Dead Air

If you watch one movie with a radio station and an infection make it "Pontypool". If you want to watch more than one, this one is decent enough for you to watch it once. It's certainly refreshing to watch Bill Mosley in a different sort of role/character. While he's doing a good job, McHattie was just terrific and could not be matched (which of course is also a sign, that Pontypool has the better script and therefor also the better story).

The effects are good enough for a small budget and the movie does do a decent job in getting the movie along. You have to excuse the movie for some stupid character behaviour of course (something that quite a few horror movies seem to be infected with). If you can do that, you will be able to enjoy it (or if you cut the movie quite some slack, you will even rate it higher than I did)

After reading a brief description of this film I thought someone had remade PONTYPOOL already. Well it is not a remake...but it really, really, borrows heavily from it. It also borrows quite a bit from 28 DAYS LATER.

Terrorist simultaneously detonate chemical bombs at major sporting events across the United States. The chemicals turn people into highly contagious, rabid, homicidal maniacs. A radio talk show host (Bill Mosely) and his crew are broadcasting live while the events unfold.

Most of the events take place at the radio station ala PONTYPOOL. Luckily the virus is man-made and not verbal (a plot point of PONTYPOOL that, while original, just didn't work for me). The infected have bleeding eyes, run fast and can infect you with just a scratch ala 28 DAYS LATER. So basically this movies takes the best parts of both films and mixes them together for its own purposes.

Over all I thought this was a great, entertaining movie. It moves along quickly and has some truly disturbing and horrific moments. Unfortunately the similarities to the other films was a bit of a let down and will probably turn some people off.

I liked this film a lot. People have described it as like 28 Day Later - it isn't. Both films have zombies - the comparison ends there. This film is about post 911 paranoia - it says it right at the start of the film before any zombies appear the shock jock radio presenter said tonights shows is all about paranoia.

If you liked The Man From Earth or Frequency then I think you'd like this. It has that similar feel of a stage play or simple drama with heart. The actors were great- really strong in ensemble. I kind of fancy Patricia Tallman - she is easy on the eyes and she always seems like she has a warm heart - she always gives heart to a scene. The lead was really well played - he has a great voice and this film is nice to listen to which is a pleasant change from some of the more bombastic screamy action films you normally see.

So a simple genre movie with some decent exposition, terrific acting and solid pacing. You can find fault in this movie if you try to compare with movies that it is not - but I would prefer to watch this than some low calibre action crap. The world doesn't need another cheap action zombie horror - but the world could do with another few of these movies - thoughtful simple idea driven drama's. To all those involved - great job. Have watched it twice already and I enjoyed it both time.

Dead Air - yet another zombie film. And this one doesn't even have the budget of the Resident Evil films, so that doesn't really bode well.

It's about a zombie outbreak (or rather 'infected' as the 'zombies' resemble the 'infected' people from 28 Days Later rather than George Romero's slow-moving 'shufflers') in Los Angeles which starts off near a late-night radio station. The staff there have no idea what's happening and do their best to cover the sensational news story as best they can.

It's mainly set inside the towerblock/radio studios which masks the lack of budget as best it can. However, the film's biggest problem is another ('zombie') movie made the year before called Pontypool. It too does exactly the same thing, i.e. a low budget zombie movie set in a late night radio station where a smart-alec 'shock-jock' covers the outbreak.

I quite enjoyed Dear Air. The characters were pretty believable and the plot slightly different as to the zombies' origins, but, all the way through it, I just couldn't get Pontypool out of my head.

If you haven't seen Pontypool and like zombie movies, I would definitely recommend Dead Air. However, if you have seen Pontypool, there's not an awful lot new here and it might come across as retreading old ground.

The idea behind Dead Silence is great: zombie outbreak takes place during an edgy paranoia radio talk show. There was so much going for this film. Unfortunately, as soon as the zombies made their appearance, all was lost.

The film is ridiculous and only those with a passion for cheesy, b-flick horror will enjoy it. The zombies were soooo stupid! They ran around flailing their arms. They looked like a bunch of people putting on a haunted house for elementary students.

I know this is a brief review, but I just don't see the need to invest much into this. It's a dumb movie. You've been warned.