Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (2014) by Kiah Roache-Turner

Director: Kiah Roache-Turner
Year: 2014
Country: Australia
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie

Plot:
During a massive zombie apocalypse, a man who lost his family joins up with various other locals who've been affected by the ordeal to try to find a way to save his remaining family from the ravenous creatures as they encounter those attempting to study how the zombies function.

Review:

This here turned out to be quite an impressive effort. One of the few bright spots for this one is the fact that there's a slew of stellar action scenes throughout here that play up the fun zombie encounters. From the beginning, where the opening shots of the crew retrieving the truck from a horde of creatures starts this out on a high note which includes the enjoyable and rather exciting battle in the suburbs where it attacks the friend in the garage during the photoshoot turning them into zombies as well as the family's battle to get out of their infested neighborhood. That offers this one with plenty to like and enjoy about it during the proper time which offers up plenty of great moments about them navigating out of the house battling the creatures and setting up the other fun encounters here.

The inclusion of the government conspiracy saddled among the early action scenes gives this a solidly chilling air about it as the series of tests committed against the local abducted woman allows this to feature some creepy moments about their experiments. The idea of the van full of infected roaming around the countryside carrying on these experiments is a notably creepy idea to start with, and the various scenes showcased here offer up a great twist which is paid off with the later half involving the woman who's half-human, half-zombie that is given the especially powerful new powers of being able to control the creatures telepathically which has a lot of quality moments to like here. The idea itself is incredibly clever and unique which allows for more fun action to come in the final half as well.

The cast is certainly fun and serviceable for this type of effort. Jay Gallagher as the lead Barry gives a fantastic turn here, ranging from heartbroken family man to decisive man-of-action trying to survive as this keepsake us on his side while making for a compelling lead. Bianca Bradey as his sister Brooke is quite fun, as her initial tough resourceful character is taken to a completely unexpected arc that really adds nicely to the action in the second half. She's an intriguing character and has a lot to like about as she serves as a great counterpoint to the other characters. Leon Burchill as his friend Benny is a great comedic sidekick, capable of taking on some fine action while still being sympathetic at the end as we find him becoming slowly affected by the events around him. Coupled with the stellar make-up and gore effects on the multitude of zombies shown throughout here, this has more than enough to hold out over the few minor flaws featured.

Among the few flaws here is the film's rather obvious lack of explaining anything that's going on. The concept of the billowing gas cloud they emit as being as source of ignitable fuel is a clever touch, maintaining the idea that the space virus is affecting people of a specific blood-type is ingenious and the military group experimenting on the zombies makes sense yet none of these elements are ever brought together to make any kind of cohesive storyline. These are all issues which play a big role in how the story plays out which is what makes it important to understand the different ideas at play here and is instead not even touched on at all. There's also the stinging issue of the low-budget being quite apparent and noticeable in here, offering up plenty of issues from the rather irritating CGI bloodsplatter to the silly costumes and the utterly irritating and frustratingly annoying shaking camera featured in the big action scenes that make it hard to realize what's happening. These here are what really hold it down.

Overview: ***1/2/5
Despite a few minor issues that at times hold this one down, it remains enjoyable enough that it's inherently watchable in the end. Give this one a chance if you're at all interested in low-budget zombie fare or are curious about it, while those unwilling to look past the flaws should heed caution.