Osombie

This film begins with an American SEAL team landing by helicopter on the rooftop of a building in Abbottabad, Pakistan in search of Osama bin Laden. Completely surprised by the sudden assault Osama desperately infects himself with a virus which eventually turns himself into a zombie. Having then shot and presumably killing him, the SEAL team put his body on the helicopter to take back to an aircraft carrier waiting for them in the Arabian Sea. However, on the way there the zombified body of Osama bin Laden awakens and in the resulting chaos his body is sent to the bottom of the sea. Not long afterward, "Osombie" (played by Walter A. Carmona) stumbles out of the sea and attacks two people on the beach. Recognizing the importance of this event the Taliban not only harbors Osombie but also begins creating even more zombies for use against American forces in Afghanistan. To counter that, a small group of special forces soldiers are sent in to find Osombie and in that regard to fight and kill all of those who stand in their way. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film started off with a ridiculous premise and pretty much remained that way all the way through. Quite surprisingly, there were actually some good action scenes to be found in this movie--but those depicting a female soldier named "Tomboy" (Danielle C. Ryan) wielding a samurai sword in battle certainly didn't help in that regard. In short, I honestly didn't expect much from this film and as a result I wasn't too disappointed.

This movie was something I accidentally stumbled upon and had high hopes but was truly disappointed. While I enjoy Zombie and gore movies as much as the other guy, I also appreciate some cinematic finesse thrown in. Unfortunately Osombie tries to survive on a single interesting idea with flat characters and an even flatter story.

The movie itself is quickly summarized, Osama Bin Laden supposedly "alive" as a Zombie, guy goes to kill him, his sister goes after him and meets some soldiers along the way in a zombie- infested Afghanistan. While this might be a lot of fun (think Dead Snow) it is not since the action is poorly dramatized, you never really feel that there is any real threat coming from the zombs. Also none of the characters offer any particularly likable traits why you would root for them.

Overall this movie was uninspired and while it had some nice CGIs and obviously some budget it really failed to create a story arc that would allow me to call this flick entertaining.

I'm not entirely sure why I felt the need to watch this. I had low expectations generally, and most specifically, I could only assume the picture would suffer from tawdry, boorish jingoism if not also racism. Even seen from afar, the concept sounds like one that will struggle to provide entertainment. Sit to watch, and to at least some extent I admit I'm a little surprised - I assumed 'Osombie' would be outright awful, but it comes off instead as a very mixed bag. That's hardly a trio of words that should inspire confidence, but when we're talking about movies in this level, "very mixed bag" can be taken as a compliment.

Filmmaker John Lyde has a long list of credits in TV and indie productions, and his direction is broadly solid if unremarkable - balanced out with some especially nice shots and scenes. Also wearing hats here as co-producer, cinematographer, and co-editor, I think he demonstrates fine capability all around. The filming locations are gorgeous (Utah, standing in for Afghanistan); costume design, props and weapons, and set design are swell. Action scenes, and the makeup, blood and gore, and practical effects realizing the zombies, all look good; while computer-aided visuals are sometimes too over the top (think headshots in action-horror videogames), given the slant of the film - sure, why not. Though unremarkable in the grand scheme of things, in and of itself I quite like James Schafer's original music, tinged with rock vibes.

On the other hand, Kurt Hale's screenplay is the chief source of those three key words, "very mixed bag." Dialogue is all over the place: in quieter moments it's hackneyed and unnecessary, while when geared towards plot development it's Just So. In attempts at any humor, at least half such lines are juvenile, tired tripe, leaving only a handful of quips, one-liners, and otherwise jokes to inspire some happy little neurons to fire off. Characters are written with a modicum of personality, but are mostly uninteresting; with only two women given any prominence, "Dusty" and "Tomboy" end up being the best characters just because they stand out. (Eve Mauro and Danielle C. Ryan lucked out.) Meanwhile, the expository attempt at an explanation for the zombie problem comes off as forced, strained, grasping at straws, an exercise in videogame logic. The overall narrative is almost extraneous and uninteresting, and seems to have gotten the least attention of anything. And the scene writing struggles or succeeds roughly following the pattern of the content I've described - though with unpredictable results from one moment to the next, and some inclusions are 100% superfluous.

