Exit Humanity

A unique and well done dramatic zombie period piece. The rustic technology free setting creates nice isolation which helps increase the tension. I love zombies, and these zombies are the best I've seen in a long time. Not just the makeup, which was great, but the acting and serious tone of the movie, help it excel. The music was wonderful, while the acting and narration was well done. The animation added an art-house feel, yet not overused. Not a typical horror film, but a serious drama about humanity. Definitely going to keep an eye on this director. I wish there was more of a scare element. I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

A narrator (Brian Cox) reads a journal from the 19th century about the outbreak of the dead returning to life. It's 1865 Tennessee. Edward Young (Mark Gibson) is a Confederate soldier who encounters undead Union soldiers. Six years later, his home is attacked, his wife killed, and his son Adam goes missing. He finds him turned and has to destroy the body. He is in despair after losing everything. He finds Isaac in a desolate farmhouse.

This small Canadian horror indie is too slow and too long. There isn't enough to justify the extended length. I can deal with the indie factor but it needs to be tighter. The lengthening of every scene strips away much of the needed intensity. I would also definitely eliminate reading the journal aspect. This concept of a zombie apocalypse in Civil War era is intriguing and could be compelling for an indie. The execution here is unable to make this good enough to seek out.

Zombies. They're everywhere. They're on our DVD shelves, on our television screens and in our Netflix queue's. Their hunger for human flesh seems only equaled by their hunger for our entertainment viewing time.

We've long thought and wrote that zombies, by nature, are a boring antagonist. Whether fast (28 Days Later) or slow (Night of the Living Dead), zombies have little character, can do little more than moan, and are usually only scary when accompanied by a horde of other flesh eating zombies.

A quick Google search of zombie films listed over 700 titles which would suggest that the genre from which George Romero made a career has been done (dare we say it….) to death.

The oversaturation of the zombie genre mustn't have been lost on writer/director John Geddes. His awareness of the 'been there, done that' factor must have been electrifying the talented Canadian's synapses when he began scripting Exit Humanity – a zombie film set shortly after the American Civil War in the 1870's.

Exit Humanity follows a solider by the name of Edward Young (Mark Gibson in a thoroughly convincing role) who is returning to his homeland after the American Civil War. The War might be over, but the fight as just begun. Zombies run the landscape and when Edward's wife turns, Edward is forced to kill her in gruesome fashion. Edward then embarks on a journey to find his son – a journey that will be fraught with the undead.

Director John Geddes does a fantastic job of making the landscape and the era a character unto itself in the film. The location shoots standing in for America circa 1870's is what gives Exit Humanity a creative edge in a tired genre. But where praise can be lauded for the setting, issue can be stated for the length of the film combined with a seriousness that alienates a bloodthirsty audience hungry for splatter. Long stretches of monotone description and explanation fell flat and left us bored and indi-glowing our wristwatch to determine the remaining minutes of the ordeal.

There is a good story to be told here, it is just executed with such a lack of urgency that it wears down its audience and wastes supporting roles by Bill Moseley, Dee Wallace and Stephen McHattie not to mention a fascinating narration by Brian Cox that supports the animated sections of the film which are unarguably the film's high points.

While waiting in line and reading the Toronto After Dark program and their description of the film, we were hoping for a Dead Birds (2004) type of horror periodic. Instead, we got an interesting but ultimately defective experiment. One that slipped more than it gripped and was flawed more than it gnawed.

www.killerreviews.com

Exit Humanity is an interesting approach to a typical zombie outbreak story. It is told by a narrator (Brian Cox) and in chapters from a journal by Confederate soldier, Edward Young (Mark Gibson) who details the story of a zombie outbreak that occurs just as the Civil War is ending. Director/writer John Geddes does give us a lot of the traditional zombie movie elements like the flesh eating, the shot to the head and the humans who are worse then the ravenous zombies but, also gives us a unique setting, some nicely visualized dream sequences and even some really cool flashbacks and montage sequences done with animation. The make up effects are good, although the film lacks the abundant gore fans look for, and Gibson makes a nice hero trying to keep his humanity despite what is happening around him. But, there are some flaws that keep the film from being a really strong entry in the zombie sub-genre, the pace is rather slow, the film is a tad long, and despite his novel touches and setting, there really isn't anything new story wise here or themes that others haven't touched on before in these films, although, the cause of his zombie plague was a cool twist once revealed. His cast also includes genre favorites Dee Wallce as "Eve" a healer thought to be a witch and Bill Mosley as "General Williams" a megalomaniac who wants to find a cure to the zombie plague so he may become rich and powerful and doesn't care how many innocents die while his outmatched doctor (Stephen McHattie) experiments on both the dead and the living. All in all it's not bad and certainly worth a watch if you like zombie movies and, most of all, John Geddes shows some nice potential as a filmmaker. He utilizes his more unique touches well, he frames his shots very nicely and pulls off some effective moments. A nice horror debut for Mr. Geddes.

Someone mentioned in a previous review that there are over 700 zombie films out there. Well, this is one of the better ones.

To be honest the zombies are just a background element to the story. The real story is in the relationship of the characters and their interaction.

The special effects may not be top notch (I believe they only had a $300k budget), but the acting in superb. At no point was I taken out of the story by a poorly delivered line or unbelievably stupid plot device or action on the part of the characters. And, as low key as it was, even the setting was believable. I'm sure only a true Civil War enthusiast would find any fault.

Truly an entertaining film. A real rose amongst the thorns.