Zombie Wars

I've been working my way through the entire David A. Prior catalog over the past month. He's mostly famous for his action/exploitation films in the late 80s/early 90s. Zombie Wars was one of 2 films he made in 2007 after a 8 year hiatus. If you're reading this review just to get info on a zombie film you've never heard of then quit reading now.

This film is primarily going to be of interest to David A. Prior fans and not zombie-movie fans. That said, it is a solid Prior movie and bears many of the hallmarks of his action films from decades earlier (gun play, pretty girls, dudes on a mission). Much has been toned down--stunt work is scaled back, big action scenes (e.g. firefights) are absent BUT there's still enough action to satisfy. Although this film contains some CGI it primarily utilizes practical FX which is refreshing. I have no complaints as it pertains to FX.

Aside of the abject weirdness of the zombie plot, the script is actually pretty solid. Motivations are clear, things that are set-up in the script have pay-offs, the dialogue is good. Look, this isn't Citizen Kane...it's a direct-to-video B-movie capitalizing on the zombie trend in 2007.

Like most Prior films from the 80s, the acting in this film ranges from good, to adequate, to bad. As in most Prior films, the leads do pretty well whereas the secondary players are all over the map. Prior (or his casting agent) actually had a pretty good eye for talent and often found leads that elevate his movies--this trait is certainly on display in Zombie Wars.

I honestly had very low expectations for this film. I figured that given his long absence from directing that his return would be more akin to the poor schlock of that era as opposed to the GREAT schlock that he was so skilled at producing in the 80s & 90s. This isn't a "great" film by any definition--it's not even a "great" David A. Prior film--but it's a decent David A. Prior film and definitely watchable. RIP David A. Prior.

As usual I checked this site before watching this movie and from the rating and some of the comments I was pretty skeptical going in. If you check the break down of the votes on this movie a bunch of people actually gave this a 1 star out of 10 which now after watching the movie I can't explain, maybe they've only ever seen the 'Romero' Zombie flicks and compared this to those or something.

Granted, this movie doesn't do itself many favors at the beginning, the acting is really cheesy and strained and there's an early character development scene that's like watching paint dry, and the makeup on the zombies... well it is a B movie.

However, after the first 20 minutes or so this flick really changes, it's like everyone involved in the movie got warmed up and things seems to come together. The acting, directing, editing.. everything but the makeup seemed to go up a few notches and make this movie worth watching.

There's a few holes in the plot, as pointed out in the comments earlier by imdb1 but if you're watching a movie called Zombie Wars you can probably get past those without too much trouble.

All in all if you like Zombie flicks I'd add this one to the list to watch, there's definitely many (much) worse zombie movies out there.

50 years after a zombie infiltration a small group of nomadic survivors are still fighting the undead ghouls who've gotten smarter and kidnap nubile young women to feed off of. Two brothers save some girls from the ghouls, and one of the guys falls in love with one of them who he nicknames Star. Trouble ensues when the zombies follow them back to their camp.

It's been awhile since I've seen a David Prior film (1986's Killer Workout) So it was time to put my prejudice of that film aside, perhaps he took a turn for the better within the intervening two decades. I always give people the benefit of the doubt. After watching this movie,he good knew is he did take a turn, the bad news is it's definitely not for the better. This film is amateur hour from start to finish. Grade school special effects, combines with hideously stunted dialog, terrible acting & shoddy camera work. This makes his previous Killer Workout look like a masterpiece by comparison.

My Grade: F

DVD Extra: trailer for this film

Set fifty years after a zombie epidemic, a group of soldiers learn that intelligent zombies have begun breeding humans for food.

"They just came out of the ground..." Opening with some very bad effects of the earth it looks ambitious and bites off more than it can chew. It's simply a cheese feast. Although it has some heart felt voice over ala Alice Resident Evil narration the production tries to be larger than it is.

It's low budget with awful acting. That said, there is only so much that the actors could have done with the script. If they'd hammed it up more and took more care with the editing and sound it may have it may have come off a whole lot better. Possibly and 80's comedy B-film homage. But its badly edited, awful swipes and transitions, poor sound and distracting piano music. It oddly borrows from The Planet of the Apes and one actor does his whole role as Jack Nicholson for no reason.

To it's credit some of Diana Diaz and Justin Pine's special makeup effects are good.

The effort is there but it's rushed and very slap dash. Not even the array of pretty faces can save Zombie Wars. It sadly does't qualify as bargain bucket material either.

David A. Prior, I will respond with Sledgehammer from 1983. From there on it's downhill with flicks from prior but still he kept making movies and still sell them. When you are in Germany as a horror geek you will always be attracted to the sleeves of DVD's and Blu Ray's. But Germany also has a speciality to change names from flicks towards more attractive names, this is called Zombie Wars but in Germany it came out as War Of The Living Dead. Admit, nice title, and that's the best thing of this stinker.

The acting isn't really good, as was the script, zombies capturing humans, really. the zombies really are looking cheap. The flick starts pretty well, but after a while you get it, zombies being shot in the head, next zombie being shot in the head, next zombie....and it goes on and on with nothing happening at all. Really, it was a war to get through this.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5