The Killing Strain

I for one will say that I enjoyed this film and went to see it a few times. For the most part it is what you would expect from an INDEPENDENT FILM as some may not understand what that is. This movie is well thought out the cast is mostly outstanding and the crew did a wonderful job again for an INDEPENDENT FILM.

For the budget of any INDEPENDENT FILM this movie was the best I have seen. The effects were awesome the plot was great and everyone in it gave all 100%....If you want to see an awesome movie with likable and some not so likable but gotta love them anyway characters this is the one to see.

I must mention also that I am a horror film fanatic and with that being said I have seen many and this one did surprise me in the fact that even some of the top directors of some of the more well known horror films have let me down,so I was pleasantly surprised at what was brought to the big screen by this director and the entire cast, Although there seem to be a few crucial cast members not really mentioned here like where is Brian Potts AKA as Sam in the movie and Willie Bowen AKA Redneck Willie AKA Neil who by the way are very comical in this movie. I would and have recommended this movie to everyone I know in fact I have friends and family in many states that wanna see this film and have seen the trailers and can't wait to see this movie . In closing over all THIS MOVIE IS GREAT go see it if you get the chance.

The Killing Strain is your run of the mill low budget zombie/virus movie. In all honesty the movie was not bad, it just was not good. There was nothing extraordinary to separate it from movies such as anything from the Dead Series by George Romero or even the 28 Days Later. So as you can already see the bar is set high to begin with. Yes, this is a low budget reflection of great movies in this genus, however; budget restraints aside there still was nothing that popped out at you and immediately or grabbed your attention. No amazing scenes of violence or compassion. Nor was the sub-standard acting done well, it was hard to tell if the actors played there parts purposely over the top, or was the acting that God awful again, hard to say. The pace of the movie was enjoyable at least they were no long drawn out explanation of what lead to this disaster. I just wish the Directors and writers would have taken the time to put a plot together that would take hold of you, instead we are treated to an ordinary run of the mill zombie-ish movie that will not differentiate it's self from over a 100 other such titles.

I love a good zombie film, great bit of escapism, most times it makes for good viewing, even the B grade variety are OK to watch for a laugh. But this horror of a film is as bad as a B grader will get! Where do they get these 2 bit actors from? no not the people that act the zombie roles. The blood and guts parts are OK, but that's where it stops, the acting is so poor it nearly turned me into a brain dead zombie! And damn that script is horrible, and yes the directing is not much chop either. Should you watch it? sure why not, but be warned it is crap, but it is a great film to remind you of better films from the past, or hopefully better one's to come.

A very solid 1 out of 10

I picked up "The Killing Strain" from Amazon because of one reason; it is a zombie movie. I am a sucker for zombies, and just have to watch all that I can. When I received the movie by mail, I put it in my 'to-watch-pile' because the DVD cover looked sort of discount-like. So nearly two months pass by before I sit down to watch it.

"The Killing Strain" really surprised me, because it was not the kind of cheesy, low-budget crap zombie movie that I expected it to be. There was actually good production to this movie and they had fairly good actors and actresses on the cast list.

The story in "The Killing Strain" is as you have seen in countless zombie movies prior to this one. A strange infection is rampart, turning people into mindless killing machines - zombies, if you will - and the protagonists find themselves in the middle of the chaos. Yeah, nothing new here. But still, the movie was executed in such a manner that it managed to keep me entertained and watching. Being trapped in a farmhouse, again very cliché, there is a group of people coming together for survival, and of course personalities and tempers clash as not everyone is on the same page. And sure, the characters were fairly generic and cliché, but still it worked out well enough.

There was one thing that I didn't really like in the movie, and that is the "28 Days Later"-style zombies that are fast, agile and running about. But hey that is all a matter of preference. And the movie was still great, despite the running zombies.

The effects were good as well, and the zombies had great make-up. Now, you didn't really get the tradition guts, gore and gorging on intestines that you usually get in Romero's movies and such. But the zombies still had a great touch of being dead to the make-up and effects.

I don't understand the low rating this movie have gotten, because I found it to be one of the better non-blockbuster-produced zombie movies I have seen in quite some time.

As for the ending of the movie, well, I will not spoil anything by revealing it here, but that ending was so obvious, it could be seen coming a mile away.

I just saw a screening of this at it's weekend debut at one of the three theaters it showed in San Antonio. I have to say that it does some decent justice to the zombie genre.

I actually went to school with and acted in the director/writer's first stage production back in high school. Daniel has come a long way since "Await The Eclipse" by a long shot.

Not to say this is the most ground breaking zombie film by any means (it is quite hard to do so as the genre has been milked out of all scenarios it can possibly handle), but it is very entertaining in it's own right.

If anything it is a great glimpse of what is to come from these great actors and formidable director. There were great performances from the leads and the comic relief of the the character 'Neil' caused much intentioned laughter from the crowd. By the applause after the screening I think the crowed got what they came for and I would deem this effort a success.