Re-Kill

I thought I'd seen it all and with TV shows like Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead there would not be much more to add.

Plot: zombie virus has spread throughout the world and mankind has to do what is necessary to halt the spreading. Managing to contain it somewhat the government has created a special unit to clean out neighborhoods and secure that not a second outbreak will occur. A TV station has created a show around this unit.

I just love zombie movies, can't get enough of the theme of a small group of survivors trying to make it. Sadly, good zombie movies are hard to come by these days and ,quite frankly, it is a difficult genre to reinvent.

The Walkind Dead is excellent, showing the depravity of men combined with gore and survival. However, movies, unlike TV series, do not have the luxury nor time to explore that theme since you only got two hours or so to tell a story. Therefore zombie movies tend to revolve around getting from point A to point B or defending some sort of gated community. By now that has become dull which makes Re- Kill somewhat new, re-inventive even although not a revelation of sorts.

Re-Kill is structured like a mixture of reality TV, shows like Cops and the ever so popular found footage films (genre), which makes it a little bit new. And yes, you get plenty of gore too!

The positive sides is thus that it is relatively new, plenty of gore, good effects and decent acting from well known actors although not top notch. The zombies are not the slow, traditional ones of Romero's, but fast like 28 Days Later.

Downsides are the shaky camera, which is way too shaky even for a found footage movie; in general, too simple a plot; unexplored carachters; and not so much about the how, when, who and why.

A tip of the hat goes to the hilarious commercial breaks and the interviews of "real people" surviving the virus/attacks which echoes both Verhoeven's Robo Cop 1 & 2 and Starship Troopers. They are what really keeps the movie interesting and funny.

Bruce Payne is worth mentioning. Too me he is somewhat of a legend. But I must confess, I have always thought his acting style to be awkward and a bit stiff. But here he seems a bit more "alive" and tries to give his carachter a personality.

I haven't seen all zombie movies so I can't really say it is one of a kind within the genre itself, but to me it is kinda new and therefore I can't say "see this one if you liked...". However, if you like zombie films in general, traditional or more action driven, you will probably enjoy this one.

I give 6/10 due to its "newer" take on the genre, good acting (for the genre), the sfx.

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!

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")

I checked this out expecting the same old zombie apocalypse movie and that's exactly what I received. But with a small twist to this flick, it's shot entirely in reality show style. Now that is nothing new or anything because that's been done with zombies, such as the Spanish film REC and the zombie diaries. Now I'll say the reality show style here is not as believable as REC but it was well executed and delivered a nice twist to the movie it even includes commercials such as zombies apocalypse propaganda about re populating the earth, you know the good stuff. The plot is isn't anything to really talk about because it is what is, just a group of people killing zombies, running and hiding from zombies and being by eaten zombies.

But the acting is good, it's above average for this kinda movie and the special effects are well executed with a nice mix of practical effects and modern computer effects. Now the story gets a little boring in parts, the camera sometimes shakes a little to much and the propaganda commercials gets a little annoying at times. But overall not a bad movie just don't expect much from it and you might like it.

Re-Kill doesn't just employ average shaky cam, this is the shakiest cam that ever shakes. Being found footage doesn't exemplified the utter chaotic scenes, especially when the action starts and the editing shifts into drunken state. It's a shame since the movie has a couple of unique renditions of zombie genre that are funny in its satirical overblown tone.

Story mainly follows the squad of soldiers investigating new threat of Re-Ans (its witty attempt to not use the Z-word). The squad brings cameraman to capture the mission in episodic format, thus the mockumentary style. It also brings a few nifty humors with faux commercials and silly products in the interval of each Re-Kill episode. The social commentary about consumerism is blatantly crude, and it's by far the best aspect of the movie.

Some of these mock shows are excessively wild, but seeing how many shocking reality shows already on TV, it's ironically plausible that a channel might exploit zombie apocalypse. The action part could be decent as well. The cast of Roger Cross and Scott Adkins is fitting for B-movie gorefest.

To their credit, it's an above average in term of acting, and the plot can be immersive with its first person perspective. It already has a justification to use monologues in supposed interviews as well as the squad bantering masked as behind-the-scene. It's a surprisingly deeper premise than ordinary zombie outbreak. The clever outlandish tidbits are very enjoyable and strangely don't disrupt the pace too much.

However, the camera is where everything falls apart. It trembles frantically even in simple conversations. When the action hits, it turns into a mess of unfocused scenes, flailing random shots and choppy editing every half a second. This may just be random shots of walls or floor, or worse, the second coming of Aliens vs Predator : Requiem.

I've seen many found footage movies, it's understandable to have some jittery cam, almost expected in a dysfunctional way, but Re-Kill is utterly horrible and gave me actual headache. Re-Kill expects audience to tolerate its shoddy camera work, it's honestly almost unbearable to watch at some points and might very well ruin the movie.