Rammbock: Berlin Undead

I actually am reviewing this film just to push its rating up because I think that the current rating might put people off who would otherwise really enjoy this film.

Berlin Undead is a 28 days later style horror flick with realistic (rather than Hollywood-style) characters and a believable storyline. The low-budget doesn't affect the quality at all, except where the special effects are concerned... thankfully, the director seems to have been aware of this weakness as he has limited their use.

Watch it late at night and I'm pretty sure you'll get creeped out and/or have trouble sleeping afterwards... which is what horror is all about!

For a rather short film (just over an hour) with a rather low budget it's not too shabby. The "dead" act like the infected from 28 days later, rather than zombies and are repelled with bright light but do love the taste of flesh! The action takes place in and around an apartment block and a courtyard so don't be mislead by the cover. I liked the film but found the main character to be a complete pain. The guy is a complete plank and its hard to sympathise with him though the other main characters (or should I say, character) were fine. In the middle of the apocalypse, he is completely smitten with his girlfriend and worries about her whereabouts which is plausible but he still comes across as rather stupid and pathetic. However this is a nice change from the hard as nails lead you expect in this type of film. Some people should be warned that the film is in German which posed no problems for me as I don't mind subtitles but folk do seem to moan a lot about having to read subtitles these days...

This is one of those flicks I was trying to get in my hands. It is officially out and should be easy to find but when I ordered it it was always delayed but finally I was able to get it from the UK. It's an independent and it shows but not on the effects. It only shows on the amount of actors and on the way the script was written. There are a few CGI shots but it's only the apocalypse of Berlin and it worked out fine. The zombies itself are okay in the way they act and are created. But overall it's more a love story than a real zombie flick. Nevertheless, the zombies do appear at regular base just when you think that it's going to be boring. There is a bit of red stuff and only in the beginning there is a bite in the neck where it's a little bit gory. Further on the gore is left out. Still by clocking in at 61 minutes it's surely on to have in your zombie collection. A really nice effort by the director and his crew.

Rammbock otherwise known as Berlin Dead and Siege Of The Dead is a German zombie movie which tells the very generic story of the beginning of a zombie outbreak but does it competently enough to be passable.

It follows two strangers who are forced to barricade themselves inside a block of flats and try to survive. Basically your usual tropes so don't expect anything original here.

It plays the realistic angle and reminded me of the 28 Days Later (2002) movies despite these actually being zombies.

It looks okay, the characters are passable but it's so unoriginal it made my balls rattle. It really is paint by numbers stuff so if you like generic zombie films this may very well be what you're looking for.

Sadly after countless zombie epics including the more recent Train To Busan (2016) and Wyrmwood (2014) I do find myself expecting more.

The Good:

Realistic approach

Generally passable stuff

The Bad:

No originality at all

Lead bounces from annoying to pathetic

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Bent fork heads don't make the best projectiles

Fork desecration is a womans primary concern during a zombie apocalypse

A man (Michael) goes to Berlin to try and reconcile with his girlfriend (Gabi) under the guise of "returning her keys". When he gets to her house he finds that she's not there and that zombies are ruling the neighborhood. In other words, they're all over the f!!cking place. With the help of a young man (Harper) he is forced to barricade himself in her apartment. In fact everyone in the apartment complex that overlooks a courtyard is trapped; they're only able to communicate with each other by shouting across the courtyard. How the outbreak of zombification started is not known. A special report that conveniently begins as soon as Harper turns on a TV set, highlights terrorism as one of the public and news media speculations (a "German September 11th"). To this, the authorities respond with "ridiculous". So the people in the movie don't really know and neither do we the viewer. But who cares? This is typical of many zombie movies. The important thing is that this is one of the better made ones.

The zombies in this movie are aggressive, ravenous, and know how to hustle for a bite and taste of human flesh. I think it's beginning to dawn on horror movie producers that one could still have some kind of life with the slow zombies since the only way they could catch a healthy man, woman, or child is by surprise. With these new strain of zombies you're pretty much shut down in your house and really horrified. I mean, no work, no school, no social life. Anyway, some of the challenges these trapped people face is to find a way to close the gate to the courtyard below and to navigate the apartment complex to get away from zombies and bring assistance to each other. We all love situations in movies where people are trapped or confined in some place and have to use their courage and ingenuity to survive ---if they're done well. And it's done well here; very entertaining. Don't miss! Love, Boloxxxi.