Eaters

Nowadays you can't go a few feet in a video store without seeing a zombie film. Sadly more often than not they end up being forgettable and unwatchable, but there are a select few that step outside the box and deliver something new on some level. The latest to tackle the flesh eating fun comes in the form of Eaters, but does it have the chops to bite into the genre and deliver something new or will it just fill another spot on the shelf?

Eaters follows three men in a world that has been devastated by an epidemic turning most of the world into zombies. Two of them set out on a journey to hunt down some new undead guinea-pigs for the other to experiment on looking for a cure. While on their journey they meet a wide variety of characters leading to a life or death journey that could change everything. The plot here is pretty simple and easy to follow, but for some reason they felt the need to throw so many things into it just became a jumbled mess. The performances were pretty bad, with some of them just down right annoying. While the film has some cool moments, it can't seem to decide if it wants to be a dark comedy or a serious zombie flick, but either way it just never really comes together. The one aspect that it does have going for it is in the effects department. There are some really cool looking zombies and moments that are really cool to look at and work great, but are lost in the world of this mess of a film.

As zombie movies go you could do worse, but at the same time a whole lot better. Luckily this genre offers so much for every fan there is no shortage to get what you're looking for, but if you're looking for a great zombie movie, this might be one you want to pass on by.

Uwe Boll's name proudly shining on the poster of a brand new and seemingly engrossing zombie movie… U-oh, that certainly brings back the (not so) fond memories of "House of the Dead". Don't worry just yet, because Mr. Boll apparently just produced the movie and counseled the two young but ambitious directors Luca Boni and Marco Ristori. When they came to the Belgian Fantastic Film Festival to introduce their movie, they told the audience that they literally sent out millions of emails and letters to acclaimed directors in the business, but Uwe Boll was the only one kind enough to reply. Say what you want about Uwe Boll but he's definitely not pretentious.

"Eaters" certainly isn't a total waste of film, but the problem with zombie movies simply is that there have been far too many of them since the new millennium. Stories about world-devastating viruses and unstoppable plagues are all so damn derivative and uninspired, while the gore and make-up effects haven't been shocking anyone anymore since several years. "Eaters" unfortunately isn't an exception to this. The story simply revolves on a duo of embittered men, survivors of the great epidemic that wiped out all of humanity, who fill their days with nagging to each other and rounding up corpses – dead or alive ones - for research. Another survivor, a scientist named Gyno, hopes to diagnose the origin of the epidemic, which was supposedly spread intentionally by someone called the Plague Spreader. Apart from hunting for zombies, Igor and Alan also have to find food and evade a crazy bunch of next generation Nazis. There are undeniably a couple of nifty ideas and imaginative gimmicks in "Eaters", like the idea of a religious fanatic spreading the plague like a punishment from God or lunatic Nazi officers using the living dead for target practice, but these are underdeveloped whereas the main story lines revert to clichés. The dialogs between the two lead actors are mundane and stereotypical. Igor is a trigger-happy macho and Alan is introvert and depressed over the loss of his beloved fiancée. Uwe Boll's money was well spent on make- effects, however. The rotting corpses look suitably nasty and Gyno's medical experiments are quite engrossing. Good soundtrack, too.

Uwe Boll just put his name on it but he has nothing to do about the making of this film so unless you're stupid enough to be fooled by the name like Romeu Rosa did in his/her review you shouldn't judge by this. Remember even Coppola, Scorsese, Lucas or Spielberg put their names on terrible things too. Just see it as a typical Italian zombie movie, the kind the Italians did in the 70s or the 80s. The ones that were hated at the time but are now loved because they just have names like Fulci or Argento on it. Don't react like Pavlov dogs when you see a name or go by the cult of personality of the "politique des auteurs". Just watch it and judge by yourself. See it as a fun Z movie. Z as in zombie.

Two military/paramilitary guys who work with/for some scientist go out in the country to look for zombies for the scientist. In flashbacks we learn that the wife who is now a zombie used to be a scientist herself working on some project to improve humanity. While they are out there, they run into neo-Nazis for no good reason. These neo Nazis spend their time on some suicidal contest where a couple of them have to face a horde of zombies and the survivor wins. They also have a little Hitler stashed somewhere. While it looks like all youth has been extinguished our heroes rescue a teenage girl who will be the hope of humanity, if she survives her run-in with little Hitler. Our guys also discover truths about the science project and meet the main scientist who know is working for a scientist gone crazy.

Eaters is gory and the effects are very good because they are different than the typical shiny latex used in US special effects. These are cruder which makes them more suited for a zombie movie. Despite the low budget, the movie has a decent look but it's your usual post-apocalyptic colorless look. Our two main characters aren't particularly likable though. There's not much of a main character. The story overall though is interesting and different.

Not reviewed for a while but a zombie film is relatively easy to do and always worth it.

So, we have here a nice little Italian entry into the over populated zombie movie genre. It seems there's a zombie film popping up every other week since 2005 and before that they were 'dead' hard to come by.

So, I've stated before in reviews it is hard to breath new life into this genre (uninteded joke there) so if you can't do anything original, make sure that what you do ticks the required boxes for a good zombie flick.....and most of the boxes are ticked.

The film isn't of the highest budget but with some good make-up, nice locations and good use of the visual effects they have - it's not noticeable. A strong part to this film is the 2 male leads. They work perfectly with each other and the bad ass bald guy just has a totally likable character about him.

The story takes elements from Dawn/Day of the dead and mixes a little bit of Resident Evil in. The zombie make-up and good is of a good standard and the running time passes nicely by......except for the last 15 mins which feels rushed against the pace of the rest of film.

Negatives - some characters are silly and the acting is not always the best. The story can be slightly confusing with unanswered plot points.

If you're a zombie fan then this entry is worth checking out. As a casual viewer then this may not do. I enjoyed it for what it was.