Deadland

This film appears to use professional camera equipment, but that's where the similarities to a real movie end. I picked this up at the video store because the cover showed a post apocalyptic background and described itself as such. You expect Mad Max even if it's just a poor low budget version. The reality when you watch it is that it is a bunch of guys in camouflage fatigues running around in the woods. The plot is goofy and overly moral-agenda ridden, the dialogue consists of things nobody would say, and the actors' experience couldn't consist of more than a few commercials or a late night soft-core porn. This movie would remind me of a soft-core porn (in which the plot is superfluous) except that is cleans up everything but the implied violence, which the camera mostly cuts away.

This is one of those films you'll either love or hate. I obviously thoroughly enjoyed it. There's a certain B movie quality to it, but I have always been a fan of films of that level. B movie or not, it has been put together very well, and only suffered a few weak performances from very minor characters.

The performances of the key characters was faultless, in my opinion, and made me see the character and not the actor. Some of the lesser characters could have done with a little coaching to make them more believable, and stop me from viewing them from the actor's perspective rather than the character's.

All effects, scenery, and props were also without fault, and nothing looked out of place, taking the film subject into consideration.

There's nothing worse than a B movie that pretends to be something more than it is, complete with misleading cover art on the DVD sleeve. A post apocalyptic tale can be action or drama or a combination of both. But when a film has such tight budget restraints that it only consists of bland soap opera style dialogue by seriously lame actors, it better at least have a decent script. Here we have a bunch of awful actors doing what can only be described as bad screen tests in the woods of Georgia for a painfully long 95 minutes. No action, no suspense, no direction, no nothing! What a rip off! How do these direct to video pieces of crap ever get made? The worst part of all is that these so-called actors have the nerve to do a Making Of featurette that tells of how hard they worked on their fine production. These egocentric losers are delusional! At least if they had some shootouts or some redeeming violence or exploitive rape sex scenes or a horde of brain eating zombies or anything cool I might have been able to say something positive about this horribly dull movie. I used to enjoy buying cheap DVDs from the bargain bin and having a good laugh...This movie has permanently killed the fun in that forever. From now on I will research DVDs to ensure they have something worth watching. Life is too short to waste on this SHITE!!! Thank you for allowing me to vent, IMDb. And to Billy Weeks and your gang of dud actor friends... Get new careers... YOU ALL SUCK SEVERELY as actors or writers or producers or directors!!!

Alright so while it is lacking in some things we've grown accustomed to in a story as expansive as Post-apacolyptic worlds, ie., BIG CGI, extravagant fight scenes, etc., I do think they had a pretty decent story going, if not the budget. I thought the acting was pretty good for the most part. Probably most impressive was the cinematography, some beautifully panned scenes. I would definitely agree with one of the other reviewers and say this is more of a sci-fi drama than action flic. A lot of the scenes were meant to take you into a post apacolyptic world full of despair and angst, this however feels a bit staged since many of the people interacting in the film are in good shape, clean/new clothes, etc. All in all, not a terrible movie for a rainy day and some popcorn on your couch.

Most of the action of the film takes place 5 years after apocalypse in the forest. The main character who before the apocalypse was a cubicle worker survives 5 years in the forest and looks like just left the gym after heaving his hair trimmed. Neither his body or spirit are affected by the catastrophe. So maybe he is a superhero? Surprisingly all of the people are like that. As a result we have a fully nourished individuals chasing each other in the forest. Pretty much happy time? No, because there are a bad guys, paramilitary groups who supposedly rule the area, rape the women, take prisoners and have the cruel labor camps. Again the women kept by a the militants and gang raped multiple times look in the film like they just left the shopping mall on Saturday afternoon. The whole scenery as well as the plot make the film into something in between of Christian preachy film (with obvious not complicated characters) and porn (where people seem to be detached from the background they are put on). What could save the film? Probably more acting. It would be nice to watch a person trying to survive in the forest instead of a dude who just went for a walk to the park. Also women should have feelings, if not crying then with the mask of angry lesbian... anything.