Director: Pablo Parés, Hernán Sáez
Year: 1997
Country: Argentina
Alternate Titles: Plaga Zombie - The Beginning
Genre: Zombie
Plot:
Bored with their slow lifestyle, two best friends in a small Argentine town find that a strange alien epidemic on their neighboring residents has unleashed a horde of zombies on the town and forces them to engage in a series of inventive tactics to stop them from spreading.
Review:
Considering its resources, this one turned out rather fun and enjoyable. One of the few positives to like here is the rather enjoyable and frantic pacing throughout here that basically charges this one along incredibly well. There's little time to waste here before the abduction encounter and the friends slowly undergoing their metamorphosis in their apartment, leading to the great scenes of the creatures running loose in the streets of the small town with the ever-increasing horde coming after them. There's some more fun to be had from their encounters throughout the house which make this one feel really fun with the initial brawling as well as the encounters in the basement or out in the hallways and corridors of the complex which makes for a truly fun low-budget style good time here with the film employing non-stop encounters with the creatures to give this the sort of frantic, frenzied encounters that take place throughout here which give it that fast-paced feel.
That kicks in even more when it gets to their counter-attacks clearing the way against the zombies, which goes for the cheesy wrestling matches and comedic brawls that occur in the lobby of their apartment or outside in the streets which manage to continue on throughout this one so well that there's almost nothing to keep this one from slowing down and focusing on their battles with the creatures that are quite fun in here, giving this one the kind of crazy, over-the-top gore gags against the zombies that never belie their low-budget origins in execution even though the concept here is exceptionally fun and gruesome at times.
These here really hold this one up even though there are some pretty noticeable flaws to be found here. As is most obvious about this one, that comes from its incredibly low-budget nature which is quite small and really shows it's nature here with the exceptionally cheesy make-up and gore effects as well as the overall execution of the film's technical areas which are just so obviously minuscule that it becomes a source of the film to really get a handle on for this one. Everything looks home-made and cheap without going for any kind of realism, which makes for a somewhat troubling watch if looked at in terms of actual execution of what's going on, and while not a bad thing is something to contend with.
Likewise, the film also manages to really undermine itself where it really doesn't seem too concerned with internal logic, having zombies go from mindless shuffling hordes that fail to understand things such as locked doors or stairs yet are seconds later able to engage in planned wrestling matches or continually pop up into the frame for a mugged goof shot that looks way too planned rather than anything else, resulting in a somewhat jarring tone that comes more from the amateurish production than anything else here. Otherwise, there's not a whole lot else to this one.
Overview: **.5/5
Filled with obvious limitations that are present even if they're not detrimental in the slightest, the amount of creative energy prominent here overruns the film. If you're willing to go along with the wackiness and are aware of the film's background then give it a shot, while those that don't appreciate this kind of amateur indie style might want to need caution.
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