Festival of the Living Dead

This movie is simply a waste of time to watch.

It has non of the humor that the Living Dead movies had.

None of the edge.

None of the flavor.

It's just a bunch of kids fighting zombies.

There isn't even an explanation where they came from. And where are the adults?

The originals were able to combine humor, edginess and rock and roll into some pretty cool stuff.

This movie succeeds in none of that.

Also, the movie is filmed so dark, you can barely make out the action in maybe 40% of the movie.

Could be good, in that the acting is horrible. Just the dregs of bad acting put on screen for you to be bored with.

Heading to a special festival, a group of friends get into an accident along the way which requires them to stop at the festival earlier than expected, but when a zombie outbreak stalls their plans by putting them into the scenario it forces them to fight back against the creatures to get away alive.

There wasn't a whole lot to this one that worked. One of the few likable factors here is the general setup and output of the zombie action within this one that develops at a solid enough pace. The zombie action is pretty constant throughout here as the initial outbreak occurs from the very start and happens to go through a series of solid and frantic encounters that take place on the grounds of the festival and surrounding areas which provides this with some fun scenarios. The swarming action here is quite solid as there are some fun moments when they take out the festival, follow the group through the surrounding woods, and the series of encounters when trying to get to safety that showcases the fun of the practical effects-driven features where the constant flesh-ripping, devouring, and full-on wounds offer some rather fun moments involving fantastic effects-work. These all manage to bring about some great aspects here even though this one has a lot of drawbacks that hold it back. This mainly stems from the fact that none of the characters here come across as anything resembling normal human beings. With a time-honored trope of a group of teenagers that are barely able to go five seconds without acting like irresponsible douchebags more concerned with themselves than anyone else around, display an alarming sense of self-centered interactions that make for a truly moronic series of decision-making skills, or demonstrating such a profound lack of situational awareness that it's nearly impossible to believe they're friends, it takes very little time at all before they're considered disposable. That shouldn't be surprising considering the source material for the film and the friends throughout here but it doesn't make the film any easier to get through, especially when everyone starts arguing with each other in the middle of everything. That ties into the other issue with this one in how there's so little that ties into the original that it feels incredibly flimsy to tie this with the franchise. The lack of explanation for the zombies is a solid touch but beyond that, there's almost nothing here with the zombies themselves behaving quite unlike the original creatures who can run and think, plan out attacks, or just flat out appear out of nowhere to launch a surprise attack in the middle of a scene which doesn't do anything like how the original interacted. The attempts at connecting it back through storyline means are immensely flimsy with some bizarre and awkward choices, and it all comes to a head with the backward political commentary on high-school cliques as a means of trying to make a statement like the original did. However, this is such a moronic hill to stand on any attempt to say something about it is lame and feels quite artificial. These are all enough to bring this one down overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

OMG... I really had the misfortune of watching "Festival of the Living Dead", a horror movie that fails on nearly every level. It's really a ridiculous nightmare.

The actings are atrocious, with wooden performances that feel forced and unconvincing, making it difficult to become invested in the characters' plight.

The production values are equally subpar, with cheap special effects, poor lighting, and a general air of amateurishness.

The story is a cliched, predictable mess, relying on hackneyed tropes and plot twists that are both far-fetched and implausible.

The script is clunky and poorly written, with cringe-worthy dialogue that sounds like it was penned by a high school student.

To top it all off, the directing is uninspired and lacking in vision, failing to bring even a hint of tension or suspense to the proceedings.

Overall, this "Festival of the Living Dead" is really a festival of 'dead' ideas and innovation, a trainwreck of a movie that is best avoided, unless you're a fan of unintentional comedy or enjoy mocking poorly made films.

Im twenty minutes in and I'm ready for all these characters to get eaten alive by zombies. I don't see a lick of talent between the lot of them.

I think this movie is going for a blood fest/hellfest vibe but failed miserably with the lack of campiness and likeable characters. There is an overarching lack of plot and the characters consistently make irrational decisions.

Somehow 10 seconds after a violent car accident the blood on the characters is already dry on their face, not sure they thought that one through.

To be honest the commercials on Tubi are a nice break from this movie. I can say with 100% certainty I will never watch this movie again, and I recommend you avoid it.

Quit trying to jump on everyone else's work. They play crap music way too loud throughout most of it. The zombies in this are nothing like the zombies out of the original they're their own entity. Again teenagers don't make the smartest choices but do they have to be as stupid as they actually are... Speaking of stupid is it really that difficult to pay a couple people with knowledge of the original movie of anything medical and spice things up with a little bit of knowledge? The little kids diabetic with low sugar they're dumping sugar in him and want to give him insulin from an ambulance?? Even an elementary school level of medical knowledge knows insulin takes high sugar makes it low sugar ingested elevates. Maybe it's Romero's fault for setting the bar so high on his original. It is tough for other movies to compare. But then why are you using his name and trying to update a story with such hot garbage. It's obviously not worthy. Romero could slap his name on it and it would not be worthy cuz he would obviously done it for a paycheck.