Wasting Away

All I can say is, wow. Caught this after wading through a slew of basic slasher/spooky ghost stuff at Screamfest, films basically like any of 20 others that I have in my personal collection. Didn't have much expectation going in to this, since there hasn't been a 'new' zombie movie in a while. 'Diary of the Dead' was cool, but Romero basically falls back on the same old stuff, nothing new there. It took me a bit in the beginning to warm to this film, since I came in looking for straight horror, and it's not really horror, it's a comedy, that has horror roots. Guess that's why they took it in Screamfest. That, and it's a damn good film. And there were some slow moments where I wanted they to get past the 'feelings' and get onto the action/comedy. But when I let them work on me, they were great, and I laughed even during the 'slow' stuff. Basically, it's just freakin' funny, and a totally different thing. Glad I saw it, it's the kind of thing that might be too unique and cool for the Studios. Their loss...

A military experiment goes awry when a strength-enhancing serum turns test subjects into flesh-eating zombies instead of super-soldiers.

Oh no!

The rest of the serum, shipped in 55-gallon drums, is accidentally unleashed upon the local populace. Due to some unknown X-factor, the contaminant turns four unsuspecting young people into invincible mega-humans, while transforming others into shambling undead.

In WASTING AWAY (aka: AAAH! ZOMBIES!), it's all a matter of perspective, since we're shown a reality through the eyes of the zombie hordes. They are the ones caught up in a bewildering chaos, not understanding the "plague" of crazed maniacs around them. From their point of view, they're "normal" and everyone else has gone berserk!

While this works fairly well most of the time, it does get pretty silly. It also feels padded out. It could have been cut down to about 20-30 minutes in length and made into a glorious short film or horror anthology segment.

As it stands, it's still worth checking out...

"Wasting Away" actually surprised the life out of me, being the zombie fan that I am, I can say that, yeah! The idea behind this movie is simply put amazing, and it was really nice to see a new approach to the zombie genre.

The story in itself, is fairly mediocre, having a group of teenagers turning into the living dead by ingesting some chemical compound. I will not go into further details here, as to not spoil the movie. And then you see the world from their point of view, being zombies now. The world is different and people react to the teens oddly now (at least in their eyes).

Yeah, zombies are slow moving creatures, if you are fan of Romero's zombies, and these zombies are slow as well, but they perceive the world around them as if the living are running around in double speed. Great idea, new idea, but it didn't work out too well in practical use. The result was a bit too childishly comical, which I didn't really enjoy.

The movie takes you on an exciting ride at a good pace, and there are few dull moments in the movie. It is nice to see parts of the movie from both the living and the zombie's point of view.

As for the acting, well I think the people they had in the movie actually did good jobs, despite it being people that I was mostly unfamiliar with. And I think only a handful of the known celebrity faces would have been able to carry this movie without it having to turn into a major money-turning machine. So hats off to the actors/actresses work here in "Wasting Away".

If you are a fan of zombie movies, then you should definitely add "Wasting Away" to your DVD collection, because it brings a sharp edge and a new approach to the genre of the living dead.

I often wonder how far horror-crazed directors can and will go exploiting the concept of zombie comedies even further. The living dead haven't appeared in a genuinely scary movie since many years. The days of George A. Romero's original zombie trilogy are long over and nail-biting suspense has gradually turned into absurd comedy and grotesque splatter. The majority of zombie comedies are pretty lame, with some notably exceptions like "Shaun of the Dead" and "Fido", and practically none of them comes up with original ideas or creative new formulas. "Wasting Away", by debuting writer/director Matthew Kohnen, is one of the very first Indie flick that attempts something drastically inventive and brand new. The movie shows life from the perspectives of the zombies themselves. They assume they look and behave completely normal, but in fact they are disorientated and steadily rotting cadavers. This concept indeed sounds silly and even more implausible as regular zombie action, but it's undeniably innovative and particularly Kohnen's illustration of the world through zombie eyes is extremely ingenious. The initial black & white cinematography only turns into color when the four lead characters become infected with the zombie virus. From their viewpoints the normal and still uninfected people are hectic and incomprehensibly muttering beings. Four twenty-something friends with absolutely nothing better to do than hang around in a fast food restaurant become infected when they mix ice cream with a gooey green fluid from a barrel that lay at the entrance. The fluid obviously is a military experiment gone wrong and the foursome undergoes a vivid metamorphosis. As more and more people are getting infected, the zombies take peace with their new lifestyle and want to defend their rights. In spite of the original concept and a handful of effectively hilarious jokes and gimmicks, "Wasting Away" regretfully remains a low-budgeted and forgettable effort. The film is too long and for every neat sequence or clever piece of dialog there sadly is tedious and clichéd zombie movie footage. The lead players are mundane and annoyingly stereotypical horror caricatures, including the joker and the nerd kid, and the rest of characters aren't much better with the drunken bowlers and heavily mustached army colonel. Around the hour the whole thing just sort of gets retarded, with a man vs. zombie combat, talking heads and zombie bowling tournaments. There's quite a lot of carnage and bloodshed going on, but the emphasis merely lies on the comedy factor. Once again, the basic idea is nifty but clearly that wasn't enough. Nevertheless I'll be interested in seeing the future work of director Kohnen.

Turning the zombie film on its head, this film is an oddball comedy from the perspective of the brain munching monsters themselves.

Beware of people posting raves. They worked on the film. You can tell who they are because they only have ONE review posted.

That said, this is actually a really good humorous zombie flick. It's well acted and has a really good mix between horror action and comedy.

I'd recommend you give it a try. It's well written too. The switcheroo is the zombies all think they are normal and when they talk to each other, they see each other as normal but those who aren't infected see them for what they really are. And it provides a lot of humor.