Biophage

Zombie movies come in all shapes and sizes these days, but few have anything new to say about the genre since George Romero single handedly moved the Zombie film from fringe horror flick to state of the art social commentary. Moreover than any other area of horror, the zombie film has its severed fingers on the pulse of a civilizations plight.

In the latest entry, Director Mark A. Rapp introduces us to a hybrid Zombie/Buddy film that uses the dilemma of two survivors as fodder for a deeper discussion of humanity after the apocalypse. In Biophage, two men, Sgt. Cain (Ron Allen Marnich) and Dr. Bell (Aaron Jackson) are returning from a mission to the CDC in hopes of stopping a deadly viral outbreak that has infected most of the Earth's population and turned them into mindless flesh eating monsters. Those humans that remain have either a natural immunity to the virus or are being treated with an experimental drug to halt the transformation effects. What remains of the world and the people who populate it are at the center of what Biophage is about. This is not your common zombie film. Rapp uses the plague to dissect how human beings would cope with a total shutdown of societal rules and morals. How would we react if freed of all the trappings of propriety?

Those of you looking for flesh munching, brain bashing, bullet-ridden bodies are in for a rude awakening. While the film features some pretty skillful zombie make up and a few brief feasting scenes the zombie is only a secondary character in the film, as our heroes must struggle not only with their inner demons but a host of rather unpleasant encounters with survivors, who have, for lack of a better term "gone ape sh*t".

Shot on the cheap, for a mere $10,000, Director Rapp makes the most out of his use of 16mm film to approximate a gritty black and white world where the many shades of gray echo the stark reality of the times. In addition to the solid direction, Rapp, along with Kirk Hazen provide an equally impressive and intensely haunting musical score. The measured simplicity of the piano often punctuates the bareness of the countryside with relative unease. It is rare that an independent film has such an effecting score and I tip my hat to the filmmakers for recognizing the importance of music in creating a foreboding atmosphere for their film.

In terms of performance, Marnich and Jackson each prove firm, if not exceptional, in their turns. Each seeming more at ease when tossing remarks off the cuff than when delivering more somber arguments. A case in point sees the characters arguing over the viewing of a video taped suicide, Jackson's instance of avoiding the viewing is wooden, but his beat deliver of "do you like snuff films?" has exactly the right amount of human sarcasm needed at that very moment.

Shooting a picture on film with a restricted budget severely limits most filmmakers in the number of takes that can be shot, simply due to monetary constraints. I suspect that case to be true with respect to Biophage, but it is important to note that I never felt pulled out the film by a poor line delivery. Overall Biophage is an interesting addition to the world of Zombie cinema, and in keeping with the traditions of making a relevant statement within the film, I think that writer/director Mark A. Rapp has crafted a substantially appealing and entirely valuable work of art.

by T.W. Anderson

I saw Biophage last month at a friend's villa: it was playing in the background, and two of us at the gathering were sucked in about a quarter of the way through. We restarted the film, and enjoyed it quite a bit.

You'll need to know a few things going in: this is obviously a low budget film. It is, however, a film: shot on film!

I liked this movie. Biophage is a moody piece of cinema. The grain of the film lends itself to the dark subject matter which is essentially, as I see it, the collapse of the lynchpins on which society is built: family, religion, the military, the hospitals, etc. each has a representative in the film: The two doctors representing family are coming apart, wrecked partially by Cain, the main character himself. The military base they find has been wiped out, the Reverend they visit hides a secret (which I bet you can guess), and the hospital they visit to resupply themselves seems abandoned, but is total chaos.

Yes, this is a zombie film (though no one uses that word). It was released in 2010, but from what I've read, it was shot in 2002, and many of its elements, images, and characterizations were still new then. It's a shame it wasn't released closer to when it was shot: it may have been better accepted as a forerunner of a lot of what we see now as "standard zombie movie/TV."

I can understand the limitations of the production. film stock is expensive to purchase and develop, and requires a great deal of discipline while being used. Surely a lot of the budget went to just that: developing the film. From what the accomplished after that on a low budget is good stuff!

All in all, I rate this film an eight out of ten. It has a bit of action, but its virture lies in it being a thoughtful examination of the pillars of society tumbled down, and the effects of that on the individual. See it when you can.

"Biophage" is a black and white 16mm zombie flick that goes back to the early days of zombies. As far back as '68, to the days of "Night of the Living Dead". "Biophage" focus on the survivors and their psyche rather than gory deaths and the killing of zombies, and that's how this entire genre of brain eaters originally started. Many filmmakers would fail terribly attempting something like this, which is the reason why there are so many over-the-top gory and cheesy zombie films, but Mark A. Rapp has created what we have been missing for many, many years.

