Zombies

After observing the summaries, character names, themes, and the title of the film in general, I can already see it is an abundance of clichés and cheap attempts at intense violence and in-depth story lines. Only getting as far as the trailer, I refuse to waste my time on such an overused film concept while I could just as easily be watching something I haven't already seen thirty times. "Zombies invade the world, it's up to a group of survivors to save civilisation," sound familiar?

A survivor of a virus outbreak goes about finding more uninfected people to come to his sanctuary.

Director/writer Hamid Torabpour offers a competent low budget offering, with plenty of kills, CGI blood, hacking and shooting as survivors take down the zombie-like virus infected hordes. It's played straight, the music, lighting, make up and locations add up to a solid enough production. While it bogs itself down and runs out of steam in the latter half Torabpour still puts in a nice little nihilistic twist in the closing.

It's not a found footage type film like Zombie Diaries or Diary of the Dead. Zombies is an average low budget flick but sadly lost in the sea of substandard DTV zombie film hell. Produced by Cameron Romero (son of the late George A. Romero) it doesn't reach the heights of his father's work or the likes of The Dead or The Battery but thankfully this digital presentation has an almost film like feel appose to the abundance of bland camera work on VOD and SyFy that lack atmosphere.

Veteran horror actor Tony Todd bookends with a welcomed extended cameo as Detective Sommers. Lead Steven Luke's Luke plays the subtler scenes well rather than the action segments. Notable is Amanda Day as Tala but most memorable is Raina Hein's Bena. Despite sporting a zombie cliché killing weapon of choice bow Hein makes the most with what's she's given and offers much of the emotional clout.

Overall, looks good for the budget, don't expect a classic and you may enjoy.

What was George Romero's son thinking when he decided to produce this film? The movie was just eh. Definitely have seen a lot worse. Don't expect this to be like The Walking Dead or even George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. I was very excited to see Tony Todd in this. Even him couldn't save the film. The acting was not great at all. The lead actor and the villain was just terrible to look at. Tony Todd was the only decent one. They should have recast the whole thing. As far as the action and the gore goes, they should have cast actors that can actually fight or hire doubles. Or even have the actors go through extensive fight training, like Keanu Reeves in John Wick. You can totally tell the actors in this had no fighting background. They couldn't even hurt a fly if they tried. The people who played the zombies that dies help cover up the lead's fighting and the acting skills. All the zombies that died were a lot better actors than the leads like the zombies in the cornfield, the zombie that fell down the stairs "OUCH!", the zombie that went through the windshield "OUCH!", the tomahawk to the head zombie also "OUCH!", and most of all the combine scene was actually a nice touch. It's like they hired amateur/first time actors but hired professional I'm guessing stunt people. I'm assuming those were real stunt people, right? So, kudos to them! The camera work was decent. The set design was pretty damn good for the budget they had on this. The music however was a bit corny and unfitting to the film. The production could have used more of the money and brought on a composer that knows how to score this kind of genre. Don't expect John Williams or Hans Zimmer style of music or even like Halloween's John Carpenter. The directing in this felt a bit rushed. It's like they filmed this in like 2-3 weeks or something and did everything in like 1-2 takes. For a budget in the million, they could have spent more money on filming. Where did the money go? I'd wait until it comes out on Netflix or something.

This is the kind of bad that causes embarrassment for the viewer on behalf of those that are acting in it. You can't watch this without wincing at how bad the acting is and wondering what the 'actors' are thinking while they are wandering around trying not to bump into the furniture or look at the camera. I only watched it for 5 minutes but it is 5 minutes I will never recover. Whoever gave this a 10/10 needs help.

... he will undoubtedly be looking to kick his son in the balls for ever allowing the great film making name of Romero to be attached to this fiasco of a film.

First of all, I offer my sympathies to the currently living Tony Todd and wonder, "how dead is his career that he actually took a role in this?" While Todd delivers the only credible performance in this festering cesspool of bad acting/actors it shouldn't be the "selling point" as he seems to be doing his own 'zombie walk' of sorts, even though his role is that of a living survivor.

Todd is no 'Brando' by any stretch, but generally his performances are credible and suitable to the role, as well as effective to the story. In this case his role is minimal (mainly in the opening scene(s) and his delivery pretty much falters from the start and just nosedives by the end of the movie. I think anyone/everyone would see that his presence and name (much like the aforementioned producers namesake) is here to sell the film to fans. My advise would be "don't buy it and even if it's sent to you for free, send it back and demand a refund!"

Clearly the budget for auditions was in the double digits, but fortunately (for no one, including himself) fellow producer Stephen Luke offered his "talents" (and yes, this is a complete bastardization of the definition of that word) as the main lead. When the beautiful Raina Hein (2010 America's Next Top Model finalist) is finally introduced it gives little relief to anything other than the aesthetics. Still, I can't help wonder; with Hollywood's increasing obsession in making practically every female character in every show/film, no matter the genre, into some invincible super heroin, maybe Hein would've/could've been more convincing as the lead and carried the overall movie a little better? At the very least a little gratuitous nudity might have kept it from completely falling into (figuratively speaking) a shallow grave.

On the more positive side, Todd Vance (as Bena's dad) delivers the only performance, in one single particular scene, that might give viewers a chuckle. Yes, a single chuckle. Lastly, fight sequences towards the end seem over choreographed at times, but I've seen worse.

Directing, dialogue, writing and plot (along with subsequent "plot twist") are all as the Brits would say, "complete and utter rubbish." Uninspired, unimaginative and just plain lazy.

I honestly think I would've had a better time digging a hole in my backyard, then having someone bury me alive (don't try this at home kids) and video record me digging my way out, then watching that over and over and over again, than watching a single viewing of this dreadful, undead filled flop.

If zombie fans want excitement I'd suggest going to an open casket wake and standing over the body for a time slightly more than the acceptable limit for a complete stranger. It's certain to deliver a better bloodrush than this movie; which will likely only cause rigor mortis... and not in a good way either.