Zombie Chronicles: Infection Zone (2023) by Joe Sherlock

Director: Joe Sherlock

Year: 2023

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Zombie; Anthology

Plot:

Stuck late at his shift, a morgue attendant passes the time watching tapes of cheesy, low-budget zombie films while dealing with his clients.

Review:

The Nudist Resort Zombie-Attempting to take a vacation, a woman getting ready for the trip is attacked by a flesh-eating zombie. This brief way to get things started isn’t all that bad but its premise does ruin this slightly. The potential sleaze and cheese on offer is quite enjoyable and gets this off to a solid start, especially once the attack happens, but the gag about its setup does tend to bring about the main issue here presenting itself as a cheat more than anything else.

Harvest Time-While carrying out a clandestine deal, a pair of strangers come across flesh-eating zombies in the woods. Overall, this was a really fun effort that lets the conventional storytelling give this a lot to like. The way the setup in the woods, with their secret meeting and conversations about the whole thing ties into a past between them, provides a nice grounding so that the creature attacks generate some cheesy charm. There are some fine sight gags involving the contents of their meeting interacting with the zombies and it all provides a solid enough storyline to keep it moving and upbeat, and although the amount of calls to his wife to reassure her about everything gets old and slow the pace down it’s not a major issue in the slightest.

Keeping Molly-Preparing for the birth of their baby, a newly-married couple finds a series of complications to hinder their lives after the delivery. As a whole, this was a fine effort but seems slightly misplaced in this kind of anthology effort. The slow-building exploits of the virus and how it’s spreading through her as well as the resulting community has some great tension being built up nicely through the body transformation and eventual realization. Although it’s the longest segment, the first half being all set up about the pregnancy allows for a massively overlong but still fun second half featuring the outbreak of the virus which goes on a bit too long with that length providing the opportunity to generate plenty of great indie gore with the bodily breakdowns and gruesome flesh-ripping. Still, as it’s the most fully flesh-out and structured it stands out from the others who are centered around a short gag or setup so this does come off weird but still has plenty of likable features here.

Carl the Coroner-Stuck late at his shift, a morgue attendant passes the time watching tapes of cheesy, low-budget zombie films while dealing with his clients. As a whole, this isn’t bad as a means of establishing a wraparound for this type of indie fare. The setup of the worker staying late with the tapes at his job so that each of the stories appears as a tape is workable enough along with the resulting zombie outbreak that leads into the final segment after the proper third story that again features some cheesy action and plenty of gore. It’s all somewhat confusing how this takes place whether or not it’s part of the movie world or the real world, and it’s the most glaringly obvious about its low-budget origins as the goofy atmosphere drips off the screen constantly for a hint as to what’s on display throughout.

Overview: **.5/5

A generally fun indie zombie anthology, this one comes off incredibly well for those who appreciate this style even with some drawbacks to some of the segments. Those who appreciate this kind of genre effort, go for this brand of indie feature, or are fans of the creative crew will like this the most while all others should tread lightly if not outright avoid it.