Devil's Playground

"Devil's Playground" is basically a complete rip-off of Danny Boyle's 2002 horror masterpiece "28 Days Later". Same basic concept; fast-moving infected (not actually zombies as such)on the loose in modern day London and a group of individuals trying to escape the horror, fighting amongst themselves on the way. The one thing it doesn't borrow from it's source material is any level of intelligence. The characters are melodramatic clichés and way too good-looking and well-groomed to be in any way realistic; even though it's a low-budget British film it unfortunately follows the crap Hollywood template of shallow, unbelievable, glamorous leads stuck in an increasingly over-the-top set of action-based scenarios. Still, if you just want to watch something empty-headed and fun then it's not all bad. The stunt sequences are well done and the movie is nicely shot, with some fantastic views of London on display. Don't take it too seriously and you'll have a good time.

Despite the fast paced action scenes I managed to be bored bored BORED(!) after 40 minutes. The story is so straight lined and clichéd that you can't even be bothered to hope for any twists, and the only character who's slightly believable and sympathetic is Craig Fairbrass (Cole).

Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge zombie(/virus) fan, and I am aware that you don't necessarily need an amazing script nor 100% believable characters to make an entertaining zombie movie. But if you have neither and you don't have a single new interesting idea – well maybe you should just donate the money for charity instead of wasting it on another dull movie. People seem to compare this with 28 days/weeks later which apart from all of them being British and (relatively) low budget is blasphemy in my ears. In my opinion; if you like 28 days/weeks later – go watch them again instead of wasting your time on this one.

Not a fan of Danny Dyer, his attempts at being an 'ard man are cringeworthy, but he is tolerable in this fun virus infected maniacs film. I think they did a great job for the low budget. Some good bloody deaths and some attempts at character development too. Human nature and survival, betrayal. Far worse films out there and for a cheap UK film it's good. Shot in 25 days!! Well done to cast and crew for getting that much done in such a short time and budget.

Although I imagine this is a straight to DVD affair, I caught this film on the big screen, followed by a Q&A with the director, and other members of cast and crew, who seemed very proud of their work.

During the showing the film got a few unintentional laughs which led a member of the cast to comment afterwards "I didn't know we had made a comedy zombie film" - No you didn't, you made a film which for the most part was extremely dull, with a wafer thin story and unconvincing characters. The laughter in the audience was due to the poor delivery of meagre lines of script and cliché plot developments.

With so many zombie films out there, you need a new angle to stand out from the crowd, and it was the directors belief that this comes from the fact that the zombies are free runners. To be fair, although free running zombies is only one step forward from the speedy zombies of the Dawn of the Dead remake and 28 Days Later, it's not a bad idea and I was fairly enthused with the idea of seeing this slight new twist. However I was soon to be extremely disappointed that although the film was being sold with this as its unique selling point, this wasn't exploited at all. Yes, the zombies (which mostly just looked like young people in hoodies) ran fast, jumped and vaulted over cars and other obstacles in their way a few times, but I was left thinking is that it, could they not jump and twist off a few buildings or do something well a bit more visually exciting?

The fact that this aspect of the film didn't live up to the hype was only compounded by the complete lack of interesting story. I never bought into any of the characters, especially the lead (played by Craig Fairbrass) who for me has no screen presence whatsoever. Within half an hour I couldn't care less whether any of the characters survived, and the zombies were so uninspiring that I couldn't even root for them.

On the plus side, I thought the film was well shot, with some cool images of London just about stopping me nodding off from boredom a couple of times. Plus there was a genuinely funny cameo from Sean Pertwee (the best part of the film). Shame that his character was never to be seen again, his story might have been more interesting!

A very low budget action/horror Brit flick featuring freerunning mutant zombie flesh eaters. Craig (Cliffhanger) Fairbrass and Danny (just about every recent cheapo-diamond-geezer pseudo-Arthur Mullard C-Grade megatrash straight-to-video Brit movie in recent years) Dyer take the leads.

The script and dialogue are pretty darned atrocious and the acting is sub-primary school nativity play standard. But, the pace is frenetic, the action violent and unrelenting, and it is a bit of mildly diverting fun. Plus, considering the budget must have stood at around £7.80 and a bag of chps, the convincing representation of London in the midst of a zombie apocalypse is fairly well rendered and quite suitably atmospheric.

There's plenty of punching, strangling, bludgeoning and shooting of the freerunning mutant zombie flesh eaters, and the very fact that the makers thought a Resident Evil type of virus McGuffin with the side-effect of gracing the stricken with parkour skills was a workable creative advance on the "28 Days Later" formula, makes it quite hilarious to watch at times.

Worth a look if you've nothing better to do. A cheerfully trashy time-waster.