Whatever particular weaknesses or strengths one may cite, though, the biggest flaw of all is deep inconsistency in tone. It could have been a schlocky but fun action-horror feature, and there are some ideas in the screenplay that are ripe for a more earnest genre romp. At other points 'Osombie' is so wildly preposterous or over the top that it feels like a horror-comedy, a parody of zombie flicks and military stories. At still other times scenes are so bland and uninspiring that they become all but soporific. Weirdly enough, all this rather seems to be embodied in the character Tomboy. She's a hard-boiled soldier like the dime-a-dozen bros - but also carries a sword for melee combat (and scenes in which she uses it are some of the most satisfying in the whole film!). She refuses to proceed lockstep with the more tasteless humor of her fellows, but also fleetingly illustrates romantic interest in one of the others and is commonly seen with... a lollipop. I like Ryan as an actor, and I think she's fine in this role - but the role is written very unevenly, in an unmistakable echo of the picture at large.

What it all comes down to is that it really seems like 'Osombie' didn't know what it truly wanted to be. It's well made generally, and I maintain that Lyde is a competent director. Yet the screenplay oscillates with scant rhyme or reason between silly, fun, bland, overcooked, and unnecessary - and with that, the acting, direction, and the rest of the production at large seem like they're scrambling to pick up the pieces and make something out of the hodgepodge of notions herein. Good ideas, adequate craft, some reliable people involved, all running around to make sense of what is sometimes almost senseless, directionless writing. When all is said and done I can very honestly say that this is better than I anticipated, but how much that really means is up for debate. I suppose if you're a major fan of someone involved, or extra curious, then there's a special reason to watch this, but for anyone else - well, so long as you keep your expectations low, it's passably enjoyable for a lazy, slow day. Even for as many problems as it has 'Osombie' is marginally enjoyable; would that it were more focused in one way or another.

I was a financial backer of this movie from its Kickstarter project, however I didn't have any input into the movie or its development. So what I write here is my own opinion.

I just wanted to say that without any preconceived ideas or thoughts about this movie I didn't think this was too bad at all. For a small budget movie it certainly didn't show the usual tell tale signs.

Camera work was excellent, the CGI and special effects were above average for what you would expect of a B grade flick.

Knowing that Eve Mauro (Dusty) was in this flick I was expecting to be spending a lot of time admiring her. However I was more impressed with Danielle Chuchran's (Tomboy) performance... she has such a cute smile.

Give it a look, whilst you will probably think its not the best film you have ever seen, I'm pretty sure you wont think its the worst either.

It was only a matter of time for the movies to start flowing in regarding the killing of Osama Bin Laden. This year showcased three different films, but only one stepped out of the world of the truth and into the world of zombies to deliver a fun take on this important moment in history, Ozombie. The trailers offered a peek into what could be a pretty fun film, but will it deliver or just be another goofy spoof?

Ozombie follows a group of NATO special-forces on a special assignment that alongside a yoga instructor in search of her conspiracy theory brother who believes Bin Laden is still alive despite being buried at sea. To their shock he has returned from his watery grave and is making an army of zombie terrorists. Now they must kill Bin Laden again and stop the zombie insurgence before it infects the rest of the world. This film pretty much delivers the silly nature you would expect, but not the quality. They had a perfect opportunity to deliver a fun take on this moment in history with plenty of action and zombie gore, but instead ended up delivering more of a Syfy original movie style film that is almost laughable in a bad way. Much like most of these sorts of films, the acting is pretty bad and there never seems to be a sense of urgency for the onslaught of zombies. There is a quick explanation to attempt to tie everything together, but never really fleshes it out. For the most part this is non-stop action, which would have still worked perfectly well had they spent a little more time on the action itself. Most of it worked OK, but when it's supposed to be a Special Forces unit, they need to look like they have a bit better skills than your average soldier.

For all this films flaws it's still pretty fun if you enjoy some good cheese. They used way too much CGI blood instead of practical effects, but still deliver a decent zombie body count pretty much non-stop throughout. If you're a fan of films from the Asylum or SyFy then you will most likely have a great time with this one as well. If you can step away ignoring the bad acting and lame effects, there is still a fun film here to enjoy.