Zombie Town

Great title, OK zombie flick.Two brothers run afoul of the hungry undead while on a tow truck run. Parasites are the cause of these zombies, much like in NIGHT OF THE CREEPS. Decent action, creepy zombie makeup and some gore although it could have been a lot worse in that last department. Without checking, I am guessing this was a first effort by those involved, possibly spun off of a student film. The young age of most of the actors and their unpolished performances, to put it mildly, point in this direction. There is a sequence near the end that put me in mind of both NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and RESIDENT EVIL, and is just as suspenseful. Try it, you may like it.

Jake and his brother Denton have taken over their father's garage business, and they called upon a job to pick up an abandon vehicle out near the woods. It belongs to some locals camping in the woods, so before taking it, they check if they are still in the area, but they come across a cabin with dead corpses and one feral occupant with a craving for flesh. This starts some sort of strange infection, where his brother was bitten and suddenly it's effecting the whole tight-knit community. With no noway out of the town, because of a massive accident blocking there only way out. It's up to Jake, his ex-girlfriend Alex who has just arrived in town and cynically gun-proud Randy to stop what seems to be mysterious parasites turning the local citizens into blood-thirsty zombies, before they escape into the wider population.

Nice! I'm glad I took the chance with this quite recent low-budget zombie splatter treat. Before getting it, I had it in and out of my hands, but I thought what the hell and it turned out rather enjoyable. All the prominent staples (and influences) are there; nauseating gore, flash of nudity, shots to head, zombie munching and icky zombie make-up effects. Romero's legacy definitely shines through, but the use of parasites brought up the 80's horror film "Night of the Creeps". Which I think this one owes a lot to. On that point, I see it playing out more like a homage, then a plain rip-off. Sure the senselessly blunt and token story is derivative with it's same old plot devices and developments (nothing like zombie slug-fest to ignite two old flames), but a thick dose of telegraphed morbid humour and smart-laced one liners were a welcoming inclusion. The plot doesn't matter too much. Comic cheese basically fills the amusing script, always timing itself for its next snappy one-liner and unbelievably ridiculous reactions. The origin and intentions of the parasites are cloudy drawn up, which might be a downer for some.

Damon Lemay keeps the action pretty lively with many grisly details and few suspenseful jolts that do work, even with the surprisingly workable mock attitude to proceedings. Make-up effects are well captured, and while the computer generated effects look dodgy (truck accident), but they don't do any harm and are truly forgotten when the unpleasant zombie action breaks out. Camera-work sometimes can get trapped on zoom, but its frenetic style has control. Some interesting colour filtering strikes up some atmospheric visuals, and the adjustable soundtrack mixes it's country twang with heavy metal aching to the suitability of the scene. The performances might be amateurishly overacting, but they brought the right feel to their characters. The leads weren't bad. Dennis Lemoine gives the film it's punch with his dry remarks and gung-ho approach as Randy. Adam Hose in a blithely restraint turn is agreeable as Jake and Brynn Lucas is plays the gorgeously brainy chick Alex with decent amount of aplomb.

Not bad, not bad at all. "Zombie Town" might not be original and one to ponder on, but this fodder is enthusiastically made by genre fans who have seen too many zombie films and there's nothing wrong with that. This Indie film is well worth a look.

HEY EVERYBODY ITS ME, (4) !!!! And today we review ..... night of the creeps 2 ??? Electric boogaloo ????

SOOOO apparently somewhere this film got called night of the creeps 2.0 ..... and for good reason it follows the same idea ...slugs enter you....uh.....and you become a zombie ...now in nature there are actual fungi that inhabit bugs and drive them insane , then those bugs climb the highest plants and stay there until they die and release spores of the fungi to start all over.... SO i mean for an invasion plan .... slugs to make zombies IS a pretty sound tactic ......AND we have seen this idea in MANY other zombie / zombie like films and sci monster films like this since the original night of the creeps back in the 80's SO that film left quiet the impression it seems

BUT this isnt a sequel ......well not officially at least

and please note from 2007, this is the director/writers only film, and thats sad because this is actually a decent little romp of zombie fun over all ..... sure the acting is rough and the over all production is .......average at best .... BUT its for sure a fine attempt and a REALLY good first film .......here we are pushing 20 years later and think of where he could have been by now IF this is his first one !!!! Too bad man ....

it seems at an hour and 22 it probably got cut for gore and maybe titties even (youtube rules i get it ) so watching it for real probably would make it better even ........

the acting is .... meh , newbs it seems but not bad, on par with most indie / low budgets no no complaints , about as expected really

FX are decently done over all ......i mean for what they did , they didnt try to do more than they could it seems and thats a smart choice, sometimes less really is more, knowing you cant pull off million dollar FX means DO NOT TRY TOO ..........instead keep it simple ... blood and done if needed lol.....and it pays off better than tryhard and fail hard ....

lighting was all done REALLY well, they used alot of natural lighting so always smart choices there BUT when they didnt you can tell they knew how to match things up pretty good so again good job ....

just all around good job ...........i wish this film sucked more so i could make fun of it BUT its pretty decent so ........dang lol...

6/10.

I just rented this the other day on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. Plotwise it's pretty standard issue. Small, isolated town. Small group of survivors. Zombie hordes eating them one by one. You know how it goes. What separates this from some of the other zombie movies I've seen, however, is that the filmmakers seem to have a pretty good sense of humor about what they're doing. The characters are pretty funny (particulaly Randy) and some of the scenarios are definitely done tongue and cheek. I wouldn't say it's quite as over the top as Brain Dead, but it's in that vein. All in all, there are some good jokes, some solid gore, and some pretty ambitious action sequences towards the end. Perhaps a little slow getting started, but once it did I liked it a lot.

7.5 stars out of 10.

Jake, his nemesis, Randy & Jake's girlfriend must contend with zombiefied townsfolk (grandmoms and dogs mainly) in what was once a quaint and quiet, if backwoods town.

Imagine a cross between "Shaun of the Dead" and "Slither", but without the budget or wit of either aforementioned films. Although far from the worst 'Zomedy" I've ever seen (I'm thinking of trademarking that term by the way) But there's still nothing here to recommend it to anyone but the most hardcore obsessive zombie completionist (and even then only hesitantly)

My Grade: D