Last Rites

I've watched so many modern day zombie films that have the same plot as Night of the Living Dead that I've produced a template we all can use.

Delete as necessary: A (meteor/satellite/witchdoctor/evil book/bad sandwich/particularly powerful fart) raises the dead, resulting in some (marines/drug dealers/teachers/dancers/elephants/British 70s TV entertainers) to barricade themselves in a (warehouse/farmhouse/underground bunker/hotel/shopping mall/portable toilet/suitcase) which results in much arguing. They are safe until one of them (gets bitten/tries to break out/tries to retrieve a dog/farts and the rest have to escape/tries to give a zombie a wedgie) until the cast is whittled down until (they all get killed/one escapes/they find the world overrun/start a break dancing contest with the zombies). Also features a cameo by (Bruce Campbell/Jeffrey Coombs/Reggie Bannister/Keith Chegwin/Peter Sutcliffe).

Also, it looks like the director of photography's watched Blade Runner and Battlefield Eart too often, judging by the lighting and camera angles. The acting's fairly dodgy and more people are killed by humans than zombies. This is a run of the mill zombie film and if you go in expecting that, you might like it. Or not. It is what it is.

In a nut shell, Latino and black gangsters hole-up in a warehouse while homeless Zombies rage outside.

Too many gangster clichés, not enough Zombie action. Long, loud and repetitive periods of testosterone posturing coulda been spiced up by a few unique characters. I won't spoil it, but there was one potentially cool twist that came too late and fell flat when it was finally revealed.

This movie could have said something about Los Angeles, said something about about racism, or at least delivered some scares. It missed on all 3 counts. It's too bad, because a few of the performers brought more to their characters than the script gave them to work with.

Hi there. This is going to be one of my shortest reviews ever. Normally, I like to go into the plot, acting, direction of even the worst movies. However in this ones case I'll make an exception. You see, this film while being known as Last Rites in the USA is called 48 Weeks Later in the UK. There are lots of great quotes on the packaging like "DAWN OF THE DEAD EAT YOUR HEART OUT" and "THE BUMS ARE EATING THE COPS" (??) but these have little or nothing to do with what is contained within. Yes folks, if you buy this trash then you have been well and truly stitched up, as the only way it resembles Danny Boyle's original and its sequel is the final two words of the title. That's it. Thankfully I only borrowed it from a friend, I didn't make the mistake of wasting money on this rip-off.

There are hardly any zombies, no decent head explosions and most definitely no flesh eating viruses. No, what this you see is a modern blaxploitation film, and a pretty rubbish one at that. So, if you want to spend 90 minutes watching black actors running around a badly lit warehouse, shooting blanks at each other while talking like illegitimate sons of Shaft, be my guest. You'll also be giving the film company licence to mislabel any product in the future in the hope that they'll make an easy buck out of gullible saps like you. What next... Predator as a romantic comedy? Titanic as a ship navigational guide? Gigli as an Oscar winning masterpiece? Remember, it may be your money you're wasting, but it could have devastating implications for all of us. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

In the meantime, this waste of a perfectly good disc gets a 1/10 and a one way ticket to ebay. Starting bid: 1p. Hope my mate can find a gullible sap to take it off his hands. Oh, aren't I a hypocrite...

Gangs of the Dead (2006)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Also known as LAST RITES, this film was re-titled and thrown on DVD and is yet another stab at the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD line with some ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 thrown in for good measure. A group of homeless people are standing around when a meteor crashes on them and turns them into flesh eating zombies. A black gang and a Latino gang, rivals, take shelter in a warehouse with two white cops. The mixed group not only must battle the zombies but also each other. There's some nice stuff here but in the end I couldn't help but be bored by this because we've seen the zombie side of things so many times. I did think it was interesting seeing the two rival gangs having to deal with one another but this stuff didn't work as well as it could have because the screenplay mostly has them shouting things at one another and calling each other the "B" word. The performances aren't Oscar-worthy but all the actors fill their roles fine and deliver the type of performances you'd expect. The CGI effects are all rather obvious and that includes all the fake blood and guts being thrown around. Zombie fans might be attracted to the (new) title but they've pretty much seen everything here in much better movies.

I saw movie called 48 weeks later, why have I never heard of this movie before?, So picked up thinking it was a sequel to 28 Days later and it even says on the DVD what happens after 28 days later which is a massive lie. As this movie is also called Gangs of the dead and like it says above Last Rites, if i knew that was same movie, I would never have picked up (What the hell did it give a different name in the UK.)I can believe i have wasted a hour and half of life on this pieces of rubbish that is called a horror movie.

The plot A meteor hit a place and then two gangs come to the same place and go to warn and then the people who should have died are backing attacking the humans.

The zombies are not scary at all and the make up effect are really bad and have zombie have no idea how act like a zombie and the acting from whole cast was horrendous. Some of gory stuff in this movie looked so fake.

Please avoid this movie.