Rammbock

RAMMBOCK is a brilliant little "infected zombie" movie from Germany. At a mere 1 hour in length, it gets right into the action with a small group of survivors trapped in an apartment complex.

A mysterious infection is turning anyone bitten into mindless, orally-foaming, killing machines.

This movie has two major strengths: #1- The characters, though in a panic, are not stupid. They come up with some innovative ideas for their escape and / or survival. #2- There's a central theme of humanity within the carnage and chaos. This makes it more realistic, even heartbreaking when tragic losses occur.

Don't worry though, there are plenty of shocks to be had!

One of the best, most original modern zombie films to emerge...

I actually am reviewing this film just to push its rating up because I think that the current rating might put people off who would otherwise really enjoy this film.

Berlin Undead is a 28 days later style horror flick with realistic (rather than Hollywood-style) characters and a believable storyline. The low-budget doesn't affect the quality at all, except where the special effects are concerned... thankfully, the director seems to have been aware of this weakness as he has limited their use.

Watch it late at night and I'm pretty sure you'll get creeped out and/or have trouble sleeping afterwards... which is what horror is all about!

For a rather short film (just over an hour) with a rather low budget it's not too shabby. The "dead" act like the infected from 28 days later, rather than zombies and are repelled with bright light but do love the taste of flesh! The action takes place in and around an apartment block and a courtyard so don't be mislead by the cover. I liked the film but found the main character to be a complete pain. The guy is a complete plank and its hard to sympathise with him though the other main characters (or should I say, character) were fine. In the middle of the apocalypse, he is completely smitten with his girlfriend and worries about her whereabouts which is plausible but he still comes across as rather stupid and pathetic. However this is a nice change from the hard as nails lead you expect in this type of film. Some people should be warned that the film is in German which posed no problems for me as I don't mind subtitles but folk do seem to moan a lot about having to read subtitles these days...

I always thought that a low budget zombie movie should be a lot better than the big block busters. Maybe set in my home country of Romania, where guns are rarely allowed and even cops don't carry them much, the story would gain a lot of power and the ingenuity of the people would be brought into view.

Rammbock is exactly the kind of film I was thinking about: set in Berlin, the Eastern side I guess, with extraordinarily ordinary people getting caught by the zombie epidemic in a banal building block. Complex story, a few people, authentic reactions.

I am sure the makers of the movie realized that the true force of the movie is in the obvious of the lowbudgetness, and so they didn't even conform to the length standards of regular movies: it all lasts just an hour, more akin to an episode of something.

Bottom line: it is hard to identify with any of the people in the film, simply because they are so ordinary and like normal persons that we refuse to. I watched the movie with English dubbing, which I hated, but I couldn't find the German version. The zombie story was not developed in any way: we don't know how it happened, why or how to stop it. In the end, the true lead character is the story. I liked the film and I would recommend it to viewers of zombie movies.

Rammbock otherwise known as Berlin Dead and Siege Of The Dead is a German zombie movie which tells the very generic story of the beginning of a zombie outbreak but does it competently enough to be passable.

It follows two strangers who are forced to barricade themselves inside a block of flats and try to survive. Basically your usual tropes so don't expect anything original here.

It plays the realistic angle and reminded me of the 28 Days Later (2002) movies despite these actually being zombies.

It looks okay, the characters are passable but it's so unoriginal it made my balls rattle. It really is paint by numbers stuff so if you like generic zombie films this may very well be what you're looking for.

Sadly after countless zombie epics including the more recent Train To Busan (2016) and Wyrmwood (2014) I do find myself expecting more.

The Good:

Realistic approach

Generally passable stuff

The Bad:

No originality at all

Lead bounces from annoying to pathetic

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Bent fork heads don't make the best projectiles

Fork desecration is a womans primary concern during a zombie apocalypse