Zombie Wars

I've been working my way through the entire David A. Prior catalog over the past month. He's mostly famous for his action/exploitation films in the late 80s/early 90s. Zombie Wars was one of 2 films he made in 2007 after a 8 year hiatus. If you're reading this review just to get info on a zombie film you've never heard of then quit reading now.

This film is primarily going to be of interest to David A. Prior fans and not zombie-movie fans. That said, it is a solid Prior movie and bears many of the hallmarks of his action films from decades earlier (gun play, pretty girls, dudes on a mission). Much has been toned down--stunt work is scaled back, big action scenes (e.g. firefights) are absent BUT there's still enough action to satisfy. Although this film contains some CGI it primarily utilizes practical FX which is refreshing. I have no complaints as it pertains to FX.

Aside of the abject weirdness of the zombie plot, the script is actually pretty solid. Motivations are clear, things that are set-up in the script have pay-offs, the dialogue is good. Look, this isn't Citizen Kane...it's a direct-to-video B-movie capitalizing on the zombie trend in 2007.

Like most Prior films from the 80s, the acting in this film ranges from good, to adequate, to bad. As in most Prior films, the leads do pretty well whereas the secondary players are all over the map. Prior (or his casting agent) actually had a pretty good eye for talent and often found leads that elevate his movies--this trait is certainly on display in Zombie Wars.

I honestly had very low expectations for this film. I figured that given his long absence from directing that his return would be more akin to the poor schlock of that era as opposed to the GREAT schlock that he was so skilled at producing in the 80s & 90s. This isn't a "great" film by any definition--it's not even a "great" David A. Prior film--but it's a decent David A. Prior film and definitely watchable. RIP David A. Prior.

Set fifty years after a zombie epidemic, a group of soldiers learn that intelligent zombies have begun breeding humans for food.

"They just came out of the ground..." Opening with some very bad effects of the earth it looks ambitious and bites off more than it can chew. It's simply a cheese feast. Although it has some heart felt voice over ala Alice Resident Evil narration the production tries to be larger than it is.

It's low budget with awful acting. That said, there is only so much that the actors could have done with the script. If they'd hammed it up more and took more care with the editing and sound it may have it may have come off a whole lot better. Possibly and 80's comedy B-film homage. But its badly edited, awful swipes and transitions, poor sound and distracting piano music. It oddly borrows from The Planet of the Apes and one actor does his whole role as Jack Nicholson for no reason.

To it's credit some of Diana Diaz and Justin Pine's special makeup effects are good.

The effort is there but it's rushed and very slap dash. Not even the array of pretty faces can save Zombie Wars. It sadly does't qualify as bargain bucket material either.

Although this is one of those low-budget zombie productions which seem to crop up just about everywhere these days, this film had some real potential. Unfortunately, it had too many things going against it to succeed. For example, it starts off with a very shaky concept of zombies harvesting humans for food. Add in a bad script, poor action sequences, miscasting, terrible zombie makeup along with horrible acting on the part of the zombies and you can get an idea of how badly directed it was. And that's a shame because it had some good qualities which could have saved it. For instance, the acting on the part of the brothers "David" (Adam Mayfield) and "Brian" (Jim Hazelton) was pretty good. Likewise, although Kristi Pearce is probably a decent enough actress, she was badly miscast and gave a totally unconvincing performance as the leader known as "the General". Additionally, the talents of Alissa Koenig (as "Star") were also seriously wasted. In short, this movie had some good talent to draw upon. But they weren't used properly and the film suffered because of it.

Fifty years after the zombie apocalypse, humans exist either in zombie run slave camps or in small bands of militarized, nomadic tribes. Two brothers, Brian & David, rescue a group of attractive women slaves from the zombies but the zombies retaliate and David is captured. As David plans his escape he learns some disturbing secrets behind the zombie camps. Yes, the acting and directing are bad; and yes, the makeup is inconsistent. But I've seen a lot of bad zombie movies and this is far from the worst. Many of the actors are charismatic and are obviously having fun in their roles. The plot has some holes and there are a few silly parts but it does make sense if you pay attention. If you have any tolerance or love for B movies, especially B - Z movies then you could do a lot worse.

David A. Prior, I will respond with Sledgehammer from 1983. From there on it's downhill with flicks from prior but still he kept making movies and still sell them. When you are in Germany as a horror geek you will always be attracted to the sleeves of DVD's and Blu Ray's. But Germany also has a speciality to change names from flicks towards more attractive names, this is called Zombie Wars but in Germany it came out as War Of The Living Dead. Admit, nice title, and that's the best thing of this stinker.

The acting isn't really good, as was the script, zombies capturing humans, really. the zombies really are looking cheap. The flick starts pretty well, but after a while you get it, zombies being shot in the head, next zombie being shot in the head, next zombie....and it goes on and on with nothing happening at all. Really, it was a war to get through this.

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5