I Survived a Zombie Holocaust

With so many zombie movies out there you never know how a movie is going to pan out. This one had a unique slant of being a movie about zombies being over run by zombies so there was great potential there, however the script was cheap and nasty and the acting second rate.

Half of the movie was non-zombie and the rest of full of clichés - hell there was even a zombie boob shot. So when you add it all up, it was a movie where a lot of effort was put into production and it will never amount to much/anything. Which is as sad for the actors as for the movie itself and the limited viewing it will achieve.

Part of me wanting to watch this movie was shallow....I wanted to see Jocelyn Christian who I had seen randomly on NZ TV from time to time. There's a lot of potential in her as she has great screen presence and an amazing smile.

Don't waste your time with this one sorry to say.

First of all, I must say that I had initially some expectations to this movie, as it seemed appealing from the synopsis, and also because there has been a couple of good additions to the zombie genre from the Kiwis and Aussies. And also when the movie had "A Kiwi Shaun of the Dead" brandished on the DVD cover, ought to count for something.

However, once the movie ended, I was left with a somewhat bland taste in my mouth. Why? Well, because the movie wasn't as good as I had expected, nor was it as funny as "Shaun of the Dead". Sure, there were some great moments throughout the course of "I Survived a Zombie Holocaust", but the overall result was just mediocre. There were a few laughs here and there, but not enough to sustain the entire movie. And with hand on heart, then I actually dozed off two or three times throughout the movie.

As I mentioned, then there were some good moments here and there throughout the movie. And my personal favorite was when the special effects/props guy picked up arms and went ballistic on the approaching zombies. That scene had be in laughs.

The special effects in "I Survived a Zombie Holocaust" were adequate, although the zombies weren't among the best of zombie special effects and make-up to be seen in the zombie genre. There were some good enough effects here and there, but nothing outstanding.

As for the acting, well, people were doing good enough jobs with their given roles and characters. And Harley Neville did carry the movie quite well with his performance.

The characters in the movie were colorful and well-detailed, and they did add a good amount of contents to the movie as a whole.

All in all, then "I Survived a Zombie Holocaust" just failed to stand out in a mostly generic genre, which was a shame, because it did have potential for something bigger. As such, then I am rating the movie a mediocre five out of ten stars.

I would have loved to have enjoyed this and had been able to support local cinema, but alas this was quite painful to watch... in fact I couldn't even make it past 45 minutes. The production itself was ~okay~ but the script, toilet humour and needless over sexualisation of women made it impossible for me to enjoy. I can only hope the next film these guys put out will be a bit better thought out.

Plot

A young runner, on a Zombie film set, has the first day from hell when real Zombies overrun the set.

Cast

Not familiar with anyone involved

Verdict

So the premise is that during the filming of a zombie movie real zombies attack, does that sound familiar to you? If it doesn't you can't watch many zombie films because I can think of 4-5 flicks with exactly the same concept! 2017's One Cut of the Dead arguably being the best of the bunch. So originality? Not so much on view here.

Visually it looks the part and the cast are competent enough, the trouble is that though this is a zombie comedy it's light on zombies and erm....laughs. You know what it does have? Cliches, tropes and all the standard scenes you expect from a mediocre zombie film.

I was enjoying it initially, alas this didn't last and it fell back on every cliche imaginable and left me querying whether I'd already seen it because it felt so remarkably recycled.

I see what they were trying to do here, but they relied too much on what had come before rather than carving the movie its own identity. The end result, something you've practically seen before.

Rants

Horror is my default genre and within that zombie films are my favourite sub-genre so as you can imagine I've seen far too many and that is really starting to cost me. I feel like I've seen everything, that every zombie movie I watch I fail to enjoy because I've seen too much before and everything feels like a remake of what's come before. I need and appreciate originality more than ever but this sub-genre is stale and you simply don't see enough of it!

The Good

Some decent ideas Fairly well made

The Bad

Very little originality Falls apart the further in it goes.

It's a great core premise: troubled zombie flick's shoot gets overrun with real zombies. It could have been gold, sadly it wasn't.

The cast try. The crew do what they can with what's clearly a very limited budget. It's obvious that a lot of local goodwill went in, too. There are some scenes where it's pretty clear that most of the local town turned up and gave it their best shot - look at the rugby game sidelines for what I mean.

The trouble with the movie is what isn't there. The lead actor is simply not compelling enough to identify with, even after it's clear that he needs to become a badass if he's going to survive. The comedy feels like it's actors working lines from tight scripts and there's no vibe to it at all. In an area with some of the most compelling scenery and natural light on earth, the whole thing is shot in a generic forest under flat light (honestly, it looks like it was filmed under clouded skies at mid day). The cinematography is fixed cameras at a polite distance with plenty of unused space in most of the shots. The worst is the direction. This movie is staid, bloated, and terribly, terribly slow.

It's slow like a glacier is slow. Really.

There'll be the inevitable comparisons to homegrown classics like Bad Taste or Braindead. Nope. This isn't anywhere near those movies, at any level, and if you want to see what can be done on a tight budget then look those movies up. I've given a few stars for the sake of the support leads (especially Jocelyn Christian, who deserves better), but that's it.

See it if and only if you are making a movie and need to research mistakes to avoid.