Zone of the Dead

Firstly the good news. Ken Foree is an absolute legend and it's great to see him returning to the zombie horror genre.

And now for the bad news, which is absolutely everything else. Having read some good reviews on this film, I decided to give it a go as I'm a big fan of zombie flicks even bad ones. It isn't often that I can't watch a film to the end (The Country Bears being the last one - I even made it through the Squeakquel) but at the half way mark I felt like eating my own head. Around two thirds of the way through I couldn't take any more and fast forwarded through the rest, stopping every so often to see if it improved. It didn't.

Allow me to list off some of the things that made this the worst movie I have ever seen.

1. The dubbing. At least I hope it was all dubbed. If these idiots really speak like this, they should all be shot.

2. The acting. OMG! Where did they get these muppets from? Everything was wrong and I do realise that zombie movies rarely get Oscar nominations. The body language was completely wooden - not one person (including Ken) managed to look like they really were in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. They looked like they were taking part in a primary school play and a bad one at that.

3. The plot. Seems like the same terrible primary school did the screen writing as well. If you were responsible for the script then you should be ashamed. Never, ever write anything again. I mean it. Put the pen down. Bite your fingers off. You'll be doing us all a favour.

If I can prevent one person from ever having to go through watching this drivel, then I can rest easy knowing my sacrifice wasn't in vain.

You've been warned...

Definitely a throw back to the "old school" of zombie film making. The acting, direction and dialogue are rather wooden and stilted for the most part as with Romeros classics but that said it does give this film the look and feel of the originals and thus makes it an entertaining way to spend your viewing afternoon. There are some rather irritating moments when the main protagonists whilst running from hordes of pursuing zombies still find time to stop mid flight to engage in some rather meaningless and throwaway conversation and one liners but not enough to spoil the movie. This movie, although low budget and with flaws does on the whole entertain albeit in a predictable fashion with few surprises. If you like the old school feel, this movie is worth a look and will satisfy your blood lust, if you prefer the more high end, special effect type of movie, it's probably not for you.

OK, I get it: zombie movies don't need great acting, or a good story or decent camera work to be watchable or entertaining. But what we have here is some of the worst examples of all of the above. Really terrible doesn't even describe it, because it still leaves open the possibility of this movie being truly bad, yet somehow fun. However, "Zone of the Dead" is as much fun as a visit to the dentist. A drunken dentist, that is.

I wish it had one redeemable quality worth mentioning. Even Foree is awful in this one, not to mention the rest of the wooden protagonists. Don't waste your time.

This is a cheap, poor, unoriginal direct-to-DVD ultra-low budgeter that will satisfy only the most undemanding. If you liked the ugly, careless Italian zombie flicks from the early 1980s made by Claudio Fragasso and Bruno Mattei, this is a perfect match to that kind of dated, barely competent attempt at exploitation. It is not entirely without its saving graces: Ken Foree is as good as the silly, uninventive script and laughable dialogues allow; make-up efx are solid, but barely visibly because of the overuse of shaky-cam which spoils every action scene. Photography is dark, grainy and shaky, and the Tarzan-English spoken by the Serbian actors can be compared to the Engrish found in Miike's SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO. Solid potentials are largely wasted in this silly little flick.

This one is another zombie flick from a non-Hollywood production. In the passed years we have seen so many movies based on the contamination-turns- men-to-zombies from around the world (even Thailand). To be honest, this particular movie could have been much better 'cause the atmosphere is good and creepy, the zombies are greatly done and the action is OK. But all this package is ruined by the poor (to non-existent) performance of the actors/actresses and the bad -not to say crap- lines. BUT -yes there is a BUT here- if you're a fan of those bloodthirsty creatures called zombies, walkers etc and you love to see shooting, chopping and all the relevant stuff these movies produce and provide, you can gather some friends, make some popcorn, watch it and then, turn off your DVD and just forget about it.