Zombie with a Shotgun

I stumbled upon the 2019 movie "Zombie with a Shotgun" by sheer luck in 2021. I had never heard about the movie, and of course with my fascination and interest in all things zombie, of course I found the time immediately to sit down to watch this 2019 movie from writer and director Hilton Ariel Ruiz.

And oh dear God, this was not a good movie.

The storyline told in the movie was beyond mundane, and it was so difficult to get into the story and take it in. I have to admit that the storyline, as written by Hilton Ariel Ruiz, was just a swing and a miss. It was so pointless and uneventful that I gave up on the movie without seeing it through to the end. And it didn't really help that the entire character gallery in the movie were every bit as mundane, bland and pointless as the storyline was.

The acting in "Zombie with a Shotgun" was fairly okay, taking into consideration the type of movie this was and the type of budget they were operating with. Sure, don't go ahead and expect to see stellar performances here, because that is just not happening. I will say, though, that while the storyline was atrocious, the actors and actresses - for the most parts - actually fared better than what was to be expected.

Visually then "Zombie with a Shotgun" was just not impressive. A zombie movie needs proper special effects and prosthetics to be packing a punch. And sadly, "Zombie with a Shotgun" didn't do that. Also one of the reasons why my interest in the movie was so quickly fading.

Ultimately, then "Zombie with a Shotgun" is not an impressive or memorable zombie movie. And it is not definitely not one that brought anything new or innovative to the genre.

As a zombie genre fan, then I can't recommend that you waste your time or effort on "Zombie with a Shotgun". Some of us suffered through this, in greater or lesser extend, so you don't have to.

My rating of this 2019 zombie movie lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

So, I'm not familiar with the origin of this story -- title caught my interest. And it is nothing like I expected, and am dumbfounded by all these glowing reviews. They must all be 'investors' who want to turn a profit. Within the first five minutes, we witness a rape -- or at least the highly censored and edited version of a rape. A few minutes later, we have a love scene - again edited so no naughties are shown, but you know they're on the editing floor -- or on the dvd you can order. and the rest of the movie follows suit -- a terrible movie, horrible production value - but does have those abbreviated sex scenes.

Ramdom rape scene, homeless man in a bsck of van, fbi and cops going for shoot to kill and ask questions later.

There wasn't a story, way too many drone shots of the town, no sense or direction, random shots of cult work with repeated locations and flashbacks. Over exposure and nothing adding up.

How do people feel when they've watched what they filmed.

Absolute crap. I got half way through, nothing had happened apart from some dreadful acting, terrible writing and super awkward sex scenes. Don't waste your time.

Stricken with a strange virus, a man and his girlfriend decide to go in search of the potential cure learn that they're involved in a far deadlier scheme that brings them into contact with not only a mutant strain of zombies but the agents in charge of the operation and must race to stop it from happening.

This one here wasn't goo great but did have some enjoyable elements. Among the more troubling aspects here is the completely confusing and disorienting first half that throws us into the proceedings without much information. Going in blind on this group of mercenaries hunting down a woman on the city streets to a friends' apartment where she escapes their clutches before turning to this other stranger and his girlfriend making vague threats about being a victim of a conspiracy and some strange virus experiments just doesn't make sense. With this all being doe with the characters discussing and acting like they've been having conversations about previous knowledge, this is a troubling factor. As well, the entire first half is extremely troubling with the characters being willfully and blindingly ignorant of what's going on. Nearly everything that transpires here, from staying at the motel to the chase through the building and eventually meeting up with the traitorous friend by getting the police involved, is all brought about by their stupidity and stubbornness. Being well aware that they're sick and showing visible signs of something wrong with them by the information they both drop in conversations, it's extremely difficult to feel any sympathy for their plight when the entirety of their struggle is due to the inability to do the obvious for asinine reasons. That factor compounds everything, as when they don't behave reasonably and can't rationally defend it just makes for a problematic time. The other troubling aspect to this one is the underwhelming action scenes, on the rare occasions they pop up in the film. There's never much given on the virus so the weird zombie behavior here is quite confusing, where they do or don't seem to notice victims in front of them so there are very few attacks present when they appear. The few gunfights here are laughably staged and barely interesting or thrilling, speaking to the general lack of interest when what could've been the fun one is played out as crude animations to hide the gory aftermath. With no traditional feasting scenes with hordes of zombies or even multiple creatures on-screen at once and a series of scenes featuring him using a gun uncharacteristically, there's a ton to dislike about this one. The zombie makeup looks great but that's all that works here.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language and Nudity.