Director: Sean Cain
Year: 2009
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie
Plot:
While preparing for the Christmas holiday, a viral outbreak unleashes a horde of zombies in Los Angeles which forces a policeman and his partner to take several survivors alongside his ex-wife to a safe-house and try to protect them from the neverending horde of creatures on the streets.
Review:
There’s a lot to like with this one. Among the better elements here is the solid setup dropping us straight into a zombie apocalypse that happens to take place during the holiday season. With the immediate nature of the officers taking care of the civilians in the beginning stages of the zombie outbreak as the overwhelming number of zombies crawling around the streets which brings them to the attention of his ex-wife as one of the survivors which puts her in the middle of the situation with the rest of the other citizens, this brings about a fun introduction to the outbreak. The series of sidestories that come about here with this in play comes off nicely enough as it helps to make the group somewhat likable enough to bring about the early stages of a traditional zombie outbreak.
This lets the film feature some quite enjoyable and thrilling action scenes of the zombies running wild through the city and their attempts to take them out. The immediate sequences of the group coming across the suburban neighborhood trying to get to safety only to see the stragglers get ripped to pieces in graphic encounters start the film nicely, as does the few short yet equally brutal confrontations on the streets as the team tries to defend their hideout. Given that two sets of zombies make logical and realistic use of both traditional shuffling and athletic sprinters, the use of continuous encounters means a lot of fine brief scenes with bits with decent splatter and make-up to have a lot of positive points.
There are some big flaws with this one. The biggest detriment here is the absolutely sluggish pacing that tends to make it feel far more drawn-out and dull than it really should. As the film goes through a detailed backstory about the former couple and the infidelity that split them up being one of the survivors which soon turns into numerous flashbacks involving her involvement with each member of the triangle, the focus here becomes obvious that there’s a higher focus on the character drama than all-out zombie thrills. This personal preference setup isn’t truly detrimental but does cause the film to be far more slow-paced than most traditional genre efforts, which is also true of the seemingly abrupt ending that feels more like funding ran out than a natural conclusion to things. These are what hold this one down.
Overview: ***/5
A generally solid enough zombie effort, this one comes off decently enough for what it is although there are more than enough flaws here to bring this one down overall. Those with an appreciation for this type of feature or are fans of the creative crew will want to check this one out while most others not interested in these factors should heed caution.
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