Director: David J. Francis
Year: 2003
Country: Canada
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie
Plot:
Out on a family road trip, a crisis in the world involving an outbreak of dead people returning to life as the result of radiation from the nuclear devastation plaguing the rest of the world traps a small group inside a bunker and forces a desperate attempt to get away before falling victim to the zombies.
Review:
This here wasn't that bad of a film. One of the better aspects to this one is that it has quite a solid pace here since there's a huge amount of action in here. That comes mainly from the different waves of attacks in here leading to lots of confrontations that are fun, from the first missions just to get into the shelter and the ensuing food-run that ends in disaster due to the large swarms that appear out of the darkness. The attacks much later on, with the zombies swarming over the compound and taking on a rather calculated plan of attack as they manage to force them into defensive positions while they are making an offensive march against them, are really great as well as the main sequence out in the attempt to leave their compound to get to the second shelter where the creatures pick off the most survivors and the final chase to get out of the bunker that leads into a series of woodland-based attacks are all energetic and creepy, due to the night-time setting and trying to see everything through flashlight power.
Even the battle in the second shelter is quite fun with the horde coming in and taking out the different members of the group that break through the barricade and manage to get to the scattered group which has plenty of fun action. The opening, with the worldwide reports of damage and destruction give this a great feel, and with the huge, global feel to it, it has a much bigger and creepier feel. The other big plus here is that there's such a huge amount of blood and gore in here that features both the violence against the zombies and humans which include gunshots to the dismemberments with blades, long poles or other such weapons plus the plethora of necks being torn open, a leg ripped off and devoured, untold numbers have their stomachs torn open and intestines yanked out and devoured. These here are the film's good points as it did have a few problems with it.
The fact that it's so low-budget does hurt it since there's really no way to get around certain factors like it's cheap and quite terrible-looking gore and shots that tend to be subject to the condition that they were shot in, fading in and out at opportune moments and much more in here that gives away the fact that it's really cheaply done. All of these here pop up throughout the film on a continual basis, especially the gore since it's pretty bloody, and these here can make for some troublesome viewing by those who aren't that into it's style of film. It's other main flaw is the unneeded side character that constantly throws the group into danger for no reason and holds up the pacing from the zombie attacks which is the main point. Also a little damaging is the constant clichés that normally pop up in a zombie film, mainly the one where no one can get along and the stupidest decision actually turns out to be the one that saved everyone, but those are so universally-used it's not that damaging as the other flaws.
The cast here is basically as good as the main style here. As Mark, Johnny Cole serves as a nominal, nondescript lead by trying to play peacemaker and keeping everybody together so his calming attributes are quite appreciated here. The main hero David, played by Danny Ticknovich, easily comes off the best, being the no-nonsense man of action that always has a plan in place and resorts to violence quickly in order to protect the others. It might be too aggressive a performance, but it suits the film nicely as is. The only other group member of note is Derek, as Dwayne Moniz comes off very convincingly as the self-centered, aggravating one in the group who puts himself before everyone else. He really comes off as the kind that makes you question why the others put up with him for so long and it's a fine character. The rest of the group is merely zombie bait or those who don't seem memorable in any other way.
Overview: **/5
With a majority of apparent flaws that comes mainly from the style of film made rather than anything else, it ends up making this one pretty good overall. Recommended to those who enjoy low-budget zombie fare or the most undiscriminating admirer of these films, while those who can't stand the flaws are urged to avoid in favor of better representative-genre material.
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