Director: Mikhail Red
Year: 2020
Country: Philippines
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie
Plot:
Attempting to complete their schooling, university nursing students are overwhelmed when a viral outbreak occurs in the city and reaches the campus, forcing them to remain on-site while trying to maneuver around the swarm of zombies released by the ordeal and must try to survive together.
Review:
Generally, this was a really strong and effective zombie effort. Among the better factors to be had here is the first half that builds up the characters quite nicely so that the later scenes involving them working together and trying to deal with the creatures have some emotional stakes. Getting to spend a lot of time here with them, where they get to showcase the traditional archetypes and cliches involved in this type of setting with the interpersonal relationships, the characterizations that fall into cliche more often than not, and the way the college training system works that we get here is a fun starting point to make sure it does give us the starting point necessary for the people to stand out but also get the proper introduction to the virus. These are mostly by-the-numbers experiences but are still worthwhile enough that it gets the points across in such a way that the whole thing means the zombie outbreak later on has some weight to it, as everything being utilized here is decent enough to get the proper establishing notes about it.
This lets the film come across exceptionally well, making the zombie carnage quite likeable. The early mentions of the outbreak and the different ways of combating and containing them that are introduced as background noise work well so that the early scenes of the group getting run over and swarmed are well-handled. Later scenes of them trying to form the usual series of barricades, hiding spots that prove to be ineffectual, or other scenes that bring the survivors into contact with the ravenous creatures are immensely fun, relying heavily on the viciousness and unrelenting nature of the zombies charging after them in the various locations throughout here. The attacks soon spread to the zombies sprinting after and chasing after everyone to the point where sequences inside the parking lot hoping to evade them, inside the medical labs, or the intense finale trying to work through the corridors crawling with zombies and get to safety serve this one well enough to generate plenty of likable factors overall here.
There aren’t too many drawbacks here, but it does have a few issues. The main detrimental factor here is tied into the overwhelming sense of familiarity here, with this one focusing on cliched notions and setpieces that are quite hard to mix. There’s little way of getting away from the idea of the survivors thrust into something that is initially treated as more of an inconvenience than anything because it disrupts their day and then moves into the group forced to work together to deal with the zombie threat running wild in the school, eventually turning on each other to save themselves, or performing some stupid escape tactic that gets someone killed unnecessarily in the course of everything. This is more of a factor for hardcore fans of the genre, who are going to spot everything happening much more easily and sooner, but the cliches are pretty easy and obvious, which is the whole point. That ties into the other big issue here, where the finale is so carefully designed for a sequel that it generates little impact or immediacy when it occurs, bringing up illogical and nonsensical action just to get this together, and it falls flat overall. Combined with its obvious low-budget limitations, these all manage to hold this one back.
Overview: ***.5/5
An immensely enjoyable if by-the-numbers zombie effort, this one has a lot to like about it and hits enough likable points to be worthwhile enough against the few flaws present within here. Those with an interest in this kind of zombie fare or who don’t mind the issues present will have a lot to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment