Witness Infection (2021) by Andy Palmer


Director: Andy Palmer
Year: 2021
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie; Horror/Comedy

Plot:
Caught in a desperate situation, the son of a mob boss in a small-town at war with a rival family in the same town and tries to keep it from escalating, but in the process finds that a zombie outbreak has affected the town and turned against them, forcing him and his friends to try to get to safety from the horde.

Review:

This was a pretty solid and enjoyable genre effort when it really mattered. One of the strongest elements here is the rather fun light-hearted storyline that pits the two families against each other at the very beginning. Given the liberty of how the situation occurred to begin with which doesn’t make any sense, the fact that the feud between everyone is spelled out where everyone is given enough of a backstory to understand what’s going on is a great touch. With the need for everyone to honor their sense of familial duties and keep the peace or else it’ll blow up into something far grander than what they expected, which carries itself along nicely with the comedic one-liners and situations involved with this setup that gives this one a lot to like starting off.

Based on this comedic setup, it’s all the more fun to see this one score nicely with the gross-out zombie action when it matters. The early action around town and the confrontation at the rival bosses’ house offers some intriguing and enjoyable setups with the out-of-their-element group trying to get everything in order while they try to get away from the creatures attacking them. However, the two big scenes here involving the zombies attacking the survivors in a bar and at the house where he meets his zombified parents offer up the kind of action that makes for a fun time featuring hand-to-hand fighting against the creatures emerging from out of the shadows of the environment, providing some solid make-up effects and practical gore that generates some fun times in the most important aspects of this kind of film. These are what make for a good time here.

There isn’t much really wrong here but it does have a few minor problems. The main issue is the somewhat clumsy manner that introduces the zombie threat into the film which is such a passing mention that very little impact is made from it. With a brief flash image showing the group confronting the zombies standing in a group at a food-truck is all that really shows off the only clue that something’s happening which is forgotten and ignored for the main part of the film as the next instance comes way later in the film as part of the other issue here. The film seems to stop dead in its tracks when the two visit his house in the outskirts of town which revolves around tired flatulent humor and overlong conversations that are trying to generate some humor about the arranged marriage storyline but that’s in the disservice of the zombie attacks since there’s none for a long stretch leading into it. Still, these are all that hold this one down.


Overview: ****/5
Without too many flaws and a lot to like with the comedy and straightforward zombie action elsewhere in play, this one manages to generate plenty of fun points that serve this one rather nicely. Give this one a look if you're a fan of zombie films or zombie comedies or intrigued by the premise involving the cast and crew, while those who don't appreciate the style or genre will be the ones who don't like this one.

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