Contact mortel

I don't know if Zombie purists would call it a zombie film but this nice little picture stands the test of time to tonight's DVD viewing. I enjoyed almost all of it but the ending could have been better. The film makes some big comments on genetic engineering and the government/ corporation relationships regarding this. I would google this subject out and you will find some stories just as scary as this film!

Some real scares there. I like how the film doesn't make me cringe like many sci-fi/horror films of the period but actually impressed me. A hidden gem. Highly competent film that sustains almost to the end. The film involves some zombie concepts but doesn't follow the formula quite like the other films in that genre.

Great cast and the direction is restrained. The film stands the test of time so source it out.

Durably taut, but rather restraint little low-budget biological thriller that sees a group of scientists quarantined inside a building when a deadly chemical agent they're working on is accidentally released, causing them to become violently homicidal. Caught in the middle of it is a lady security guard, who might just hold the answer for a vaccine, as she seems unaffected.

Confidently directed, thoughtfully written (as it could be seen as a minor blue print for "Resident Evil") and exemplary performed, but "Warning Sign" seems to go by unnoticed, despite it's considerably gripping and unnerving progression. Their low-scale origin is probably what tips it in that forgotten category, because it's not excitingly barnstorming in its thrills or cast. Nonetheless it bestows moments of furious intensity and compact suspense… in what feels like a waiting game after not taking all that long to get into it. The acting led perfectly pitched by Kathleen Quinlan, Sam Waterston, Jeffrey DeMunn, Richard Dysart, G.W. Bailey and Yaphet Kotto. Craig Safan chips away with an ominously airy electronic score. Director Hal Barwood well measured style, ably operates with his actors in constructing a real fearful mood inside the building, but also making the air outside just as dangerously on-edge. When it came to its irony enclosed ending, it felt a little out of place and rather forced than what it naturally built-up.

An earnest, but well engineered sci-fi / horror outing that's more than your simple filler.

I recently saw a preview for Resident Evil, the latest sci-fi/gore opus from Event Horizon director Paul Anderson. (Not to be confused with Paul Thomas Anderson). It looks like a big budget, explosive version of Warning Sign, a strange little horror movie I remember watching in the '80s. The plot of the 1985 film involves a deadly serum leaking inside a bio-chemical plant in rural Utah. The plant is sealed off--no one can get in or get out. What happens inside is best described as Night of the Living Dead meets the Andromeda Strain. All in all, not a bad horror film, and the actors (Sam Waterston, Kathleen Quinlan--both Oscar nominees, but alas, not for Warning Sign) manage to keep straight faces. The film has an "Alien" feel to it, and is quite stylish to boot. More than anything, the film has a good, somewhat believable premise for a horror story. But the execution is just so odd. Scientists becoming zombies or monsters has been done before, and the atmospheric first half of the movie is somewhat ruined by the over-the-top, borderline campy second half. We'll see soon enough whether Anderson's version of the idea is successful, although judging from the ads, I seriously doubt it.

I remember seeing this 20 yrs ago and having a very favorable impression, but the recent copy I bought and viewed this week showed both better and worse aspects, different from what I recalled. Anyway, the story is quite catching and most of the acting is above average, thanks to a good ensemble cast of quality folks. Very well done art/set design makes up for rather standard plot direction, with some nicely eerie moments. There's well written, believable dialog interspersed with silly, and well developed characters interspersed with stereotypes. So it's a mishmash but a good one. Would have been nice to see a more believable military response to the viral outbreak, but the budget must have only been enough for a small crew of national guard type soldiers rather than a more believable crack platoon outfit that would have been all over the locals, and sent them packing. Definitely a good half of a double feature with Endangered Species, or Andromeda Strain.

After an an outbreak of a virulent bacteria a secret military laboratory is sealed, causing conlicts within and with the miltary and townsfolk outside.

Reminiscent of The Crazies (1973) director Hal Barwood offers an interesting procedural safety protocol film. Barwood and Matthew Robbins' screenplay's delivers a somewhat accurate portrayal of biological safety protocols, specifically in response to an outbreak of a virulent bacteria. The first act is a little plodding rather than simmering, however, things heat up in the second act, with a rescue team setup (that Aliens (1986) would later borrow). The third act returns to clunky smidgins of staged violence, conflicts and viral tropes.

The on location feel gives weight to the proceedings, Dean Cundey's cinematogphery offers moodiness especially in the night time segments in contrast to the daytime scenes and clinical laboratory complex settings. With a suppoting cast of familar faces, including The Termintor's (1984) Rick Rossovich, the leads; reliable Sam Waterston, notable Kathleen Quinlan, with limited screen time Yaphet Kotto, and memorable Jeffrey DeMunn to name a few are more than adequate.

Warning Sign does for biohazards what Close Encounters of the Third Kind did for aliens, make of that what you will.