Dead Meat

A young couple accidentally run over a pedestrian in rural Ireland. If we didn't know from the opening shots or advance publicity that this was to be a zombie movie, we are soon left in no doubt. Comments on the car radio about mad cow disease dispense with the 'how' problem quite efficiently and the rest of the movie just gets on with being a nice gory tribute to the genre with plenty of Irish humour thrown in.

The pedestrian gets up and walks after being run over, then attacks the driver. Helena heads for a cottage, fights off more zombies, teams up with another 'normal' human, fights off more zombies, finds someone with a mini-bus, fights off more zombies etc. You get the idea. Generally speaking, originality is not the strong card in Dead Meat – everything is recycled, from moons going behind clouds, to scary castles, to ghoulish faces coming out of the bogs silhouetted by torchlight, creepy crawlies on a plate of food or a decomposing body, to the story line itself and final denouement. Dead Meat's winning streak is firstly that it uses the classic elements in a way that is almost deferential to films like Bad Taste, Evil Dead and Night of the Living Dead, secondly that it is well edited to be genuinely scary, and thirdly that it uses heavy doses of inimitable Irish humour.

Much credit goes to Conor McMahon who wrote, directed and edited the film on a budget of about £125,000. One of the leading characters, the mini-van driver who is described as 'slightly normal', is very memorable as a the sort of jovial Irishman who picks an argument with everyone first (living or dead) to decide if he likes them. I also enjoyed the (at times rather 'home-made'-looking) special effects - these rarely missed an opportunity to show the variety of horribleness portrayed by different zombies or hacked off body parts. For sheer entertainment, Dead Meat is a must for horror fans. Other audiences may have problems with the poor sound quality on some of the voices, the Irish accents (dialogue is not too important but adds to the humour), or the unashamed purveyance of formula, but for an aspiring young director, the signs from this first feature are good.

This may not be the best movie, but is very entertaining.

That movie is not funny, not horrifying it's a total mess.I don't care if it's a low budget movie they could have done better. Usually i'm easily satisfied by horror movie but that one totally suck. Guys eaten by cow, a zombie in a rolling chair, a guy loose his eye suck by a vacuum and a girl who killed zombie with her shoes. Did i smoke something bad ??? Don't loose your precious time and if you want a good zombie flick, watch something else!.There is ton of other movies of this kind in the world. Maybe the author want to pay an homage to the other film he like, but that one is a pale copy of the originals.I just hope they don't plan to make a sequel....

This was a great movie. Obviously shot on tape this normally brings problems technically to viewing pleasure, combined with some performances that had great weakness one might be led to thinking that you were viewing another straight to video rubbish film. However quickly the dimensions of the character and the inventiveness of the director with his choice of camera set ups led to an exciting and dramatically interesting film in which one had interest and emotion invest within unlike many bigger zombie films with far greater budgets as was sadly the case with Land of the dead. To be highly recommended for those who not only like gory and inventive horror but also to those who wish for greater depth within the film.

Do you like your zombie films without the constant melodrama, but with a primal narrative stripped to the bone, overly familiar in pattern (with lots of driving, stomping, running, fighting and hiding) and choked with practical gore effects? Then the low-budget Irish zombie horror DEAD MEAT might be right up your alley.

The plot is of no real importance, no topical message (unless you count its abrupt, non-resolution ending), and no flesh (thematically speaking), other than to set-up people surviving a mad cow disease outbreak infecting the populace of an Irish countryside, turning them into devouring flesh-eating zombies. There's a quick exposition dump of what's happening when a car radio is turned on, but these characters mainly learn it the hard way. Each arising situation seems to finish on zombie carnage in what starts off as a couple, eventually becomes hordes upon hordes of living dead; you even a get mad cow or two joining in on the mauling action. Some neat zombie kills involving a vacuum cleaner, high heels and screwdriver too. You got to remember though, this is really low-budget and for majority it shows in all aspects. It was actually more limited than I was expecting, but the gushing effects and cadaverous make-up while varied (even using some raw leftovers from the butchers) are competently executed.

The opening moments of the couple driving in the countryside feels like a head nod towards the intro of "Night of the Living Dead", and the filming style with its swirling, lively camera-work had me thinking of "The Evil Dead", but without the kinetic flair. Actually the way it was filmed, felt a little maverick and experimental in its constant disorienting changes in cinematography and editing. Set-pieces can get repetitive and lighting during the night time scenes is simply a flashlight, but it never lingers and the vast rural backdrop serves its purpose in creating a real unnerving sense of hopelessness and isolation from the real world. The characters are paper thin, but sometimes it was hard to understand what was being said, especially when they mumble or bicker, due to a couple of thick accents. In a way it wasn't easy to connect with these characters, but there was a believable quality to the performances. Actually come to think of it, maybe there were a few moments of character insight, but it just went over my head because I kept finding myself going in and out due to the heavy accents?

"DEAD MEAT" won't blow you away. It doesn't add anything new to the sub-genre, or pretend to be anything other than homage, but I did enjoy the simplicity and abundance of low-grade gore.