Plane Dead

This demented and adorably over-the-top gory zombie flick was presented and introduced here at the Belgian Horror & Fantasy Festival by its writer/creator Scott Thomas. He claims that, in spite of all the obvious plot-similarities with "Snakes on a Plane", his film is definitely NOT a quick cash-in on the huge success of the 2006 summer-blockbuster and that the basic concept and the pre-production phase of "Plane Dead" actually predate "Snakes on a Plane". Well, I don't know if all that is true, but I tend to believe Thomas because he's such a nice guy and he seemed very confident. Moreover, even if "Plane Dead" simply was a rip-off of the popular Sam L. Jackson hit, I still wouldn't care that much, because it's such a tremendously entertaining and enthusiast splatter-flick! As long as you don't expect new and groundbreaking story lines and/or highly intellectual dialogs, "Plane Dead" honestly can't fail to amuse you. In most departments, it's even far better and more appealing to horror fanatics than "Snakes on a Plane", because it's a lot faster, cheesier, gorier and shamelessly features all the standard clichés us genre fans love so much. Safely protected in the cargo-hold of the red-eye flight from L.A. to Paris, a mysterious scientific experiment is transported out of the US by its malicious creators. The unscrupulous Dr. Leo Bennett and his loyal researchers developed a virus that rapidly destroys human DNA, only to revive the infected victim again as a bloodthirsty and unstoppable zombie. He plans to sell his formula to the military in order to create the ultimate soldier, of course, but some unanticipated turbulence and noisy passengers on the 747-flight cause the female "test-case" zombie to resurrect a little early, and she immediately begins to feast her way through crew and passengers. Once bitten, the victim turns into a zombie as well, and pretty soon the plane is overrun by seemingly more zombies than there were passengers in the first place. It perhaps takes slightly too long before the zombies run loose on the plane, but when they do "Plane Dead" turns into a non-stop series of laughs, creative deaths and extreme gore. Apparently, only stereotypes were allowed aboard this flight and it's always a lot of fun to watch those getting killed off one by one. Naturally it's the elderly pilot's last flight before retirement, there's the heroic copper – who eventually has to save the day - transporting a witty criminal, arguing teen couples, sexy yet empty-headed stewardesses, couples with marriage issues and Tiger Woods' biggest competitor himself! The gore is guaranteed to please people, as the script features several ingenious new methods to kill zombies, like an umbrella through the head, nine-iron golf clubs and of course airplane engines. Be honest, what would you rather get face-to-face with whilst stuck in an inescapable location: ordinary snakes, albeit a little venomous ... or filthy, virulent, ravenous and outrageous zombies? There are quite a few recognizable faces in the cast, like Kevin J. O'Connor (the creep from "Lord of Illusions" and "Deep Rising"), Erick Avari and Richard Tyson. The lines and characters are often very funny, the make-up effects are delightfully campy in an old-fashioned way and there even is an occasional moment of genuine suspense. "Plane Dead" is awesome horror-entertainment and I hope Scott Thomas will enjoy the success he deserves with it.

I will never understand the haters of the zombie genre. Just like romantic comedy these gems are not made for everyone.

The few people who appreciate a good zombie movie will see the originality and joy in this movie. Granted it is not scary..AT ALL and it isn't nearly gory enough, but still this movie deserves its due. It took a concept that has been done to death, people locked in a confined area fighting back a zombie invasion...(Night of the Living Dead being the blueprint) and gave it a twist that I really appreciated.

Being trapped in a confined space with the Zombies, leaving you with zero room to hide and none of that long drawn out psychological mind-screw most films rely on to kill time.

I loved this movie, and if you love zombie flicks, I'm sure you will too.

I was very skeptical whether I should spend my time on watching this movie. First of all it has a very cheesy name, sounds like another cheap remake and DVD cover looks also not that good. But being a fan of zombie movies I decided to give it a try. I started watching it and first 35 minutes were just as I expected the whole movie to be, but surprisingly after first 35-40 minutes it gets much better, special effects, plot and even acting gets better, well acting gets better because all amateur actors are killed by zombies. I would say you can fast forward first 25 minutes, since nothing much happens in the beginning.

I liked this movie and would recommend it to all zombie fans :)

I didn't know ANYTHING about this movie until last night. Expected a crappy low budget ripoff of "Snakes on a Plane". But since this was made BEFORE "Snake" I guess it's the other way around ;) Well as I said I expected a crappy movie in the Sci-Fi Channel mold. But what I got was an EXTREMELY entertaining action/horror that puts this Zombie flick on the same top 10 list as Rodrigues "Planet Terror".

Sure it's a low budget movie but I doesn't feel like it. I would gladly have paid for a ticket to seen it on the big screen.

Now THIS is how you make use of a limited budget.

We got HUGE amounts of Zombies and gore (okey not like Planet Terror but plenty enough) and lot's of action and explosions, especially in the last half hour.

What I also liked was the characters. Usually in low budget movies we get the most crappiest and annoying actors on the planet, but in this one they can ACTUALLY act, and most of them are likable as well.

Not unlike Snakes on a Plane where you HATED them all ;)

The Zombie make-up FX were brilliant and they were the crazy brutal type of zombies as in the remake of Dawn of the Dead. They actually made me jump a few times as well. Now THAT doesn't happen to often ;)

Except for a few CGI shots this have the look and feel of a real theater movie. Shame it went the Direct to Video route with a crappy cover.

This is a movie that deserves an following.

So look it up folks. It's a classic :)

First off, if you like zombie flicks, you'll probably be entertained enough to give this a view. The acting is above average and the special effects are really good. Just don't expect much in the way of writing.

That's really my biggest complaint. For the budget it looks like this thing had, did they even read the script? I think they just saw "zombies on a plane" and thought that would be enough.

The movie spends a lot of time introducing practically ALL the characters on the plane, most of them unlikeable except for the crew. If those introductions would have made me care about any of the characters or, better yet, set up some great ironic deaths, it would have been worth it, but it didn't. What a missed opportunity! You want to see some of these people get theirs, but they just sort of get bit and turn into zombies too. Why do I have to know anything about them? Where's the drama? I found myself only mildly entertained and often thinking, "That's it? They could have done that way better." So many missed opportunities for both comedy and drama.

This is an unimaginative "zombies on a plane" flick. The brief scene in World War Z was better. The "zombies on a train" flick Train to Busan was WAY better. This is just okay.