Exit Humanity

"Exit Humanity" is one of the best zombie movies in its genre; that being a zombie movie set in a Western setting, more specifically during and in the aftermath of the American Civil War. Far better than "Undead or Alive", "Abraham Lincoln vs Zombies" and "Cowboys vs Zombies", "Exit Humanity" is a definite must if you are planning to watch a zombie/western movie.

I sat down to watch "Exit Humanity" with no particular expectations as I had honestly never heard about the movie prior to finding it by sheer luck. And being a fan of all things zombie, I was intrigued and just had to watch it. And now that I have, I must admit that I am more than pleasantly surprised.

The story in the movie is about an outbreak of undead starting in 1865 as the Civil War is at its last chapter. Flash forward six years, we find Edward Young in a small farm house, where his wife is dead and his son is missing in a country ravaged by hordes of the walking dead. Edward sets out to find his son, embarking on a task in a world that is dying.

I found the story to be rather good actually, and it managed to keep me interested all the way up to the very end. There weren't any particular surprise story twists or turn of events, and the movie went on straight ahead at a good pace. And that worked out nicely enough.

The people cast for "Exit Humanity" were doing great jobs, and if you are a movie fan, you will see a couple of familiar faces. I am not familiar with Mark Gibson (playing Edward Young), but he did a good job with his role. And I was more than surprised (and thrilled) to find Bill Mosely (playing General Williams)in the movie, as I've always enjoyed his movies. Then you also have Dee Wallace (playing Eve), Stephen McHattie (playing Medic Johnson) and Brian Cox (the Narrator). So there were some familiar faces and voices around.

As for the zombies in the movie, well most of them were really nice. Lots of good make-up and details. And there were also plenty of gore and wounds to go around to keep most of the gorehounds out there more than satisfied. And thumbs up on not having super agile zombies that run and jump around, I am most definitely not a fan of those type of zombies. Two things to point out about the zombies; I didn't get the black shark-like eyes, what was up with that? Wouldn't eyes glaze over and become milky-grayish after death occurs? And the tone of gray they used on the faces (but sometimes forgot to put on the zombies hands and necks) was a bit too gray, standing out in contrast. That sort of reminded me of the old 70's zombies movies. But aside from those two minor things, then the zombies were good, nicely put together and worked out well.

Being a big zombie fan, then I found "Exit Humanity" to be rather good. I was thoroughly entertained by this movie.

A unique and well done dramatic zombie period piece. The rustic technology free setting creates nice isolation which helps increase the tension. I love zombies, and these zombies are the best I've seen in a long time. Not just the makeup, which was great, but the acting and serious tone of the movie, help it excel. The music was wonderful, while the acting and narration was well done. The animation added an art-house feel, yet not overused. Not a typical horror film, but a serious drama about humanity. Definitely going to keep an eye on this director. I wish there was more of a scare element. I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

A very ambitious movie, that has great cinematography and with Brian Cox one of the best narrators it could've hired (Morgan Freeman excluded, though I doubt he'd do a movie like this). It tries to go the philosophical road and almost completely convinces. The acting is good and if you liked something like Stake Land, than you have to watch this too of course.

I think that the movie does not live entirely up to its high goals, but at least it did set them high. The filmmakers really wanted to say more and not only make another horror movie. So if you're looking for cheap scares, you should go look elsewhere! Not everyones cup of tea and with some major flaws, you might want to rent, before you buy it

Exit Humanity is an interesting approach to a typical zombie outbreak story. It is told by a narrator (Brian Cox) and in chapters from a journal by Confederate soldier, Edward Young (Mark Gibson) who details the story of a zombie outbreak that occurs just as the Civil War is ending. Director/writer John Geddes does give us a lot of the traditional zombie movie elements like the flesh eating, the shot to the head and the humans who are worse then the ravenous zombies but, also gives us a unique setting, some nicely visualized dream sequences and even some really cool flashbacks and montage sequences done with animation. The make up effects are good, although the film lacks the abundant gore fans look for, and Gibson makes a nice hero trying to keep his humanity despite what is happening around him. But, there are some flaws that keep the film from being a really strong entry in the zombie sub-genre, the pace is rather slow, the film is a tad long, and despite his novel touches and setting, there really isn't anything new story wise here or themes that others haven't touched on before in these films, although, the cause of his zombie plague was a cool twist once revealed. His cast also includes genre favorites Dee Wallce as "Eve" a healer thought to be a witch and Bill Mosley as "General Williams" a megalomaniac who wants to find a cure to the zombie plague so he may become rich and powerful and doesn't care how many innocents die while his outmatched doctor (Stephen McHattie) experiments on both the dead and the living. All in all it's not bad and certainly worth a watch if you like zombie movies and, most of all, John Geddes shows some nice potential as a filmmaker. He utilizes his more unique touches well, he frames his shots very nicely and pulls off some effective moments. A nice horror debut for Mr. Geddes.

Not your typical horror flick or even to state not a normal zombie flick. But I liked it because it had a great story and the acting was sublime as did the effects used for the zombies and the way they narrated this flick.

North and South are at the end of the war but in one of the final battles suddenly some soldiers appear with an unusual look, zombies. From there on we see how Edward Young (Mark Gibson) survives and sees that the world has been overtaken by the walking dead. His wife and son are bitten, his son is out there as a walker, and he just got one goal, to find his son. From there on the zombies are second in the story and Edward Young becomes the main lead. We follow him by narrating (Brian Cox) and even in cartoon style.

The way it was filmed and the way John Geddes (director) directed it was really a relieve to see. It clocks in at 108 minutes and it never bored me. And just when you thought, what's next suddenly it changes completely.

But what a great performance by Mark Gibson. His first big lead and only his second feature, One to watch. Also nice to see was Dee Wallace as Eve and Bill Moseley as General Williams. I even didn't recognize Dee here as the so-called witch. Finally, Bill is back on the track after 2001 Maniacs:Fields Of Scream also as a soldier (mayor in fact). A small part for Stephen McHattie who did a great job a while ago in Pontypool (2008). Here he is again great with his typical face.

Yes you noticed it, I can't say anything bad about this 'zombie' flick even as they aren't the main cause to go watch this gem. There isn't really anything gory here to see but still the zombies looked really great. If you liked I Am Legend (2007) or The Road (2009) or Stake land (2010) then be sure to pick this one up.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 4/5 Story 4/5 Comedy 0/5