The film starts out with a dream (that involves boobies. Good way to start a film, Mr. Rapp!). It depicts Sgt. Cain (the army man of the two) fooling around with his lover, rolling around in grass, but the dream quickly turns to a nightmare when his lover bites his neck. This is where Cain wakes up. He wakes up to the real world, that might not seem too real to them anymore... No living person as far as eye can see... Zombies roam around and attack when they least expect it. Cain and Bell has to get back to their home base, which is the only place they know of that still has living people. On the way there, they meet an older man who's lost his family to this "Phage". After being invited in for a home-cooked dinner, they start to realize that this sweet man might be anything but sweet. Like I mentioned earlier, "Biophage", just like Romero's original "Dead" trilogy, especially "Night of the Living Dead", the film has a lot to do with characters, actions, not going insane, staying alive and finding ways to do just that, and "Biophage" does just that. It's very rare to see this approach done well nowadays and I think that might be what surprised me the most about this film. The film still has zombies and some gore, but it's not what it focuses on, so it's only rare occasions where it takes up the films' screen time. I can't say if it's a good or bad thing, 'cause I'm still a fan of the living dead and love to see them tear people to shreds, and "Biophage" even had less of it than the original "Night.." had. Of course, this does not change the fact that I find "Biophage" to be a masterpiece of modern independent cinema.

The biggest flaws in this film is not the "lack of" zombies and gore, because we get enough to be pleased, but I think it's some of the acting, and the sound. The two main actors do a great job, there's no complaints there, but there are some smaller roles that aren't exactly played realistically, but I appreciate their effort. And the sound I'm referring to is some of the dubbing, but also that we, the audience, sometimes only hear silence when something obviously is going on. It's just small things like if someone takes a deeper-than-usual breath before talking and we can't hear it. Nothing major that ruins the experience, but it's things that keep reminding us that we're watching a low budgeted film.

It's easy to ignore flaws when the rest of the film is done so perfect, with such care, and that might be why "Biophage" is, after just one viewing, one of my all time favorite zombie films. I don't know if I will say the same thing in 2, 5, 10 or 20 years, but I know that this was a zombie film experience I haven't been close to for a long time. To me, "Biophage" might just be closer to being the sequel to "Night of the Living Dead" than "Dawn of the Dead" ever was. And that's not just because it's black and white, but rather the overall feel and style of the film. I can't understand how this film, which was filmed in 2002, still haven't found distribution. Every fan of zombies should check this one out if they ever get the chance to, and damn you if you don't like it.

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Oh My God! I just finished watching one of the worst Zombies films ever made! I love a good B grade movie & a classic horror movie but when you try to make a Badly written, Badly Acted & Badly directed film look like a classic by making it in Black and White it only ends up being a Black and White Piece of Rubbish! I don't care if the budget was only $10000 I've seen better acting in cereal commercials! Admittedly I only watched it because of the guy that plays the doctor but now he makes me nauseous. The script was pathetic, I can only assume the Zombie makeup was self done by the cast themselves & the fact that these Zombies looked so weak and slow I don't know how they manage to catch and hold anyone. Beware never watch Biophage!

For an ultra low-budget zombie movie this particular one really wasn't that bad. At least not in comparison to the majority I have seen currently out in the market today. Filmed in black-and-white this movie essentially begins after an infectious disease referred to as the "phage" has caused most of humanity to revert to flesh-eating zombies. It is at this time that we are introduced to the two main characters named "Sgt Cain" (Ron Marnich) and "Dr. Bell" (Aaron Jackson). Both work at a medical research laboratory called Mt. Bethel and they have been ordered by their boss, "Dr. Miller" (John Yost) to scout out a nearby hospital to acquire some badly-needed medical supplies. In the process of their mission we learn that Sgt Cain has had an affair with Dr. Miller's wife "Julia Miller" (Kristin Pfeifer) for which Dr. Miller holds a great deal of resentment towards Sgt Cain. Likewise, it appears that Sgt Cain still has an attraction for Julia even though she apparently wants to put the affair behind her. In any case, while this sub-plot has great relevance the main problem both Sgt Cain and Dr. Bell have to contend with is the zombies and, interestingly enough, the humans they come into contact with. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that with what few resources the director (Mark Rapp) had at his disposal I believe that he managed to craft together as good a final product as anybody could have possibly produced under the circumstances. Further, although the actors were certainly not household names both Ron Marnich and Aaron Jackson--and to a lesser extent Dawn Ali (as "Bianca")--performed in a fairly decent manner. Even so, taking everything into consideration, this film is still not in the same league as the average zombie movie produced in Hollywood. Again, it was an ultra low-budget production and the lack of adequate resources clearly showed. That said I don't blame the director or the actors for this fact. Quite the contrary as I believe they should be commended for their efforts. However, as mentioned earlier, this film simply doesn't compare to those with much larger budgets. As such I have rated the film accordingly. Below average.