13 Eerie - We Prey for You

The undead genre can at times, really wear on one's patience with one failure after another. It's been quite a while since I've seen a zombie film where everything felt right, where the story was original and took the time to explain the origins of the outbreak and also had good overall camera and sound work for being a budget flick. Director Lowell Dean, in his first feature length film debut, has just pitched a no hitter. As a matter of fact this is the first review I've ever given to a film in this genre that I felt was nearly perfect, but please take into account I judge horror films against other horror films, zombie films against other zombie films and the budget always plays a key part in my overall opinion. When a group comes together and makes the absolute most out of every dollar they deserve recognition for it. I give every undead flick that surfaces a fighting chance, even if the budget is $5k, because I know from experience that eventually someone will get it right. It's a process comparable to rummaging through a dumpster full of unlabeled DVD's mixed with rotting food, but my love for indie films and "The power of Christ compels" me to trudge on.

The story consists of six forensic students that are transported to an abandoned prison island. They are totally cut off from the outside world so they can participate in a lifelike forensic examination of actual corpses placed strategically at specific "murder sites" by their instructor, who is also monitoring them by remote cameras & walkie-talkies. The eighth person in the group is the bus driver/cook whose pot smoking & incompetent nature leads to just enough mayhem to jump start the danger by fowling up the communications. The walkies start to fail right around the time when one of the groups has a hair raising find, a corpse that is clearly not supposed to be there.

The acting was on point, nothing wooden or over the top. I appreciated how the film generally avoided the poor decision making in the script, something this genre is plagued by. It was of course only made possible by the convincing writing of Christian Piers Betley. The manner in which the undead are presented is slow, but deliberate and very powerful, thick skinned and not easily put down. Some may criticize this as cheap, but it was extremely effective in my opinion. They used what little they had and managed to create very menacing characters, zombies that, believe it or not, had the ability to evoke some legitimate terror for once. Plus, with a seasoned cast with the likes Katharine Isabelle, Brendan Fehr, Brendan Fletcher, Nick Moran and Jesse Moss, zombie fans that don't require big budget effects can't go wrong here.

I had the pleasure of watching this at the Fantasy Film Festival in Germany. Quite a few have compared the setting of it with the movie "Mindhunters". There are similarities of course, but this one goes for the horror stuff. You might not like what you see, if you're easily offended and/or you're not able to handle the sight of blood. But if that was true, you wouldn't watch the movie now would you?

Effects are good and the direction is decent too. The actors are doing a fine job playing characters that have their moments. Of course there will be stupid decisions, , but they are all making sense more or less. The movie is good fun overall!

Now it is not the worst pile of cheap filmmaking in the world nor is the the best by a long shot. Why do film makers of zombie movies insist on making the people in it do stupid things no normal person would do. This is what annoys me most about movies like this. They insist on not taking any cars out and they came on a boat but never think of getting out on it. They constantly run into dark old flimsy buildings. Shoot them in the head one of the girls explained. Next scene guy shoots zombie in shoulder. Doh! I am writing a zombie movie as a book at the moment and am eliminating the idiot plots most movies have. Anyone who directs and wants to work on a decent storyline. Give me a bell. B

I'm always looking forward to seeing a horror film that stars Katharine Isabelle. You will recognize her if you've seen Ginger Snaps and/or American Mary. So I was really looking forward to watch 13 Eerie. Unfortunately, there's not much to see in 13 Eerie. SIDENOTE: If you've read my reviews in the past, you know how much I hate the skeptical character in films. It's that character that needs convincing through the whole first half of the film. Ugh, its such a slap in the face to the audience. It was fine for horror films to have that character decades ago, but it's 2013 now. Filmmakers need to take in consideration how desensitized their audiences is to horror story lines. We know scary things happen, that's why we watch horror… we want our characters to know that too! Get with the program horror movie characters, scary sh*t happens… just accept that and start running! In 13 Eerie, there is way too much skepticism in the first half of the movie. It really brings the pace of the movie down. Once you get passed being annoyed by all the doubting, then you realize this is your basic "Night of the Living Dead" style zombie film, only it takes place around an abandoned where death row convicts rise from the grounds. There is honestly nothing special in 13 Eerie you haven't already seen if you've been watching zombie movies in this century. I'd say that the only interesting component is Katharine's character. She plays her usual bad-ass, heroine character. I also really liked the bus scene where they try to get away. That was pretty entertaining and the ending was as well. Overall, not too much to get excited about, but entertaining enough to give it a shot. Long story short: don't pay more than a dollar to rent or just wait for a streaming release.

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OK, so this is not totally totally bad and awful to get one as rating... But I also think that three would be too much...So, this gets two from me.

This is a horror movie about zombies. Or some creatures that should be zombies but they are ... whatever. Whatever is the word to describe the 'costumes' and effects. Really not convincing. Not scary at all. It has some gruesome moments but they are poorly done.

The acting is that of a high school drama meets wannabe horror actors. Very bad. No one is really convincing. And the girl which found her new best hobby - killing zombies and walking around with a gun is rather silly. The professor of those students is no comment. But I guess, it is worth watching only if you plan one day to film a horror movie to see what things ( and they are plenty!) not to do.

Cheap effects of smoke are laughable. Michael Jackson Thriller's kinda bumping into houses throughout the floor is silly. Night haunting with surprising lights in the bus is funny. So many things are just awfully done.