Live Escape (2023) by Joe Lujan

Director: Joe Lujan

Year: 2023

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Zombie

Plot:

Investigating a seemingly ordinary call, police officers called out to a remote abandoned building that had been used as a homeless shelter are unnerved by the situation they currently find themselves in, and when they find themselves trapped with flesh-eating zombies must try to get out alive.

Review:

This was a fairly enjoyable found-footage zombie effort. Among the more likable aspects here is the solid setup that provides the film with a lot of the necessary features to be quite fun. The opening here dealing with the exploits of the pair out on patrol and dealing with a typically quiet night on the job dealing with food orders, time-killing banter to endear each other as partners, or handling underwhelming calls to duty sets the group up in their usual routine quite quickly. With the whole thing taken from their body cameras or mounted head cameras to then explain the found-footage shooting style, there’s a generally solid setup present here that meets the requirements of the genre rather nicely.

That all works to nicely set up the solid atmosphere present here when the officers arrive at the call site and are sent to investigate the strange call. The seemingly innocuous nature of the incident that brings them out and the investigations of the building where it takes place bring about some solid suspense as the darkness of their environment and the confusing nature of the situation enhance a genuinely chilling atmosphere. As they spend time there and start to encounter the individuals inside that are so unnatural it starts to hint that something isn’t right, it all comes together into making an intriguing atmosphere to go along with the setup of their location for a creepy enough time.

When it all breaks loose and they realize that it’s a building full of zombies, there’s still plenty to enjoy here as their aggressiveness in such a location where this plays out is quite creepy. Resisting the massive swarm tactic and relying on attacking individually rapidly out of the shadows to attack them or the other survivors they come across at first, there are some chilling encounters within here as the dwindling group tries to work around the overwhelming numbers that grow over time with the zombies gradually given more numbers to hunt them down. The fine finale, where the real source of everything gets revealed and the race to get out contains solid encounters with some decent indie gore gags, providing enough to like about it.

The film does have a few minor drawbacks to hold it down. One of the main drawbacks here is the inability of the officers to recognize what’s going on and to react accordingly to what’s happening. While it’s a stretch to believe immediately they’re zombies, the fact that their encounters are eerily similar regardless of who they come across but don’t learn from it to then have it all be repeated is a bit of a disappointment since they do show themselves to add things up elsewhere. That continues in the rescue attempts where the inability to spot obvious danger continually brings them into contact with the zombies that are somewhat frustrating, and with some budgetary limitations in place prove to be the main drawbacks.

Overview: ***.5/5

An overall likable found footage zombie effort, this one manages to have a lot to like that holds it up over the few minor drawbacks that emerge throughout here. Those who appreciate this style of indie fare or are massive fans of either found-footage or zombie films in principle will have the most to like with this one while most others should heed caution.