The Stink of Flesh

I was very pleased with this film.

I am an avid horror and Japanese movie fan, and after seeing the Village recently and being very disappointed, I was glad to get my moneys worth seeing The Stink Of Flesh. It was nice to see a fresh new spin on the zombie genre.

The effects were excellently bloody, the actors were good and the storyline was great. If this film does not reach cult status I will be very surprised.

If you are a fan of horror movies or just want a different kind of storyline, I highly recommend this film.

I was impressed for what this film is. Low budget zombie movie fun, with some unique twists. I had low expectations going in and was pleasantly surprised.

Technically it has a spit and polish I'd expect from a higher budget. The lighting, sound, shots and makeup effects are really well done. I studied martial arts 18 years and the fight choreography isn't bad either, for what it is. Hong Kong cinema it's not but it's still pretty good. And it's not a mindless zombie flick. It actually has some depth, which I'll explain.

Dexy is an excellent cast, IMO. She's full figured and while she doesn't look like what would be typically sexy, she exudes sexy psychologically. Her sexiness comes not through her looks or figure (unless you like full figured women) but through her appetite for and attitude about sex. She also exudes a caring and warmth. If you had a beautiful looking actress playing that part, the subtly would've been lost, I think. Personally, I'm a fan. I thought she was great.

Ross Kelly is excellent as the brooding husband, turned on, yet disturbed by his wife's antics in the bedroom as he satisfies his own desire for flesh elsewhere.

Matool is the only minority in the whole movie I think, so having a Hispanic in the lead is refreshing. Being introduced so strongly I thought his character kind of got "lost" as the movie progressed.

The Stink of Flesh in an interesting title in that, the people are not that different from the zombies. Both crave flesh in a mindless, animalistic way that underlines its apocalyptic theme. Zombies aren't capable of ethics or morals and in the same situation neither are the people. All that's left is a desire for flesh and survival. You can't get much more basic in human behavior than eating and having sex and having the 2 parallel in a movie was really a fascinating twist. I just wish the story was presented better.

There are some things that didn't make sense (to me anyway) and it was really one of only a few things that disappointed me. I thought some good acting and an excellent premise was wasted on the lack of cohesion in the story and plot.

Zombies aren't angry. There's a sadness and emptiness that belies their behavior and zombie acting really is a unique perspective. I still look to Romero's films for the ideal zombie. I did like the idea of a "hyper - 28 Days Later" type of zombie. Zombies act through physiology and eyes... if they have eyes, so I feel the zombies could've been better, but that's being totally subjective. So the makeup effects sort of overshadows the zombie acting.

There really is some disturbing stuff here that I can take or leave. Again being a little disappointed in the story I would've preferred more focus on story and characters and less peripheral stuff going on that added little to nothing to the story. But nonetheless a great effort. I really enjoyed it.

i had a lot of fun watching this movie. Actually i really don't know why i liked it because the acting suck, the make up effect suck and it's pretty obvious that this zombie flick doesn't bring something new to the genre. but it make me laugh and i liked the characters. In my mind it surely beat dead meat and it's beat many zombie movie who pretend to be serious. It's not a comedy like shaun of the dead and it's not a great zombie movie like night of the living dead but it's surely one of the best zombie movie i have seen in a long time. Maybe i am the only one on earth but i don't care, i liked it and I'm surely watch it again with a bunch of friend and a couple of beer and have some good laugh.

Not bad for a B-movie. Human life is not highly regarded in this flick. This is pointed out during each gore/killing scene etc. The introduction with the long nail made me laugh. I guess you need to be a bit of a sadistic person to enjoy that scene. Many other scenes like that followed and i was truly amazed by the acting as i never expected much out of this. Each character in this film seemed psychotic somehow while some totally disregarded the value of fellow (ex)human beings. I guess this is the aspect that makes people either hate or love this film. To enjoy this just don't take it too serious while watching. There is nothing personal about it.

For a low budget film, this looks amazingly good. There is a script, some good gore effects, and a lot of evident hard work by the cast and crew. The acting is not terrible overall, and this film pays honorable tribute to the low budget zombie flick tradition.

Problem comes from the cast and premise. If you must make a sort core zombie flick with frequent nudity, I would argue that having attractive actors in the naked roles is pretty much a requirement. It also would be a good idea to have your strongest actors take the most important roles. They may even teach that last point in real film schools...

Instead, we get "Dexy" who not to belabor the point is not in the least attractive, resembling a younger Kathy Bates. If she was as good an actress as Ms Bates, all well and good, but she is really not talented. So to cast her in a key (arguably pivotal) role as the center of the action is unwise as she cannot bear the load of talent needed to transcend her blah appearance. There is too much residual disbelief involved for the audience to imagine a circle of desire and treachery with this uncharismatic and unappealing character as the center of it.

The other liability is Kristin Hansen, who plays Sassy. She is such a poor actress that another main liability, the silly Siamese twin claymation face "Dotty", becomes even more tedious. The whole plot involving the soldier falling for Sassy is jaw-droppingly perverse, reminding me of that moment in "Night of the Zombies" when the commando puts on the tutu and pirouettes around the room into the hands of a mob of zombies. The difference is that the latter moment made me laugh because it was enjoyably dumb, while the current instance just made me roll my eyes in incredulity due to the crappy acting job of Ms Hansen.

Anyway, these two mediocre actresses in key roles plus the Dotty subplot deflate the movie quite a bit. From the aspiring director in me, I wonder why the director didn't take the two cuter actresses appearing in bit roles and put them in the Dexy and Sassy role. The zombie girl is far more attractive, and the girl Matool rescues from the car is also cuter and can act substantially better than either Dexy or Hansen. So you want a cute woman for naked scenes, you have one, you want a better actress, check have one of those too. The casting of this film therefore makes even less sense objectively...

Anyway, if you don't expect even adequate acting from horror movies, and don't mind seeing people who look like they are from the local Applebee's naked, you may be able to enjoy this movie more fully. Even if you are more quality minded, this is a decent viewing for zombie movie completists, as there are a few interesting ideas here and the director seems to have a lot of talent in every element of film production except casting.

CMK