Portrait of a Zombie

I am not usually a big fan of zombie movies. I did, however, really like this one, which I saw at the Newport Beach Film Festival. This is not your traditional zombie movie. It is intelligent, well-acted, has depth and just a bit of satire and the undercurrent of social commentary. This is mainly due to the excellent script, the wonderful Irish actors and the deft direction/editing by Bing Bailey (and his wife Laura, who co-wrote the script). I met Bing at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, but wasn't able to see it there, so I traveled down to the Newport Festival and was really glad I did. Can't wait for Bing's next film.

The first few minutes were promising: the documentary tone and the determined family looking after their zombie son seemed to set up a coming apocalypse or at least brutal family tragedy.

Well, we did get that tragedy and apocalypse yet nothing about the 'film' changed...it continued its boring-as-hell documentary style, sometimes switched to 'cinema' style (tho' it was filmed exactly the same way).

Lots of things wrong with this utter waste of time:

• people talking into the camera, constantly, is simply dull.

• no sense of how to use music...it was all over the place.

• very poor sound effects. As with the music there's no UMMFF!

• roly-poly choreography. Your average kid playfights with more conviction than the 'fight' scenes offered up here.

• cheap-looking zombie masks...you see better at Halloween parties.

• no sense of drama or pacing at all. Certainly no sense of horror.

• the attempts at humour probably looked witty on paper, but it just didn't work. It was all too self-aware.

• extremely poor camera work & uninspired lighting. Random focus and constant irritating shaking to hide the lumbering 'action'. I use cameras myself and could've guaranteed a more engrossing experience: you need to consider the angles, lighting, choreography and timing the camera movements, not to mention solid sound mixing and editing.

• the one single attempt at shock-gore fell so awfully flat.

• the only definable character was the mother, and she was only playing a two-dimensional mother archetype.

The actors themselves displayed at least a modicum of ability, certainly competent enough to be in a far better film, but there were too many of them. The 'gangster' characters were especially pointless.

For a budget of 100k you can do a lot more, better to go for less cheapo make-up and fewer cast members, and focus on the cinematography with a good editor. See "Rammbock", which had a similar budget.. It's not great but good enough to showcase directorial talent for future projects.

1 point for the idea, but there's nothing else to score it, making this probably my only 1/10 film, and teaching me a valuable lesson not to impulse-buy titles I've never heard of from the cheap bins.

An American film maker documents the daily life of Billy the zombie and his family in working class Dublin during a zombie outbreak. For a start these zombie apocalypse movies have been done to death - and then some! It became boring years ago for me. But at least here there is a slightly new spin on the sub-genre. This is a very low budget movie so obviously this must be taken into account when reviewing. The acting varies from acceptable (Billy's parents) to dire (female character known as AD, I think she is meant to be an American but clearly is incapable of hiding her Irish accent!). Despite being in the midst of an apocalypse the budget obviously did not stretch to any military or police presence, it is down to local gangsters played by bad actors to save the non-infected!! The gory make-up was pretty decent and the film has an effective musical score, how many movies can boast musicians "Slow News Day in the Vampire World" on their credits?? Don't get me wrong, the film makers did a reasonable job considering the low budget and obviously lack of talent, but these rave reviews should be taken with a large dose of salt! I certainly could not give this a repeat viewing.

Portrait of a Zombie is a witty re-imagining of the well worked undead theme. In this feature, an ordinary, working class family must deal with the fall out from their son's transformation to a zombie. What sets this piece apart from others is the down-to- earth feel, as if zombification were just another in a long line of working class problems. It is pretty difficult not to sympathise and empathise with Billy, the zombie son and his family and friends as they try to come to terms with the new situation. Billy's parents are central, unifying characters in the movie and the superb acting of Geraldine MacAlinden in particular brings a touch of humanity to tale. The sombre theme is elevated to pure black magic by the inclusion of witty, biting dialogue. POAZ will not disappoint hardcore horror fan. There is plenty of blood, goo and brain eating. However, some of the gore is strictly for those with an iron stomach. If you want a taste (sic!) of the real Ireland , infused with zombie apocalypse, Portrait is the one for you.

I seen this at the opening of the Underground Cinema film festival last week – I believe it won and I am not surprised. It's a mock documentary with a twisted sense of humor about a film crew from the US documenting the day to day life of a family in Dublin whose eldest son is a zombie. Its like Shaun of the Dead meets Spinal Tap only a whole lot grittier (is that a word?).

Some of the scenes take the zombie theme to a whole new level – for me anyway. Although its an independent movie the characters are very well developed especially the father – when he speaks his heart to the camera – the mother (mothers believe in their children but not usually to this extent – you have to see this) & the American in charge of the film crew – excellent. I also liked the Zombie's younger brother and how his issues were almost like that standard older brother/younger brother dynamic.

Very creative & enjoyable and I would guess a cert 15 if not 18… enjoy.