Dead Air

Just have to disagree with kosmap. Better script does not equal better story. You can easily have a better story idea but a worse script. That review should be ignored simply because of the ridiculousness of that comment. Anyways imo this was better than Pontypool. I like the main character in that movie better though.

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.

During a crowded basketball game four terrorists break into the ventilation room of the gymnasium and contaminate the air supply with a deadly new virus. Unfortunately for them, they accidentally infect themselves in the process as well. However, having accomplished their main objective they then head to a nearby radio station to announce their hate-filled message to the world. Meanwhile, at the radio station a talk show host named "Logan Burnhardt" (Bill Moseley) and his partner, "Gil" (David Moscow) are on the air discussing the topic of the day when reports begin to come in by local listeners describing the zombie epidemic which is rapidly spreading out of control. Anyway, this film has several good things going for it. Bill Mosely, David Moscow, Joshua Feinman (as "Burt") and the red-haired vixen, Patricia Tallman (as "Lucy") all put in outstanding performances. The action was brisk and the plot was quite interesting as well. In short, this is definitely worth viewing for those who enjoy a good zombie film. As a side note, if one has some time on their hands this might also go well as a double-feature with a similar film of this type called, "Pontypool". I found both to be quite enjoyable.

Well, if you are in this movie for zombies, don't get your hopes as, as there aren't actually any 'stereotypical' zombies as in shambling, ravenous flesh-eating ghouls. However, the movie does have a strange infection that causes people to become feral and rapid, doing bodily harm and injury to others, much alike zombie behavior, yes. But not zombies as in the usual type that we are used to.

That being said, then I am not saying that "Dead Air" is a boring or not worth watching, because it is actually rather enjoyable. The storyline is good, fluid and fast paced, although the ending to the movie was rather cliché and predictable.

What makes the movie work so nice is the dialog, because there is a lot of clever banter throughout the movie, and Bill Moseley really nailed the role of a radio host quite well, and I was pleasantly impressed. I enjoy most of his movies, but he really pulled off this role quite amazingly well. And it was also great to have Bill Moseley and Patricia Tallman together again on the screen, although in very different roles from their last collaboration.

As much of a zombie aficionado that I am, then I enjoyed this movie for what it was, a sort of early-stage infection movie that could have lead to the zombie outbreaks that we are accustomed to seeing in the movies. The story was well executed, and it did bring up some rather interesting points about how mankind create things often used for destruction, as well as the destructive nature of mankind. Whether or not you pick up on these viewpoints (or even care about them), then "Dead Air" is good entertainment from start to end.

And amongst the callers who call Logan's show, there are some nice treats; they had some fairly great names adding their voices to the show, which was a subtle, but rather nice touch.

"Dead Air" is definitely worth watching for fans of Bill Moseley and for fans of a proper good suspense movie in overall.

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.