Director: Sean Skelding
Year: 2011
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie; Horror/Comedy
Plot:
In the middle of a zombie apocalypse, a loser teams up with a lone hunter to head towards a rumored safe-heaven nearby, and when they meet up with a pair of sisters also seeking safety the group attempts to brave the zombie-riddled landscape to reach it.
Review:
For the most part, this is an enjoyable if potentially grating cash-in. What really makes this one enjoyable is when it focuses on a rather fine mixture of zombie mayhem and comedy. The opening attack in the supermarket or the first flashbacks to the attacks being shown on the news reports all give this a wholly enjoyable time. The action here is handled really well, not only the attack in the mall where they burst through the barricade to overrun the building to the exceptionally fun encounter at the casino with the mad doctor and his group of captive zombies. Alongside the high-energy finale of their series of encounters in the stripclub or their final encounter at the hands of the zombie horde in the middle of the infected creatures, the fact that the action here is all decidedly light and intended to be comical makes this an all-around easy digest alongside all the great gore makeup for the kills and zombie attacks. These here are what hold this one up over it's flaws.
There are some big issues here, starting with the film's outright inability to ripoff it's premise from another film entirely. This ones takes the entire premise, of a young loser teaming up with a grizzled, hardened hunter to survive in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and later find a pair of women to share their journey with, which is taken straight on from that other film. Even side bits, like the loser living by a strict set of rules, the hunter with a traumatic family backstory that drives his quest to obtain a specific food important to him and the featured cameo here by a celebrity within the film world. That this is stopped off by the addition of the two girls into the situation with much of the same resolution and outcome as the other film in it's entirety simply causes this to reek of the outright pilfered material found here. This is made even worth with the additional facet that it's so brazen and forthright in doing this which really stands out quite dominantly on the whole, being so open about it and not doing much different to change things up.
The other big issue here is an entirely wrong-headed approach to women that makes this one extremely cringeworthy at times. There's a lot of talk here about the objectification of women through the idea of taking all women and turning them into sex-obsessed, flesh-hungry maniacs that have to chase after men in high-heels, skimpy lingerie and getting distracted by club music, especially due to a lack of information given for the outbreak. Nothing is given about why it only affects women or whether men could get infected, or even how the virus got lose to target them, leaving this section rather frustrating and troublesome. Likewise, hearing some of the extremely sexist and misinformed sayings that are spouting off in here, made all the more embarrassing by being the sayings of the hero who gets the girl he's offending with every breath. It's not funny or engaging to see him that uninformed about how to treat women which really sticks out here. These here are what hold this one down.
Overview: ***/5
While it's somewhat problematic due to the overwhelming issue of it's repetitive nature and some really cringe-worthy moments, taken just as a light-hearted zombie splatter piece it's a wholly worthwhile effort. This is really only recommended to those that can tolerate the flaws or are willing to engage it for it's positives, while those turned off by it's flaws should heed caution overall.
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