The Dead the Damned and the Darkness

When I started watching "The Dead the Damned and the Darkness," I was genuinely intrigued by its promising beginning. The initial scenes set the stage for what I hoped would be an action-packed and thrilling movie. However, as the film progressed, my excitement quickly faded.

I anticipated a lot of action and intense fight sequences, but instead, I found myself watching three characters aimlessly wander around without any real purpose. The lack of a coherent plot and engaging content made the movie feel incredibly monotonous.

Despite its promising start, "The Dead the Damned and the Darkness" ultimately failed to deliver. It was a disappointment, with very little to keep me engaged or entertained. By the end, I was left feeling bored and unsatisfied, wishing for the action and excitement that never came.

First of all, though I've seen hundreds of low budget horror films, there are folk out there much more familiar with today's low budget fear films, including many experts in zombie film and lore of the undead. Having said that I've seen and enjoyed the Dawn of the Dead remake, 28 Days Later, and yes even World War Z (never read the book), all big budget films when compared to the average independent film. I realize I'm in the minority here, but this film is enjoyable. On the technical side, just about a one man filmmaking army Rene Perez makes the most of his budget and resources, and can't be sure but looks to have done considerable planning prior to filming. He makes the most of his locations, thus he avoids the absurd number of close ups that low budget filmmakers rely on to hide the fact they have no location to speak of. I hate CGI gunfire, but here the filmmakers are wise in how it's rendered and filmed, even including the detail of discharged shells. The acting is no worse than the average teen slasher film, in fact the actors all possess interesting faces unlike the generic casting you often see in a lot of low budget horror. Also on the plus side is the camera-work, Perez has a very nice graphic sense and considering the low budget shows an ambitious eye. As for the zombies many are clearly wearing masks and stumble about in a not always convincing fashion, but hell I don't know how a zombie moves, last I checked they don't exist. The hero's combat suit is well designed and cool to look at. I applaud the filmmaker's decision to shoot the majority of the film in daylight, even big budget fare have difficulty keeping night scenes visible.

I enjoyed the film as it has that certain charm that many low budget 80's action/horror films possess. Some may disagree, but I'm speaking about movies like the Italian Road Warrior ripoffs, or David A. Prior's (Deadly Prey) and Fred Olen Ray's (The Assault) work. I don't go into these films looking for perfectionism, if it's there great, but otherwise I just want some cool and/or fun stuff to watch. On a final note I applaud Perez for the manner in which he weaves the hope that God offers into the storyline, most take a very hostile view of the subject, the horror genre especially, so he went against the grain in this respect, hat's off.

If you have bought this film but first went seeing these reviews I am afraid that I have some really bad news for you... this movie is so, so bad, horrible, lousy and heinous that you better throw it rapidly to the dust bin without blinking or even seeing it (undoubtelly a smart decision... believe me!).

Goodies: The zombies looked like clowns and the blood rotted Ketchup.

More goodies: Appalling wardrobe and laid-back/nonthreatening zombies.

Pace: Infinitively slow.

Cast: They were just doing their job for some bucks.

Script review: Flawed from the beginning, clichéd remarks abound everywhere, no credible tension and stupidity all around. A really cheesy B-movie!

Opinion: Don't waste your money or your precious time seeing this utter rubbish. Summing The Dead the Damned and the Darkness it's just three Ds filled with a big S!

Anything even remotely zombie, and I am interested. And from the DVD cover for "The Dead the Damned and the Darkness", then it seemed like this might actually be a zombie movie with some substance to it, pardon the pun.

Lets start with the title of the movie, which kind of Sticks out like a sore thumb, because it is clearly missing a comma in it. But that is just an insignificant thing, of course, and has no impact on the enjoyment of the movie itself. It is just a small thing that nags in the back of your head.

Now, the storyline was adequate. Not the best of stories, nor the worst. It was a fairly straight forward, albeit somewhat generic storyline. Nothing that hasn't been seen in other zombie movies, so don't expect anything groundbreaking or innovative here. Still, it was entertaining enough for a zombie movie.

What impressed me about "The Dead the Damned and the Darkness" was the zombie make-up and design. They really had some pretty nice prosthetic and make-up, and it looked quite good and convincing. However, yes there is a however, the sound that they opted to go with for the zombies was just so poor. It sounded like some kind of great predatory beast, which really was so misplaced for a zombie movie. And that actually borough a clownish touch to the movie, which brought it down somewhat in overall enjoyment.

The acting was fair and people were doing good jobs with their given roles and characters. I didn't see a single familiar face in the movie, so it was refreshing for me. I enjoy watching new talents in movies, as they are not associated with other roles and characters yet.

All in all, then "The Dead the Damned and the Darkness" was an adequate zombie movie, which is worthy enough of a place on the movie shelves of any zombie aficionado.

Iren Levy made this film watchable. If she had of been killed off in the movie I would have stopped watching at that moment. You could have made the whole movie about her running and hiding from Zombies and somehow fighting off the male survivors. The fact she was playing as a hearing impaired person added to the movie. This was a good idea. Maybe could have been played up even more. Iren has the girl next door look and her personality shines through even in this movie. The other actors were not terrible by any stretch. The old man came across very authentic and likable. The main character and his suit not bad. The metal (or whatever it was made of) crotch cover was not so good. But for a low budget film you can't expect perfection. The helmet though very good and cool looking. Just the type of zombie protection you'd want.