Rise of the Zombie

Writing, acting, story, flow, every aspect of this movie was terrible. Finishing watching it was painfully hard work. I've seen every zombie movie I can find and this was 100% the worst.

Much like the status in title, it talks about the origin. And while it talks cliché, it fails to show the source i.e. how did the lead character become a zombie?

With terrible cinematography, direction & setup, India's first zombie origin film sucks to depth. The first half is full of simple, no- narrative sequences which evinces the individuality of the lead character. The last twenty minutes actually shows the gore, zombieness and all that's expected in a horror movie; only it doesn't scare a bit.

Makeup, effects, music & cast performance is the only laudable thing, but since the foundation itself crooked, they don't matter at all. 2.3 out of 10 for incomparable stupidity & insanity on screen. And the romance just tops it with ridicule.

BOTTOM LINE: Not recommended as it will eventually waste time to say what we all perhaps know through our surrounding info flow. Very bad attempt.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Profanity/Vulgarity/Sex/Mouth-Kiss/Smoking: No | Alcohol/Drugs: Mild | Violence: Mild | Gore: Strong

The Zombie horror film genre is not new to me. In the past I've seen directors like George Romero(The Night, Dawn, and Day Of The Dead), Lucio Fulci(Zombie 1979), Jorge Grau(Let Sleeping Corpses Lie a.k.a The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue), Andrea Bianchi(Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror). Add to this list The Re-animator Trilogy directed by directors Stuart Gordon(1) and Brian Yuzna(2,3), and The Return Of The Living Dead 3 - a.k.a. Mortal Zombie(Brian Yuzna). These films are available on the internet. Search for them and either download them for your personal collection or watch them online for free.

And there you have it. After watching all the above, watch Rise Of The Zombie(2013). You'll see the basic idea was copied from the above mentioned films. Plot: a man travels to remote forest location, where he sets camp and is generally alone. Man is bitten by unknown insect while exploring forest. Gradual transformation turns man into Zombie with an insatiable appetite for fresh meat(preferably human). Lone Zombie infects another human who in turn becomes a Zombie, spawning a mini-army of Zombies. Film ends here, where an teaser for Land Of The Zombie(2014) is placed.

First of all these days its all about making money, even for independent film directors. At the start they have a meager budget and so have mediocre special effects. So they wait for the profits of the first film to kick in and hopefully dream of making either a sequel or franchise.

Verdict: nothing new for the genre so zero points for creativity. The makeup effects and gore in the film is pathetic for a seasoned horror fan like myself who has seen better. The background score is decent to the movie and does not let the film down. The acting is decent and photography and location is adequate to this film. Actor Luke Kenny(who plays the Zombie) has acted before in films like Bombay Boys(1998) and Rock On!! (2008). He is a decent actor but I fear he will never rise above low budget B-movies. Actress Kirti Kulhari has even acted before in Dharini (2002), Khichdi: The Movie (2010), Shaitan (2011) and Jal(2013). She is a good looking, talented actress and I feel that if she gets the big break, could move into mainstream Bollywood films.

They say that this is "INDIA'S FIRST ZOMBIE FILM". Then what about Tahkhana(1986)? This was also a Zombie film in my belief. The Ramsay brothers have been the mainstay of Hindi Horror. But since their departure, no company has focused more on the genre. Ram Gopal Varma Verman did brilliantly in movies like Raat, Bhoot and Phoonk. But since then his directional style has suffered. Vikram Bhatt is another superb horror film director with films like: 1920, Shaapit: The Cursed and Haunted - 3D.

In conclusion: we need more heart and soul in our films. Then we'll surely succeed in reawakening this genre.

More Ramsay Brother's Horror films: Purana Mandir 1984, Veerana 1988, Purani Haveli 1989 and Bandh Darwaza 1990.

This is by far the worst movie I ever watched in all genres. The theater was absolutely empty. Cheap production quality shows right from the beginning.The movie is as slow and monotonous. Its a 10 min movie stretched over 2 hrs in the worst way possible. It lacks content and never catches your attention even for a second. Poor direction, poor script, poor screenplay and sub par acting.

For the Gory parts - I am absolutely sure these guys did not watch a single Hollywood movie for inspiration. The good thing is its absolutely original how else could it be this boring.I would rather watch a guy eating KFC chicken for over 2 hrs than watch this movie. Please save yourself and your family. This is video terrorism if such a term exists. Issued in public interest.

Its a total waste of time. If you are courageous enough to survive through first half of the movie, then you must believe that you have highest level of patience.

In second half, the ultimate zombie starts forming and things get little disgusting by the food scenes. May be because, zombie was a newbie.

If this was a plot episode of some series, this could be acceptable otherwise its a real disaster. Plot itself is very weak and story does not develop. Its kind of random thoughts shot into a film.