Live Survival (2023) by Joe Lujan

Director: Joe Lujan

Year: 2023

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Zombie

Plot:

After escaping the zombie hordes, the police officers try to make their way to safety as the creatures follow them out into the city at large where they manage to meet up with several other survivors, and when they try to help them get to safety find themselves battling more undead to survive.

Review:

This was a decent enough if somewhat problematic sequel. One of the main features of this one is the enhanced nature of the attacks that come off as quite thrilling. As the close-quarter found-footage style means that the zombies are usually right on top of the participants during the encounters, they turn out rather engaging with the frantic races for escape and away to safety, providing this with several thrilling encounters. As the chaos of the situation still prevents it from really spelling out what’s going on, these still maintain a tense pace and atmosphere which makes the confrontations that much more intriguing. With the big finale in the underground tunnels of the facility features a lot more encounters and carnage than before which generates some tense moments amongst the thrilling action while also incorporating some decent twists into the story expanding on what has been stated before getting a lot to like as a result.

This one does have some big issues holding it down. One of the main drawbacks is the egregious use of inappropriate camera work and setups that fly in the face of the found-footage format. While the first one was great at not breaking this up, this does hit several mistakes quite early on in its running time as the recorded nature of what’s happening is done by characters that really shouldn’t be filming when their lives are in danger with the way the zombies chase the couple around the construction site. As this not only makes it hard to see what’s going on with the constant shakiness, but the fact that they are recording and passing the camera to each other is a bit of a distraction much in the same way the inclusion of the prologue offers the escape of the virus throughout the facility shouldn’t be there since that doesn’t make sense how that footage would be added onto the main footage here.

The other drawback to this one is the inherently slow-going pace that drains a lot of the life from this one before it gets started. Compared to the more rampant and outgoing energetic tempo of the original, this one tends to forgo the zombies for large periods in the middle where they meet up with the escaping couple and try to fortify their surroundings. This section has very few attacks or encounters which leaves it to rely more on the awkward nature of filming themselves trying to get to know each other, wandering through the facility looking for safety, or doing their best to get away from the zombies that makes for a far less engaging experience when not dealing with the creatures. The last issue here is the same low-budget sensibility hampering this one that the original suffered from, being full of cheap effects, production aesthetics, and locations which are enough to bring this one down overall.

Overview: **.5/5

A downgrade from the original but still with some likable features, there’s some great times here while still being let down by some big factors that cause it to be a slightly downgraded sequel. Those who enjoyed the original, are big fans of either found-footage or zombie fare or just don’t mind the drawbacks present will like this one while most others should heed caution.