movie so of course WTF abounds here: a vampire with a bowcaster, public domain Halloween music, loops of generic zombie/horror moans, pointless shower scenes featuring unsexy nudity, acting beyond amateurishly atrocious, a necrophiliac character, sound worse than thought possible, names of famous zombie directors/genre contributors being dropped randomly, unnecessary cannibalism (by the still human population), inexplicable sex scenes, thirty different blood colors and none of them close to realistic, and a zombie/human massacre for the ending.

Some of the makeup is pretty damn cool, but for every decent zed head, there are ten more that even a kid would be embarrassed to be on their first Halloween doing their own makeup.

The coolest part of the movie is the settings used in the first part of the movie. It's almost sad how easy it is to find apocalyptic settings in the every day real world, and this production manages a few that are beyond awesome.

The story concept is not so bad: in the undead future, renegade fundamentalist militia groups seek to start a new world of exclusively white straight people. They also experiment on zombies and humans and eat flesh. Most funny is a feast scene where someone picks a penis entree and dips it in wine for added flavour.

If you like z movies and you HAVE to like z movies to find anything worthwhile here, this may have entertaining parts if you're beyond intoxicated and out of decent z movies to watch. Laughably bad.

You may know this crapfest better as Zombies vs Strippers (or Strippers vs. Zombies).

Intolerable acting, continuity problems abound, terrible CG, "zombies" without any makeup, blood the color of syrup, intolerable acting. And none of this falls under the "so bad it's good" file. Hell, there's not even that many titties, and that's usually the only damn thing these crap movies are about. The thing that irks me most is the movie begins by showing a scene of a poorly done zombie movie on TV, and a chracter remarks summat to the effect "WHo makes this garbage?" I thought the movie would then proceed to do all the right things after demonstrating all the wrong things. NOPE. Just even more wrongness. And I am convinced this is not hidden satire-parody a la Re-Animator. No this is just shit on shit. AVOID AVOID AVOID

Was very disappointed by this, the first zombie film of the New wave of French horror released to the US. Setting and cinematography were stunning but the primary problem is that this is not only heavily trampled premise ground for this genre, this movie does not deliver on it. The central theme here is about the struggle to kill an infected loved one, and the movie attempts to set that theme against a nihilistic backdrop. Unfortunately the nihilistic "we're all going to die. everyone is going to die." tension overwhelms the shaky attempt at giving us two central characters to care about. As a result, this is a misguided delay from the necessary killing of an infected love one which leaves the audience screaming "oh get on with it already!" for forty minutes, as opposed to evoking the desired sobs of empathy from the audience at the climatic "Of Mice and Men" moment we hoped would never come.

I couldn't really appreciate the final makeup look of the "mutants" because I think more traditional zombies would have done better for this story. I've come to accept that the rage zombie is trendy; and it seems this is the latest attempt to assign this subset of infected ghouls a name, in this case "mutants". But let's face it - if the world's gone to shit because people have become uncontrollable cannibals and the few left alive are small groups in isolated areas, struggling with their own personal conflicts, trivial when compared to the sweeping apocalyptic world surround them, which will ironically be their ultimate undoing - then you're in the "zombie genre" that Romero made.

Few people are greater Romero devotees than me, which is why it's a worse fate than a zombie bite for me to have to first watch and then review this movie. Had a extremely young first time film-maker, an only time film-maker, or a fan group made this, it might have been considered marginally good and might have even earned them a shot at legitimate directing. From a master such as Romero, this is a sign that the man no longer has any interest in film, and he is begging us for a mercy kill like so many of his characters. This is little more than an exercise in emulating the cheesiest of bad film-making and a game of "what marginally amusing and creative zombie kill can I do next with shitty CG and bottom tier squibs?"

I am beyond shocked how terrible this attempt at a movie is. At this point, I think it is depressing that this film earned distribution, and I realize now that any of us ever cared about this film only because it was Romero. Well, it's not Romero anymore, kids. It's just a zombie wandering about doing what he vaguely recalls doing in life.

Another Z-budget that I just couldn't sit through unless I was in the torture chair of A Clockwork Orange. When movies are this bad, you just lose hope.
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Full viewing on Aug 21 2010
The acting and set design aren't what's bad here; Andrew Divoff is actually wasted on a movie this trivial and poorly scripted. The gore and special effects are for the most part decent. The problem is that this movie has not a shred of horror and is far into silly territory. It's admirable to see film-makers with no money trying to pull off big effects using CG help, but it will read as lame to your average viewer. To me, it reads as "nice try, but you should have focused more on writing a better script". This movie quickly becomes the "shitty horror movie" that one its characters predicts it will be. And I will count some of these creatures as zombies albeit not the Romero type, especially since they have a controller, infect others, and have a natural affinity for violence. This movie is also loaded with too many allusions to horror fan favorites, so many that it drowns out any originality that was ever intended, and it is not used ironically but in that boring amateur fanboy way of "we saw this when we were kids, so now we want to do it too!".

Z movie to the max! bad acting, stupid plot, shitty zombies, and a waste of time. It was SO bad that I had ERASED the memory of seeing it the first time, so I had to watch it twice. Now I am doubly traumatized by this crap trying to pass a movie!

The strength is in the makeup and special effects.
The weakness is in the story subtext (and often blatant dialogue) about sexgender and how the zombie apocalypse could possibly serve as a solid ground for dealing with issues of gender performance inadequacy (on part of all of the men characters).
Overall, entertaining, but like most zombie flicks, don't go looking for depth.