Wasting Away

Turning the zombie film on its head, this film is an oddball comedy from the perspective of the brain munching monsters themselves.

Beware of people posting raves. They worked on the film. You can tell who they are because they only have ONE review posted.

That said, this is actually a really good humorous zombie flick. It's well acted and has a really good mix between horror action and comedy.

I'd recommend you give it a try. It's well written too. The switcheroo is the zombies all think they are normal and when they talk to each other, they see each other as normal but those who aren't infected see them for what they really are. And it provides a lot of humor.

I had the pleasure of seeing 'Wasting Away' at the Screamfest 07 screening with a full house that obviously loved it. So much so that I found out recently it won the Audience Award. I was definitely a part of that, my ballot was marked Excellent before I left my seat. Simply put, this is a fantastic little film. It's a Zombie Genre movie that manages to do what no other Zombie film has done in a while... namely, put a new spin on the Genre. Face it, Horror fans, it's gone stale. Even Romero's 'Diary of the Dead' didn't break any new ground that the Master himself hasn't already broken. It just took Zombies to the 'Blair Witch Project' level. Cool, but still mostly same-old, same-old. Not this. It tells the Zombie story like I've never seen, with a fresh look. The whole movie is told through the eyes of the Zombies themselves, but as they see each other, not as the world sees them. Actually, it's a combination of the two, one in black and white (apeing off the classic Romero flicks) and the other in color. They see each other as normal, and the "normal humans" as fast-moving, fast-talking, violent-reacting maniacs who they think are 'infected' by some toxic Military accident. The rest of the movie plays out switching from color to B&W, and it works pretty well. If there is a downside to this film, it's that sometimes it takes itself too seriously. But when you look closer, it's pretty clear that they do it on purpose, and just when you wonder if they actually 'mean it', they hit you with another joke, and the show goes on. I loved it.

A military experiment goes awry when a strength-enhancing serum turns test subjects into flesh-eating zombies instead of super-soldiers.

Oh no!

The rest of the serum, shipped in 55-gallon drums, is accidentally unleashed upon the local populace. Due to some unknown X-factor, the contaminant turns four unsuspecting young people into invincible mega-humans, while transforming others into shambling undead.

In WASTING AWAY (aka: AAAH! ZOMBIES!), it's all a matter of perspective, since we're shown a reality through the eyes of the zombie hordes. They are the ones caught up in a bewildering chaos, not understanding the "plague" of crazed maniacs around them. From their point of view, they're "normal" and everyone else has gone berserk!

While this works fairly well most of the time, it does get pretty silly. It also feels padded out. It could have been cut down to about 20-30 minutes in length and made into a glorious short film or horror anthology segment.

As it stands, it's still worth checking out...

"Wasting Away" actually surprised the life out of me, being the zombie fan that I am, I can say that, yeah! The idea behind this movie is simply put amazing, and it was really nice to see a new approach to the zombie genre.

The story in itself, is fairly mediocre, having a group of teenagers turning into the living dead by ingesting some chemical compound. I will not go into further details here, as to not spoil the movie. And then you see the world from their point of view, being zombies now. The world is different and people react to the teens oddly now (at least in their eyes).

Yeah, zombies are slow moving creatures, if you are fan of Romero's zombies, and these zombies are slow as well, but they perceive the world around them as if the living are running around in double speed. Great idea, new idea, but it didn't work out too well in practical use. The result was a bit too childishly comical, which I didn't really enjoy.

The movie takes you on an exciting ride at a good pace, and there are few dull moments in the movie. It is nice to see parts of the movie from both the living and the zombie's point of view.

As for the acting, well I think the people they had in the movie actually did good jobs, despite it being people that I was mostly unfamiliar with. And I think only a handful of the known celebrity faces would have been able to carry this movie without it having to turn into a major money-turning machine. So hats off to the actors/actresses work here in "Wasting Away".

If you are a fan of zombie movies, then you should definitely add "Wasting Away" to your DVD collection, because it brings a sharp edge and a new approach to the genre of the living dead.

All I can say is, wow. Caught this after wading through a slew of basic slasher/spooky ghost stuff at Screamfest, films basically like any of 20 others that I have in my personal collection. Didn't have much expectation going in to this, since there hasn't been a 'new' zombie movie in a while. 'Diary of the Dead' was cool, but Romero basically falls back on the same old stuff, nothing new there. It took me a bit in the beginning to warm to this film, since I came in looking for straight horror, and it's not really horror, it's a comedy, that has horror roots. Guess that's why they took it in Screamfest. That, and it's a damn good film. And there were some slow moments where I wanted they to get past the 'feelings' and get onto the action/comedy. But when I let them work on me, they were great, and I laughed even during the 'slow' stuff. Basically, it's just freakin' funny, and a totally different thing. Glad I saw it, it's the kind of thing that might be too unique and cool for the Studios. Their loss...