Awaken the Dead

Let me start by saying I like Zombie movies and I like "bad" movies. This movie was just horrible on all levels. It was Dawn of the Dead but instead of a mall....it was shot in what I assume was the 'directors' mom's house. The 2 lead 'actors' were so bad and the dialog was so childish...it almost became a tolerable bad film. It seemed like a film student that was trying so hard to be artsy but failed miserably. I've been to many wrap parties where pieces of the film were shown to party goers and I cant imagine anyone seeing this and thinking "Wow...we've really got something good here".

I paid $4 to rent this on On Demand and I want my money back and my 90 minutes of my life.

Top 5 worst movie I've ever sat through.

I love zombie movies and especially no budget ones. So this should have been ideal for me. Unfortunately it was not.

Awaken the dead is about two strangers that meet up in a safe house. One is an ex-assassin haunted by horrific events in his past. The other is a woman who, we find out later, is a prostitute and the daughter of the priests ex-colleague. They are in the safe house protecting themselves from a horde of zombies. The story is their plight to find the girls father and the people that they meet on the way.

I found this a struggle to sit through, as there are long stretches of times when nothing really happens. The way that it was shot did not add to the enjoyment value as it was very grainy with washed out colours. In fact most of the film looks like it was filmed in black and white. The acting was (as expected) of the amateur variety. On their travels they meet a lady who follows them round for about 15 minutes, adds nothing to the story, says about two lines. Is she there for fodder for the zombies, well of course she is !!! There is not that much gore and the zombies looked OK (some better than others). I really just lost interest quite quickly and nothing really kick started me back to attention.

There are some positives. I liked the music kinda like a haunting rock soundtrack. A couple of the zombies look quite cool. The director tries to shoot the scenes in a different way, with some of the camera set up's. Eg in one scene there is a spider that crawls down the lens and then stops and frames a zombie coming toward the camera.

I just felt that it needed something more and came away disappointed.

This is probably one of the best low-budget zombie movies I have seen in quite a long time. Although the special effects were uneven the acting was very good. Essentially, "Father Christopher Gideon" (Gary Kohn) is a troubled priest who is sent to a residence for reasons unknown to him. When he gets there he encounters a woman named "Mary Payne" (Lindsey Morris) who also has a note telling her to be there too. While they are inside the house, a zombie epidemic develops practically on their doorstep. They are joined by several people at different times with the first being a Jehovah's Witness named "Stanley" (Nate Witty). At any rate, rather than divulge any mysteries and spoil the movie for anyone who hasn't see it, I will just say that this film is "different" from any zombie movie I have ever seen. I suppose a person could call it an "alternative zombie movie" because of the plot and background music used. Anyway, I thought Gary Kohn performed in an outstanding manner. Lindsey Morris also performed very well too. However, my favorite performance was by Nate Witty who was simply hilarious. Be that as it may, I thought this picture had suspense, comedy and intrigue which is rare for a film produced with such a low budget. And while it definitely had its faults (like the covert agent standing around observing the carnage) I think people who give it a fair chance might be pleasantly surprised. The director (Jeff Brookshire) has every reason to be proud of his work.

I watch a ton of indie horror flicks so I don't really expect them to be super polished but this one was very cool! Nice story, sweet lines and pretty ambitious. I really liked it. It's raw but it's really well done too.

It's got SHAUN OF THE DEAD humor, you know, dark and quirky but also has real drama.

Though, I've gotta admit, the coolest thing was the priest with guns. It's also filmed with a grainy, dreamy texture that I liked.

All in all, it was a cool was to pass the time. Look, it reminded me of some of the early Evil Dead stuff.

I saw this the other day and I really liked it.

It's worth a spin.

It's not glitzy just entertaining.

The music is killer and the jokes are pretty spot on. What really got me was that it played like a fairly real situation. I'm not saying it has great FX or super production value but it's solid and a really decent way to spend an evening, especially with a couple of beers. Look, bottom line is entertainment.

I was entertained.

I liked it better than some of the high tech low drama zombie films I've seen on the big screen.