The Dead the Damned and the Darkness

If you have bought this film but first went seeing these reviews I am afraid that I have some really bad news for you... this movie is so, so bad, horrible, lousy and heinous that you better throw it rapidly to the dust bin without blinking or even seeing it (undoubtelly a smart decision... believe me!).

Goodies: The zombies looked like clowns and the blood rotted Ketchup.

More goodies: Appalling wardrobe and laid-back/nonthreatening zombies.

Pace: Infinitively slow.

Cast: They were just doing their job for some bucks.

Script review: Flawed from the beginning, clichéd remarks abound everywhere, no credible tension and stupidity all around. A really cheesy B-movie!

Opinion: Don't waste your money or your precious time seeing this utter rubbish. Summing The Dead the Damned and the Darkness it's just three Ds filled with a big S!

Iren Levy made this film watchable. If she had of been killed off in the movie I would have stopped watching at that moment. You could have made the whole movie about her running and hiding from Zombies and somehow fighting off the male survivors. The fact she was playing as a hearing impaired person added to the movie. This was a good idea. Maybe could have been played up even more. Iren has the girl next door look and her personality shines through even in this movie. The other actors were not terrible by any stretch. The old man came across very authentic and likable. The main character and his suit not bad. The metal (or whatever it was made of) crotch cover was not so good. But for a low budget film you can't expect perfection. The helmet though very good and cool looking. Just the type of zombie protection you'd want.

...but wow, this is bad.

If you were expecting the high quality acting, script writing and special effects of your average you tube fan fiction garage edited production, you are setting your sights too high.

Horrendously bad scripting in combination with horrible acting. The music could be worse(trying to add a positive) but even that is being kind. Costumes straight out of a Halloween store. Even the actors shambling around in the rubber zombie masks were bad.

I really wanted to find something to like here, even if it was Plan B level like...

Anything even remotely zombie, and I am interested. And from the DVD cover for "The Dead the Damned and the Darkness", then it seemed like this might actually be a zombie movie with some substance to it, pardon the pun.

Lets start with the title of the movie, which kind of Sticks out like a sore thumb, because it is clearly missing a comma in it. But that is just an insignificant thing, of course, and has no impact on the enjoyment of the movie itself. It is just a small thing that nags in the back of your head.

Now, the storyline was adequate. Not the best of stories, nor the worst. It was a fairly straight forward, albeit somewhat generic storyline. Nothing that hasn't been seen in other zombie movies, so don't expect anything groundbreaking or innovative here. Still, it was entertaining enough for a zombie movie.

What impressed me about "The Dead the Damned and the Darkness" was the zombie make-up and design. They really had some pretty nice prosthetic and make-up, and it looked quite good and convincing. However, yes there is a however, the sound that they opted to go with for the zombies was just so poor. It sounded like some kind of great predatory beast, which really was so misplaced for a zombie movie. And that actually borough a clownish touch to the movie, which brought it down somewhat in overall enjoyment.

The acting was fair and people were doing good jobs with their given roles and characters. I didn't see a single familiar face in the movie, so it was refreshing for me. I enjoy watching new talents in movies, as they are not associated with other roles and characters yet.

All in all, then "The Dead the Damned and the Darkness" was an adequate zombie movie, which is worthy enough of a place on the movie shelves of any zombie aficionado.

Shouldn't there be a comma in the title? Whatever. Zombies move slowly, so does this film. Zombie films are all much the same. So is this one, mostly. The central character is a soldier, only there is no army left because the entire planet has been taken over by these infernal things; we learn why towards the end. On his travels he picks up a deaf girl, and an older bloke who always looks on the bright side.

Clearly there can be no redemption although there is a happy ending of sorts, and if you watch it all the way through you will be happy to reach the ending.

There is no real plot at such, little in the way of characterisation, but the soundtrack isn't bad, and deserves to be attached to a better film.