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.

I read all the reviews here...went into the watching of this film with the knowledge that, yes, it's low budget...yes, the actors are virtually unknown...yes, it's a B Horror Gore Fest. I was expecting the worst. (Great DVD Cover, by the way.) Despite all of that, this film is not a total train wreck. I even enjoyed it. The story line is pretty clear...straight forward. The special effects are very effective, gore, blood-vomiting and gut-eating at all the right spots. If you are a true fan of that sort of thing...this film delivers.

I've watched many badly made films and usually, when they are total train wrecks, you can't get past a certain point in the film. Eventually, you just stop watching or eject the DVD. That never happened with this one. It piqued my interest from beginning to end. I wanted to see what was going to happen next. Yes, the acting wasn't first rate, but it was good enough to move the film along nicely.

My biggest complaint is the lighting. It was too dark, too often. They used a very greenish filter on most of the scenes and sometimes it was distracting. When you notice the lighting effects too much...it can't be good. Also, the warden's young son wasn't as believable as he could have been. When their are limb-ripping, blood-covered, shrieking zombies running in every direction...you expect fear in a little kid. Instead, he mostly just stands there, looking like he was waiting for direction from the director.

So, I went in expecting the worst...and came away with an entertaining 80-something minutes. I liked it despite the flaws.

I would also like to say that I rented two films last night: This one...and The Da Vinci Code. I couldn't make it through the Da Vinci Code. This one had me entertained through the entire film. Kudos to the filmmakers. Keep pumping out these gore-fests. The fans are waiting. ;)

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.

The DVD cover art somewhat suggests a Dawn of the Dead type story.

So if you look at the cover art and are somewhat interested in checking it out... go ahead. I'm not a fan of over the top, low budget gore, but this is one of those films that makes fans of horror wish they could get some kind of budget to make a movie with their friends.

Surprisingly creepy.

The plot is the standard infection loosed in a maximum security prison.

In a bare bones prison environment Dark, frenetic, fast motion scenes when zombies attack, and (I have to admit) pretty gruesome dismemberment scenes.

The Romero movies seem kind of sanitized compared to this.

So in a nutshell, if you like zombie horror movies and you pick this up and have to think "Should I take a chance"?, go ahead.

Sissy.

Dead Men Walking...

Nope, not the Sean Penn film where he plays a killer with hair so fantastic it deserved it's own billing, but a play on the prison term used when someone walks the 'Green Mile'. (Oh gosh, I watch too many films). Y'see, after a 'bio-toxin' (YAWN!) infects a guy who gets sent down, he unintentionally spreads it, and before you know it, the whole place is crammed with zombies in denim.

I speak as someone who had a passion for zombie films a long time before 28 days later and Dawn Of The Dead 04 re-fired the collective film going interest in them, but for fuggs sake, it's getting a little tedious now. It seems that everyone with a camcorder and a pot of latex is trying to make their own un-dead classic.

Me included. Bugger.

The difference between most of them and this film, is that the script, at times, struggles bravely to throw in the odd good, or believable line. The gore is pretty fun, and the whole thing almost over comes its obvious budgetary restraints to turn into something quite worthy.

Well, I liked it.