State of Emergency

Although low-budget zombie movies are ten a penny these days and, it's fair to say, the majority of them are absolute rubbish, STATE OF EMERGENCY offers something a little different. For a start, it looks like a professional, well-made movie despite the low budget; it has great production values and it avoids being cheesy for the most part.

Of course, there's a flip side to this coin, and the main detraction with the film is that it's incredibly slow. There are lots and lots of long, drawn-out sequences where the protagonist just barricades himself inside a building and waits...and waits...and waits. Some viewers might find this off-putting, although I found that the tension levels were high, which kept me watching.

The acting isn't bad, and pretty good for a B-movie, and as mentioned the technical values are decent. The zombies themselves are fast-moving and ultra-aggressive, much like the ones in 28 DAYS LATER, and the scare sequences are well handled. STATE OF EMERGENCY is far from perfect, and one of the disappointments is that the ending just fizzles out instead of bangs, but in a sea of trash watching it is a nice surprise.

In Montgomery County, the couple Jim (Jay Hayden) and his fiancée Emilie (McKenna Jones) is ready to go to work when there is an explosion of a chemical plant in the outskirts of the town. Soon Montgomery County is in quarantine and under siege by the army and people turn into zombies.

Jim and Emilie escape from the town, but they have a car accident and Emilie is deadly wounded. They arrive in a farmhouse, but Emilie dies. Jim receives a phone call and a man named Scott (Scott Lilly) invites him to move to the tobacco warehouse close to the house where he is. Jim meets Scott and he introduces his wife Julie (Kathryn Todd Norman) and the unfriendly and weird Alex "Ix" (Tori White). Along the days, they become friends while they wait to be rescued by the marines. Will they survive?

"State of Emergency" is a surprisingly good and dramatic low-budget horror movie. The plot has great character development, good story of sympathy and friendship, but very few zombies; therefore fans of zombies will certainly be disappointed. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Código Vermelho" ("Red Code")

Another reviewer wrote "don't expect a zombie movie". I think that is a thing of perception. What is a zombie movie to you? What do you combine with it and what expectations do you have when you watch one where zombies are involved? Because yes this is not that action orientated and yes it is laying a lot of weight and attention on the living rather than the (un)dead.

That doesn't mean they are not a big part of the movie and the issues of the characterts involved here. You get cliches and running zombies here - so bear with those if you can. This is low budget but still quite nicely done overall. There are worse outputs out there and this is really slow burning too ...

If you come into this expecting something like the Walking Dead, or any of the other hundreds of Zombie movies out there, you will be disappointed. This movie is actually more about the characters and the personalities and what they are experiencing and going through emotionally, than it is about Zombies.

Taking it for what it is, this movie is okay. It's not fantastic, but it is okay. If anything, the Zombies almost get in the way of the actual story itself, at least what little of them there are.

The movie is a wee bit confused in that it is trying to cater to multiple audiences by being a dramatic tale with some conservatively added violence, guns and gore. Doesn't quite work, but I don't think it completely fails either.

The plot: After an explosion at a plant that stores biological weapons, a rage virus transforms a small community into bloodthirsty cannibals.

Yes, it's a straight-up ripoff of 28 Days Later and The Crazies. Once you get past that, it's actually pretty watchable, as long as you keep your expectations reasonable. The characters are a bit on the stupid side, but they're likable idiots. The slow pacing and brief run-time don't really leave much time for character development, and you end up not really knowing who these characters are. This is a bit of a problem because the film basically revolves around the characters; there's little gore or action, especially considering the genre. There's a little bit of drama, suspense, and romance, but don't hold your breath waiting for them. When the characters aren't have flashbacks to explain their thin back story, they're staring out windows or peering through rifle scopes. It's not very exciting, but it's a fairly tolerable waste of time.

If you're looking for a film that focuses more on characters and atmosphere, you may enjoy State of Emergency. Just keep in mind that it's an independent, low budget zombie film, and don't go in expecting a masterpiece. For example, the characters inject insulin into a diabetic's vein, and the zombies mostly just strike frightening poses and growl instead of attacking. My guess is they didn't have enough money for many stunts. It's not a great film, but it's better than I was expecting, given the budget and one man crew.