Awaken the Dead

Let me start by saying I like Zombie movies and I like "bad" movies. This movie was just horrible on all levels. It was Dawn of the Dead but instead of a mall....it was shot in what I assume was the 'directors' mom's house. The 2 lead 'actors' were so bad and the dialog was so childish...it almost became a tolerable bad film. It seemed like a film student that was trying so hard to be artsy but failed miserably. I've been to many wrap parties where pieces of the film were shown to party goers and I cant imagine anyone seeing this and thinking "Wow...we've really got something good here".

I paid $4 to rent this on On Demand and I want my money back and my 90 minutes of my life.

Top 5 worst movie I've ever sat through.

Good music and interesting variation on the old zombie outbreak theme. I think it could have been a good movie if it were a higher quality production and had more money backing it. It's not quite refined enough for me to recommend if you're looking for a movie to watch, unless you are really into examining zombie movies.

I would have to dis-agree with the comment "Awful sums it up". This movie wasn't all that bad. There were only a few weak points in the story, but overall it was good. It's a zombie movie with a different slant on why there are zombies. The two main characters seemed real to me. Those two actors did a good job. And the lead actress is some sweet eye candy.

Most of the movie was grainy, probably due to low light levels because it was less to none grain for the exterior shots. The makeup was cliché. But then again this is a low budget movie, however it did cost approximately $100k. I would have expected more for $100k. This movie looked like it could have been done with $10k, unless the location at the end of the movie cost $90k. Anyway, I really appreciate low budget movies and I weigh the budget with the final product. So this one is a disappointment in that ratio, yet it was a better movie story-wise and feel-wise than bigger budget "Hollywood" movies.

The movie kept me watching and I liked the ending. The story had a beginning, a middle and an ending. It had some decent actors. It even had a bit of humor added. All the elements of a good movie. Not great, but good.

I wish there were more movies of like this out there.

I tend to be undemanding with micro-budgeted horrors, especially when they are made by inexperienced filmmakers. I'm predisposed to look on the bright side, to excuse technical limitations, clunky scripts, plot holes, incompetent direction, bad acting, etc. Instead, I'll focus on the positives: the odd witty line of dialogue, a gripping plot, interesting characters, an unexpected exceptional performance, isolated pieces of directorial flair, surprisingly imaginative and effective special effects and stunt work, or even a well-chosen soundtrack. Things that show promise of future growth, of better movies down the line.

This movie contains none of these things. In fact, it may well be the worst movie I've ever managed to sit through from beginning to end. The barely competent direction and cinematography tries for style, but ends up pretentious and annoying. The grainy and colourless (almost monochrome) visuals don't seem to be the fault of technical limitations, but rather an aesthetic choice that simply doesn't work. The plot is senseless, the characters worthless clichés; the dialogue tries to be witty, but fails. The effects are unconvincing even when the budget is taken into account. There are no shocks, no scares, no laughs, no thrills of any kind. There are a lot of tracks on the soundtrack (in fact, much of the movie plays like a series of music videos), but they are uniformly lame. The acting never gets above adequate, and is often far below that level. You can tell that the three lead actors are better than their material, but there is nothing here for them to work with.

As bad as this movie is, I recognise that completing any kind of movie is very difficult, and I have to give the filmmakers credit for their effort. I wish them all the best for their careers. From here, the only way is up.

Good, solid, entertaining indie fare.

When you watch something like this, you have to put it into perspective. Is it a big budget, multi-million dollar film. No. But the cool thing is that it doesn't try to be. My boyfriend bought this because he loves zombie films and gets everything. I really didn't want to see it but then found myself really liking the priest, the girl in the house and the Jehovah's witness. They were like real people and the story was fresh and compelling. I even got quite a few chuckles out of it. It wasn't a bloodfest but rather a story with multiple threads and some nice surprises. The actors were competent but the script was what helped to raise this thing up beyond what I expected.