ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction

First off I'd like to address the audio issue, whoever mastered this needs to learn that when something is only 20ft away is doesn't need a second worth of reverb this caused pretty much any noise off screen to sound incredibly awful. This is something that shouldn't be a problem even in a low budget film it would've been better off with no processing.

As for the zombie scenes I was actually surprised at the quality of makeup and acting during these scenes, some of the effects were noticeably low budget but overall quite impressive for what they had to work with, there was a lot of camera cuts which seemed a little over done.

In the political sense it addressed several issues touching on homosexuality, religion, mayoral office, and the middle east. it did seem to overemphasize them but perhaps that was the point. I only had a problem with how they were trying to make a point it detracted from the flow of the movie, there would be one scene where they're fighting zombies and then the entire mood changes to make political point it seemed like the writer wrote a political movie then an editor came along and said what do you think of adding zombies. The scenes didn't mesh together and felt forced.

The cast seemed a good fit for the characters they played, however the acting was definitely B-film quality I'd say the gay couple and the Iranian girl were by far the best actors/actress of the film. The Iranian father's actions and lines seemed rehearsed and forced. The zombies seemed as you would imagine from most zombie movies slow, stupid and bloodthirsty.

In conclusion a Zombies of Mass Destruction is a zombie film crashed into a political movie and didn't have any insurance to fund the collision repair, which makes for decent zombie killing action mixed with b-c class acting and interruptions of over-exaggerated political views, when I say interruptions I mean it takes on the mood of an entirely different movie.

I went in not knowing ANYTHING about ZMD other than it was a Zombie / Comedy. It really does nothing in the Zombie genera that you have not seen before and the comedy and attempts at political satire pretty much always fell flat on their undead faces. There were a couple of good gore and gags moments that made me grin a little but most of the humor left me rolling my eyes. The kind of wit and social satire the writer of ZMD seemed to be going for in this is a fine line to walk on and they only managed to touch their toes to that line a few brief times. The script is not as smart or in tune with pop culture and current events as it tries to be which is sad because there is a good idea in there waiting to be made into a movie. I don't see how anyone could think ZMD can stand up next to movies like Sean of the Dead or Zombieland which both had shining and brilliant performances and a scripts written by people that know and actually understand comedy. Anyone that can't see the difference are themselves mindless zombies.

That said I did not hate ZMD but lets be realistic people…it is pretty low on the zombie food chain and I doubt I'll reanimate it's rotten corpse on my TV screen anytime soon.

Don't get me wrong with my summary. What I mean with the mass destruction is that; this movie shows that a low budget movie could be way better without a cheap nudity, sex and other ridiculous stuff that are infecting most of low budget zombie/horror/thriller movies out there. Of course there is a few things that make this film incomparable with Shaun of The Dead, Dawn of The Dead or other great zombie movies but for a low budget movie; this is good. This movie is not stereotypical as many. There is no hero and heroine that in the end live happily ever after. What they have in this movie is issues with politics, racism, sexual heretic(gay), and a few other things. In spite of that, there are some weak point in this movie. The script could be better and more comical since people tend to laugh to the silly script not the comedy itself in this film. The filmmaker seems to cling with the cliché act of many zombie movies where someone's arm being pulled-off so easily(which is silly). Without such scene, this movie could be better. Well, this movie is worth to watch but never expect it to be that perfect.

I must be honest first off, I love horror movies and since it is cheap to make them and usually profitable - especially with small budgets - there has always been a huge influx of direct to video horror movies, with varying results. I am familiar with "B" and "D" horror films and this movie isn't that bad. Its not amazing, in some places the production is very weak. But the dialogue is witty and sometimes just south of brilliant. In the zombie genre which is completely flooded with all kinds of trash this is the kind of movie for people who like zombie movies. What particularly stands out about this film is its tongue and cheek sense of humour, and commentary on small town prejudice in the new millennium. Its not gut busting, laugh out loud funny, but I did get a few chuckles. Its not at all frightening and anyone familiar with low budget zombie movies will not see anything new in terms of effects shots and gore. But there are worse ways to spend 90 minutes. There are a few alternatives to familiar clichés and that originality is why I enjoyed this film.

I have a hard time understanding how people can see this movie as anything more than mildly entertaining. I decided to watch it with high hopes as I am a big fan of the zombie genre and some reviewers compared it to Shaun of the dead and Zombieland. In my opinion however, there is no comparison, even when taking into consideration the far lower production costs of ZMD. There is no depth to any of the characters and I don't see how the acting can be viewed as anything more than up to par. The humour and satirical elements consist of easy one-liners which failed to even make me grin. I mean, come on : "Don't shoot, I'm gay". Is that even a joke ? If I was to compare this movie to anything I've seen, I might consider Zombie strippers. However, Zombie strippers, at the very least, added a new original take to the genre and there was some much appreciated subtlety to the humour in the script. Furthermore, I've seen Zombie strippers twice whereas I would never consider sitting through ZMD a second time. In all honesty, I feel generous in rating this movie with a 3/10.