The Burning Dead (2015) by Rene Perez

Director: Rene Perez
Year: 2015
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: Volcano Zombies
Genre: Zombie

Plot:
Working at a nearby facility, a group of scientists study a recently reactivated volcano find themseles trapped behind with a family displaced during the process by a horde of zombies unleashed by the eruption and must rely on a heroic ranger to stop the creatures and get them out alive.

Review:

This here was quite the decent zombie effort. One of the nicer features here is the rather strong and somewhat impressive storyline where it manages a lot to like with how to mix together the different elements. Bringing in the Native American folklore angle about the respect for nature and how that allowed the volcano to swallow up the original zombies to bring them back as cannibalistic creatures manages to provide an intriguing manner of conception about the zombies. That also figures into the rather fun if slightly underwhelming manner of finally defeating the creatures since that allows for a great subversion of expectations regarding gunshots to the head while letting the final method remain somewhat connected to the main storyline.

Still, the most fun here is the enjoyable amount of action present, from the opening in the original western setting, the first encounters with the creatures out in the woods which are assumed to be merely lost hikers to the great scenes of the swarm appearing at the cabin which has some decent scenes with the zombies breaking the barricade or the battle to get to the transportation which provides this one with some nice action. The nice action confrontations up in the water tower has this one feature a fun finale to end this on a high note, and along with the decent gore and zombie make-up give this one enough to hold it up over the few minor flaws here.

The biggest problem with the film is the fact that the story, for all the clever and unique ideas it has regarding the zombies, makes no sense at all and leaves out several glaring questions to be answered. There's nothing given here about how the lava preserves the bodies instead of destroying them or how they're transported inside the volcano to be able to be recalled later which leaves this with some big questions to answer. A major factor of the film goes unexplained here which really gives this a big hill to overcome where it really keeps this one down from the start by offering a really strong negative at the forefront of the film as a whole.

Likewise, the need for including such a weak finale as it does here is somewhat questionable as there's a real lack of any impactful action to be taken from what happens here as this leaves the whole film as somewhat unnescessary based on how they finally resolve matters here which is completely disappointing. The last big problem here is the rather low-budget nature of what's going on which really becomes distracting with the atrocious CGI used for the volcano's eruption, the gore from the creatures or the actual visual enhancements which manage to look so obvious that it's distracting. This is based not only on the quality of the effects but also the quantity where it really makes this look worse than it really should.

As for the acting, it's pretty much what you would expect from this kind of low-budget film. The lead Sheriff Denton, played by Thomas Downey, is a fine lead being able to handle the action scenes while keeping a firm take on the need to protect those around him. His estranged wife Mindy Roberts, played by Monique Plante, is somewhat of a bland role and doesn't really offer much beyond the usual parental duties one expects in these kinds of efforts. The daughter Nicole, played by Nicole Carmela, is the typical whinny teenager wanting to do her own thing but manages to come around somewhat in the final half by not being as annoying when she's put in danger. The rest of the cast isn't that bad at all, and with Danny Trejo showing up for a paycheck only in a few brief scenes, it's what you expect in these kinds of films. Otherwise, this one was just decent enough.

Overview: **/5
While having a few solid points that make it watchable, there's still more than enough flaws to be found here that make this one quite an experience to figure out. This is really only worthwhile for those who are low-budget/indie zombie aficionados, while those looking for more substantial elements should heed caution.