Re-Kill

I normally dislike the found footage genre (although as another reviewer said, I do like starship troopers so would advise those who liked the humour and/or style of Starship Troopers to give this one a chance).

I know other reviews have made a point of mentioning how shaky the camera was, but imo...its less shaky than what you would expect if you were actually being chased by a bunch of re-animated corpses that want to eat you. And (again imo), the shaky cam helps you submerge yourself into the film better - by creating the sense that they were panicked and running for their lives.

While I wouldn't think that this film would appeal to the masses and be winning any Oscars any time soon, I feel it is definitely one of the better zombie films - to the point that I've came here to review it (something I rarely ever do).

After a Zombie Apocalypse, most of the world's population has been annihilated. The R-Division is trying to eliminate the last zombies (called Re-Animates or Re-Ans) in segregated zones to avoid a second and final outbreak and rebuild Earth. Their operation is filmed and showed in television as a reality show. The efficient Sarge (Roger R. Cross) commands a team of veteran soldiers and despite their experience, there are usually casualties. When they decide to investigate a compound, they find an army with thousands of Re-Ans. Will mankind be doomed to disappear?

"Re-kill" is a movie with a good zombie story and narrative that was inspired in "Starship Troopers". Unfortunately the awful shaky camera associated to zombies that run like hell is a mess and destroy the film. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Renacidos das Trevas" ("Reborn from Darkness")

How to ruin a movie. Have a nice enjoyable spin on an abused genre such as zombies. Have a nice cast of actors. Have a good doze of violence and gore. Have good sound and camera positioning / scenes.. And then COMPLETELY RUIN IT WITH AN OVERKILL AND OVERDO OF SHAKE CAM / CAMERA MOTION!

What a waste of resources and potential. I physically could not sit through this movie because i got a headache and motion sickness because someone thought it was a good idea to ruin a perfectly decent movie with an over-usage of shake cam.

This is not a debate about love or hate about camera motion. This is about the notion that there now is a whole ARMY of simpletons out there that think it is good viewing to overkill on camera motion.

Camera motion when done the right way (not to much degree of motion and not to much zoomed in) is actually very enjoyable and can add tense, action etc to scene.

Shamefully in this movie it completely ruined what could have been a solid good movie.

As my title suggests, if you are a fan of the original Starship Troopers then this is a movie you will likely enjoy. It's a great spin on the (slowly getting tiresome) Zombie genre that had me laughing and, at times, on the edge of my seat, for the entire movie.

Without going into too much detail you get to follow along with a news reporter (yes, this means shaky-cam) as he is embedded with an elite group of zombie smashers. The story moves along at a brisk pace and the script, while atrocious at times, is mostly coherent and palatable. The gore is great, albeit overdone in some scenes. Where this movie shines is the FORMAT. Like with Starship Troopers there are cut-ins of commercials that are, at least to me, hilarious! If you can get past the shaky-cam being TOO shaky in some scenes then you just might find a movie that warrants a recommend to your friends.

The bottom line: If you loved Starship Troopers as I did, you will love this movie. If you like the Zombie genre, as I do, this is a different take on it with a few surprises. The effects aren't bad and the acting is slightly above average. Red Box it if you are a fan of the genre, you might just love it!

So I've been trawling through the zombie horrors as of late. By chance I happened upon Re-Kill, which I originally bypassed on release! I can still see why, but I found myself surprised by how well-executed the action/horror was. Drop the corny REC (Spanish zombie movie) dialogue, the First Person camera angles (which caused me some motion sickness) and a few pointless scenes here and there and this movie is actually a nod to '80s Paul Verhoeven sci-fi parody and Left 4 Dead multi-player gaming.

It's not there for the drama or to deliver a message, it's solely there for the experience and as zombie shoot-'em-ups go, it does a fine job when it gathers momentum. It just takes some effort to get there as a result of distracting cut-aways to scenes the movie didn't need.

What surprised me first and foremost, though, was its cast. Roger R. Cross never quite made the transition from TV face to movie lead since cult sci-fi series First Wave.

In Re-Kill he gets his own platoon and he kicks ass. His character is quite reminiscent of Tony Todd's performance in the 1990 Night of the Living Dead remake.

Also surprising was the return of '90s rent-a-villain Bruce Payne, who takes the crazy hero slant for once. He's still creepy as hell, though. And Scott Adkins, a martial arts action hero as a meat-headed SWAT trooper? He's pretty intense and very welcome for this one.

Some other actors could have done a better job, or simply not had a job. At first you won't know if Re-Kill is trying to be serious or just resemble the silly 3D movies they used to play at Alton Towers but eventually it comes into its own.

I just wish they had a director's cut with the idiot cameraman voice deleted, or rewritten and performed by someone who isn't irritating.

Good effort, just not a great contender!