Dead Men Walking

For me the movie went down the drain pretty fast after and due to the lack of scriptwriting talents few obviously infected convicts were forced to the canteen, so the hell surely broke loose. Nevertheless the idea of zombie epidemic in a high-security prison was still interesting to follow.

Apart from the script, the camera, most of the acting and especially sound work were killing the concept frame by frame. Ten repetitions of guts being pulled out of the bodies... Constant green toning of the picture, why?.. Gunshots poorly synchronized with video.. I don't know what was making me follow - I guess it was the concept itself again.

But somewhere in middle of this bad taste pride parade I was brought back to life by one totally brilliant scene. It was a shotgun slaughter with classic piano concert in the back (something from Tchaikovsky's "Seasons", I guess). It was so perfect match of time, picture and sound, although this trick is not a novelty (check e.g. The Silence of the Lambs). So while making your mind please take into account that I added one extra star for Thaikovsky.

Well, this wasn't an abomination, but it was far from good. I didn't rent this with pre-conceptions of a Romero-esquire entry into the genre. While it did keep me watching throughout its entirety, it brought absolutely nothing interesting, though provoking, or even all too much entertaining to the table. No characters were interesting or endearing whatsoever. Even as a B-Movie, it fails. The only thing wresting it from a Sci-Fi channel original was the gore and violence. When the final credits roll, you wont feel moved at all, just the need to go eject the disc from the player. Sure, I've seen worse, but that's just about the best I can say from this low budget amateurish piece. Sure there are worse entries out there, but this is rubbing elbows with them.

What an utterly agonizing waste of film....The premise and setting are interesting and had possibilities...A virus spreads through a maximum security prison. Actually in this flick its an abandoned building on a side street. You can see cars whizzing by and the gate into the prison is a shaky mess sitting on some rollers....I suppose the money on this movie was spent on special effects which by low budget standards were OK. Although you can see some actors walk out of a room and not seem to know which way to go since its obvious they are on a set and not a real building. The characters are all stereo types we've seen before which is alright if a movie is entertaining. This one seem to lag and try and give you drama at the same time. One scene in particular which has the female lead and a victim having a heart to heart about life and stuff. God I wanted to vomit just like the zombies in this movie. The actress can actually deliver her lines believably its just she sounds like such a valley girl type that its annoying. The male actors are OK at best. The male lead is a brown haired Russell Crowe wanna be. There's also a lot of vomiting and squirming in agony as victims turn into zombies which can get a little irritable after a while. At the end of the day its an annoying, loud, badly scripted, and overly acted by some, low budget horror flick. Don't get me wrong, I love low budget horror films, but they at least have to have some appeal.

On the continuum of low budget zombie films marketed direct to video during the time frame that this was released, it is ahead of the pack. The premise works and moves the zombie theme into a new environment nicely. The film has a nice atmosphere and truly has good acting. The makeup and effects will satisfy even the most decerning zombie film conesure. Where most direct to video zombie films couldn't even get an audience to sit through them, much less get a screening at even the most remote film festival, this film would more than likely draw a crowd and have gotten good reviews. It isn't of the kind of quality that would have justified a theatrical release, but it is at the high end of video releases in it's genre.

Zombie film fans will enjoy this one...

After killing four persons in his home with a shotgun, Dee Travis (Brandon Stacy) claims that he had accidentally ingested an experimental biotoxin that the company Blackthorn where he worked was researching. Travis is sent visibly ill to the Harwood Maximum Security Prison and the Security Officer Sweeny (Chriss Anglin) sends the inmate to the infirmary. Meanwhile the CDC Agent Samantha Beckett (Bay Bruner) comes to the prison to interview Travis and is received by Warden Mahler (Bobby James). While they are having a conversation, they are informed that Travis has been transferred to the solitary confinement and his infected blood has caused an outbreak among the prisoners and guards. Samantha calls the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the responsible advises the warden that the prison is in quarantine.

The gore "Dead Men Walking" is a zombie movie underrated in IMDb. I have just watched this low-budget movie with the lowest expectation based on the 3.1 User Rating and in the end I found it a flawed but enjoyable feature. The story has many flaws, like for example, how could Travis be only affected by the virus in the prison? The "shotgun killer" killed four people; then he certainly went to the court for the judgment of his crime. Therefore, months (or even years) have passed until he was sent to prison. Even if he was sent directly to prison to wait for the trial, how long have passed for the manifestation of the effect of the virus? Further, he claimed that he had contaminated his friends and none of them was sent to an autopsy to prove his words. Samantha tells that they are in quarantine and if anybody including the warden's son leave Harwood, it would be "hell on Earth". However, she spends half the movie trying to escape with Johnny. The FEMA authority tells that the prison is in quarantine. However, there are only two snipes eliminating any escapee instead of the building under siege by the police. The reverend that believes in God committing a capital sin with his suicide is also weird. I could list many other flaws in the story, but these examples are the worst. Another bad point is the cinematography, too dark and greenish and the camera work with unusual angles and edition. Last but not the least, there are many bad acting among the unknown cast. There are stupid lines but there are some very witty and funny. The good points are the gruesome make-up and special effects that do not spare children. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Os Mortos Estão Vivos" ("The Dead Are Alive")