I Survived a Zombie Holocaust

I thought of much harsher summary lines, but that would not be fair. Not that those who liked the movie will actually care, if they see only a "5" rating-wise from me. It's actually a shame, because this movie had potential. There could've been a really good movie here. A movie that does not try to be funny, but actually is funny.

Having said that, there are still things that work (not the main actor though). It is nice that they close the movie the way they started it, sort of, but neither one actually works. It must have read great on page, didn't translate as good on screen. Having a door joke repeated, which didn't work the first time, isn't good either. Stock characters (muscle guy with no brain, blonde Hottie with no brain - and also a lot of zombies with no brain, but they have an excuse) add to the pile of "funny for a second, but let's move on, shall we".

The actors try their best and while this is as predictable as it gets, there are a few funny moments in between, that show that potential I was talking about earlier. I can't be too mad about a movie, that is sort of trying to be funny, even though it fails most of the time

If you're looking for a solid horrific Zombie story-line then you'll be disappointed. This movie is about mixing comedy, romance and some funny horror into your movie night. The story is built on funny quips portrayed in scenes. The story-line on the other hand is simple. A nerd guy who is happy because he just landed a "perfect job" with an upcoming horror feature and just found the girl of his dreams when things start to get worse, and the worst is when all the film extra's become zombies and he finds himself in a battle for his and his dream-girl's life.

The film is very amiable. Especially with the fun nerdy, baby-faced and insecure Wesley Pennington (Harley Neville) yet some scenes you feel that the scenes are longer than they should be and some jokes are really being pushed. I believe it should be better if the movie was shorter to avoid these points, yet, the makers might take a note of that for their next feature.

All-in-all it was a fun experience watching a movie from New-Zealnd, where you rarely see movie breakouts from, and I believe it's a good movie to watch with your buddies on a weekend night when you need to give your stressful brain a break from all the stress of the week and the pressure of the bad news you say on a daily basis in media and have some pure horror-styled fun as your stress-relief weekend night.

Many movies have tried to mix a zombie movie with comedy but this is the only one that really could make me laugh

On his first day as a lowly runner on a zombie film, aspiring film-maker Wesley (Harley Neville) meets the girl of his dreams, pretty cook Susan (Jocelyn Christian), but also finds himself fighting for survival against real zombies who have invaded the set.

From its broad characters, absurd humour, and outrageous gore, right down to its awkward nerd-turned-hero who falls for a nice 'girl-next-door' in the midst of a zombie epidemic, it seems pretty clear to me that the makers of New Zealand splatter comedy I Survived A Zombie Holocaust set out to emulate Peter Jackson's Brain Dead (Wesley couldn't be more like Lionel if he tried). And for much of the time, they get it right: the gruesome effects are suitably messy, the crazy and sometimes delightfully crass comedy mostly hits the mark, and the cast do well in creating some memorably fun characters.

Unfortunately, where the film does suffer is in its pacing: things take an awful long while to get going, and at 104 minutes, 'I Survived…' is far too long to sustain the central joke. Some judicious editing to trim away all of the fat, and this film could have been great rather than just good. As it stands, it is still the second best low-budget Kiwi zombie film I have seen, but with only the disappointing Black Sheep as the other contender (I've yet to see Last Of The Living), I suppose that could be considered faint praise.

6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

It's a great core premise: troubled zombie flick's shoot gets overrun with real zombies. It could have been gold, sadly it wasn't.

The cast try. The crew do what they can with what's clearly a very limited budget. It's obvious that a lot of local goodwill went in, too. There are some scenes where it's pretty clear that most of the local town turned up and gave it their best shot - look at the rugby game sidelines for what I mean.

The trouble with the movie is what isn't there. The lead actor is simply not compelling enough to identify with, even after it's clear that he needs to become a badass if he's going to survive. The comedy feels like it's actors working lines from tight scripts and there's no vibe to it at all. In an area with some of the most compelling scenery and natural light on earth, the whole thing is shot in a generic forest under flat light (honestly, it looks like it was filmed under clouded skies at mid day). The cinematography is fixed cameras at a polite distance with plenty of unused space in most of the shots. The worst is the direction. This movie is staid, bloated, and terribly, terribly slow.

It's slow like a glacier is slow. Really.

There'll be the inevitable comparisons to homegrown classics like Bad Taste or Braindead. Nope. This isn't anywhere near those movies, at any level, and if you want to see what can be done on a tight budget then look those movies up. I've given a few stars for the sake of the support leads (especially Jocelyn Christian, who deserves better), but that's it.

See it if and only if you are making a movie and need to research mistakes to avoid.