Virus Undead

Considering the fact that most German horror movies of recent years came from amateurs with their video cameras and varying degrees of talent and that there hasn't been any real tradition of this kind of genre films for decades in this country, VIRUS UNDEAD certainly seems like a welcome breath of fresh air.

Not only was it actually filmed on 35mm, the whole workmanship on display here is miles above what you'd expect from a little low budget horror movie from Germany: The credit-sequence is extremely stylish, the digital special effects of helicopters and birds are surprisingly well done, there's some rather spectacular stunt work to be seen - in short: VIRUS UNDEAD looks professional.

More important, the movie's not only very well made on a purely technical level, it displays a very good eye from its two directors as well. There are some quite impressive shots and sequences to be seen here, especially in the second half of the movie, when the main characters are besieged in an old mansion. This was actually the part of VIRUS UNDEAD I enjoyed the most, because the skilled use of that beautiful location made for some chilling moments that reminded me of the haunting atmosphere of European horror classics from decades past.

So is this a flawless movie? No, of course not. I was a bit annoyed by the use of the English language, which sounded quite unnatural to me most of the time and seemed in harsh contrast to the obviously German locations. I got used to it as the movie went on though, and I understand it had to be filmed in English to get the financing done. I wasn't very fond of the main characters either who just didn't seem likable to me. The guy who turns psycho in the end did a good job though and was pretty convincing.

So while VIRUS UNDEAD is certainly far from perfect I definitely can't agree with the comment from another user that this was "the baddest Movie ever". It may not be 'the gooddest Movie ever' (ahem), but there's much to enjoy here.

where to start, i actually liked several aspects of this film. the effects weren't half bad and the nudity, although brief, was very sweet on the eyes...

the story didn't really hang together in my eyes, it was an attempt to involve a lot of different aspects and i sort of missed the whole point of the film. the story was quite lacking in imagination, the acting was quite bad - a bunch of Germans trying to sound extremely American by simply using the f**k word in almost every sentence does NOT take away the heavy German accent, OK guys? - and several scenes really called for a LOT more reaction from these stone faced actors.

Sure it's a horror film and I'm not expecting DeNiro to step in, but come on, at least PRETEND to be actors, OK? 4/10, that's all.. Nice cinematography though...

I watched the movie at the FantasyFilmFestival in Berlin and I can't really recommend it. It was the only movie i've seen there, where people started booing after its showing.

I was hoping to see a good Zombie Splatter movie, because it was compared with 28 weeks later and Dawn of the Dead, but Virus Undead can't nearly compete with them.

I hoped all the time,that the action begins, but slow moving zombies who are dying such by body-shoots or punches are not really terrifying :)

Also the SpecialFX where'n really convincing and they tried to keep it cheap by not showing any bloody close ups...

Even the lighting and color grading was't the best at all and got a lack of continuity.

The both directors where really proud of it and called it "Dirty little Movie", but everything it was just little.

I don't hope to see movies like this again.

What can I say...not much. Bad acting I mean very awful. I didn't know zombies can open doors, climb ladders, eat donuts & use cell phones. Not even scary, I don't recommend this. I would rather watch Dawn of the Dead or 28 Weeks Later 10 times in a row than to watch this again. Do yourself a favor and don't watch this. Everything in this movie is just plain stupid, the story, the actors everything! I only watched it cause I saw the comment " Worth Watching " so I gave it a shot, but from my experience this is so not worth watching, spend your time watching something thats gonna be fun and not disappointing. All I can say is wow, not even a 10 year old would find this scary.

Hope I saved everyone there time to not watch this movie. Find something better. If there was 0/10 I would rate it that.

I just watched Virus Undead and I have to admit I'm disappointed.

First off, I was stunned that somebody on this production had the really stupid idea to have German actors speak English. While the guys certainly aren't bad with the language, some of them still have a pretty strong German accent, making the whole ordeal somewhat of a joke to me.

On top of that, the movie tries way too hard to have your typical US hillbilly scenery and character clichés, which are already a vast exaggeration when set in the middle of nowhere in the US, but just don't work at all in a town in the middle of Germany. You have the default unfriendly "town sheriff", complete with sunglasses and donuts, the commonly known town ruffian, including tons of tattoos, a goatee, leather clothing and a pea-sized brain and they even have a "restaurant" in the middle of the woods making sausage out of any dead animal they can find. Those two things made me wonder why the writers were too afraid to actually try something fresh and simply go with the "set in Germany" thing and pull through with it. Instead, they chose to take the generic "hillbilly town" cliché and move it over here. Kind of idiotic. Just like the hillbilly town in horror flicks is a big exaggeration of clichés about American towns in the middle of nowhere, an exaggeration of clichés about small German towns would have been far more entertaining and would have worked a lot better. Basically, this movie tries very hard to be an American B-movie set in Germany played by German actors, which was what I found very disappointing.

The story covers the basics of "virus causing zombies", but doesn't go any further than a rough outline and the characters are walking clichés with some odd moments here and there. I agree with NeilCassidy, though, that the movie at least looks professional.

Overall it has some mildly entertaining moments and is well done on the technical side of things, but to me the story and setting were pretty much atrocious. I've seen a lot worse films, but this one stands out for almost intentionally ruining any potential it might have had.