Moi, zombie - Chronique de la douleur

"I, Zombie" successfully pulls the zombie genre out of the clichéd assumption that the walking dead congregate in groups and enjoy their feasting on human flesh. Writer-director Andrew Parkinson takes a more sensitive route, presenting us with a likable young chap who, after an argument with his girlfriend, finds himself out in the countryside, where he is bitten by a feral woman. The rest of the movie, as the subtitle implies, is a document of his loneliness and pain as he's turned into a reluctant, decomposing killer. While the makeup FX are a bit rough in spots and some of the events become redundant, Parkinson delivers some disquieting imagery (including screwed-in metal plates covering up wounds) and invokes surprising sympathy for the protagonist's plight. Visually, the film possesses a look and tone akin to the work of Jorg Buttgereit ("Nekromantik," "Schramm"), and carries a similarly deeply felt effect.

This movie is very weird,It started like a good Night of the living dead and finished like a "Steel magonolias" kind of film,This guy gets bitten by a zombie and instead of fraking out and changing into a blood thirsty,Carcass human eating zombie in a matter of seconds he begins decaying just day by day,he just escapes from his old life and begins a new one as a Zombie, the masturbating scenes were not really necesary to make us feel bad about this guy but theyre disturbing. If you must check it out, if you have other choices please take them,this movie is not really that good so you better spend your money on original Zombie flicks, invest Romero. Ill give it a poor 7 out of 10 on Horror zombie masturbating films.

Andrew Parkinson's debut feature is a brave try at making the ultimate existentialist zombie movie, following a graduate student (Giles Aspen) infected by the zombie disease during a country walk and his progressive yielding to the hunger for human flesh. Intercutting "present-day" TV-style interviews with his girlfriend and the friends he lost touch with after his disappearance with his own experiences as he progressively succumbs to the primary urge to survive, there's much to admire in the straight-faced approach to the premise and in the bold clinical way in which Parkinson documents the gradual loss of Mark's humanity. Not surprisingly, the amateurish home-movie visuals (the film was actually shot in 16mm over a two-year period) lend some power to the conceit; the basic problem with "I Zombie" is that the script is insufficiently developed for a feature and should have stayed just under the hour-long mark. Alternatively you may try and see it as a laugh, but you'll be surprised just how quickly the laughs die down under the film's dark spell.

This is a low budget so don't expect anything flashy but the idea is very original. I see that others have already stated the plot so i'll just say that i like it as well and recommend it to any horror fan. It's good to see a recent horror film that is original and entertaining at the same time. And now i say to all "Go see Bubba Ho-Tep any way you can!"

Many people think that horror movies are mindless popcorn movies for those who enjoy violence. Probably those people have not seen many horror films to begin with so this is a movie I would show to people like those. This movie breaks that false mold and is truly an emotional Tour De Force that plays with your emotions and truly moves you.

Director Andrew Parkinson's first movie tells the story of Mark(Giles Aspen), a young man who is bitten by a dying woman while he was on a field trip. After this he begins to experience a serious transformation of his biological functions. The wound doesn't heal and he begins to decay, also, a hunger for human flesh makes his life impossible. HE locks himself in an apartment and we are witnesses of how his life is destroyed by the "disease".

The Zombie condition is presented as a metaphor for AIDS or similar diseases, we watch how he has to end up his relationship with his girlfriend(whom he loves very much) and mixed within the film, we see in a documentary-style fashion interviews with her about how she has moved on with her life. All this surely have a great impact in the audience, a sense of how the isolation of the sick destroys the mind at the same time the disease destroys their bodies.

It's a very unusual and original take on the zombie genre, as Mark struggles to retain his mind while he is without a doubt turning into a zombie fueled by hunger.

As I wrote above, the movie is very touching, and the acting of Giles Aspen carries the film with power and makes us sympathetic for him, who tries to keep his humanity even when we, the audience knows that it's very possible that he will fail in his attempt.

The direction is solid, and even when most of the time the movie is set in the apartment, it never becomes tiresome or boring. Most of the make-up & effects are simply average, which is understandable, although the transformation of Mark is quite outstanding considering the budget.

I must warn you about the infamous scenes of this movie. Without spoiling things, I must say that there are a few scenes that may be disgusting due to Mark's gruesome decay. It's gory and disgusting, but nothing serious. Nevertheless, consider yourself warned.

The tag line reads: "His soul was the last to go", and truly the movie lives up to that premise. Sure, after the end of the movie you will probably feel depressed, but at the same time, thankful for being alive and healthy.

8/10. Good effort.