Zombie Town

What happens if you take the best things out of movies like "Slither" and "Shaun of the Dead" and mix them together? Well, you would end up with something that looks a lot like "Zombie Town".

The story takes place in a small town where a small trio of people suddenly find themselves outnumbered by the living dead and have to make a stand for themselves if they want to survive. Ravenous zombies are turning the citizens of the town into cannibalistic murderers.

The approach to the zombie infection being caused by a parasitic worm that attached itself to the host was unusual, but much similar to what was done in "Slither". Whether or not you like that thing is individual, and personally I am not much fan of that approach. But hey, don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad thing, because it did work out well enough in "Zombie Town".

Moving on to the zombies. Well they were, in overall, actually quite nice. Some had good make-up and prosthetics. So it was nice to see this amount of detail (and gore) in a low-budget zombie movie like this. And then that leads us to the blood and mayhem; well, gore-hounds, you will not be disappointed watching "Zombie Town". There is a lot of blood, gore and guts in this movie. And it looks great and prepare yourself for a lot of flesh tearing. Thumbs up on the gore alone, it was great. Oh, and whether or not you like agile zombies that run around chasing the living, well that is also a matter of preference. I, personally (and for those familiar with my zombie movie reviews), am not a big fan of zombies being all agile and running around like sports athletes.

The people they had cast were really coming together for a good performance. And it was obvious that they had actually taken time to put together a good ensemble of actors and actresses for the movie. Quite often, you see low-budget movies collapsing in epic fails because they have cast people unable to act their way out of a brown paper bag. But for "Zombie Town", then they had gotten some really great performers, who really helped the movie come to life. Most memorable was Adam Hose in the lead role of Jake.

I loved the scene in the beginning of the movie where the people inside the cabin were fending off the zombie trying to come through the window, and one guy was using a broom to jab at the zombie. First of all, the jabs were so weak and half-hearted, the stick was nowhere near hitting the zombie. And then suddenly out of nowhere the zombie grabs the broom and pulls it out of the guy's hand, which prompts the man to faint. Wait, what? Yeah, he fainted from that. I didn't know that having a broomstick taken out of your hand would cause spontaneous unconsciousness. But now I do; a nice fact for later use in life. That scene just cracked me up.

"Zombie Town" is great entertainment for a low-budget zombie movie. It has all the ingredients for a great movie, and with a bigger budget, it would have been right up there with Romero's movies. If you are a zombie aficionado, like me, then treat yourself to "Zombie Town", it is well worthy a place in any zombie fan's DVD collection.

I just rented this the other day on a whim and was pleasantly surprised. Plotwise it's pretty standard issue. Small, isolated town. Small group of survivors. Zombie hordes eating them one by one. You know how it goes. What separates this from some of the other zombie movies I've seen, however, is that the filmmakers seem to have a pretty good sense of humor about what they're doing. The characters are pretty funny (particulaly Randy) and some of the scenarios are definitely done tongue and cheek. I wouldn't say it's quite as over the top as Brain Dead, but it's in that vein. All in all, there are some good jokes, some solid gore, and some pretty ambitious action sequences towards the end. Perhaps a little slow getting started, but once it did I liked it a lot.

7.5 stars out of 10.

Great title, OK zombie flick.Two brothers run afoul of the hungry undead while on a tow truck run. Parasites are the cause of these zombies, much like in NIGHT OF THE CREEPS. Decent action, creepy zombie makeup and some gore although it could have been a lot worse in that last department. Without checking, I am guessing this was a first effort by those involved, possibly spun off of a student film. The young age of most of the actors and their unpolished performances, to put it mildly, point in this direction. There is a sequence near the end that put me in mind of both NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and RESIDENT EVIL, and is just as suspenseful. Try it, you may like it.

There's no messing about in this modestly-budgeted zombie extravaganza - only minutes in, and there's enough blood and gore to keep everyone happy; apart, that is, from the victims of this unspecified outbreak.

This is a lot of fun. The characters are lively and likeable and although this certainly isn't a comedy, there are moments of humour that engages throughout. As a result, we are never given the impression we are to take things too seriously, even during some pretty nasty, well realised set pieces.

The isolated town could have been plucked from 'The Blair Witch Project', which gives it an autumnal atmosphere. Adam Hose, Brynn Lucas, Phil Burke and Dennis Lemoine do well in the main roles, but the real star is the story which retains a tongue-in-cheek quality throughout and delivers some moments that are difficult to forget.

It would be very difficult not to have fun with this. My score is 6 out of 10.

Jake and his brother Denton have taken over their father's garage business, and they called upon a job to pick up an abandon vehicle out near the woods. It belongs to some locals camping in the woods, so before taking it, they check if they are still in the area, but they come across a cabin with dead corpses and one feral occupant with a craving for flesh. This starts some sort of strange infection, where his brother was bitten and suddenly it's effecting the whole tight-knit community. With no noway out of the town, because of a massive accident blocking there only way out. It's up to Jake, his ex-girlfriend Alex who has just arrived in town and cynically gun-proud Randy to stop what seems to be mysterious parasites turning the local citizens into blood-thirsty zombies, before they escape into the wider population.

Nice! I'm glad I took the chance with this quite recent low-budget zombie splatter treat. Before getting it, I had it in and out of my hands, but I thought what the hell and it turned out rather enjoyable. All the prominent staples (and influences) are there; nauseating gore, flash of nudity, shots to head, zombie munching and icky zombie make-up effects. Romero's legacy definitely shines through, but the use of parasites brought up the 80's horror film "Night of the Creeps". Which I think this one owes a lot to. On that point, I see it playing out more like a homage, then a plain rip-off. Sure the senselessly blunt and token story is derivative with it's same old plot devices and developments (nothing like zombie slug-fest to ignite two old flames), but a thick dose of telegraphed morbid humour and smart-laced one liners were a welcoming inclusion. The plot doesn't matter too much. Comic cheese basically fills the amusing script, always timing itself for its next snappy one-liner and unbelievably ridiculous reactions. The origin and intentions of the parasites are cloudy drawn up, which might be a downer for some.

Damon Lemay keeps the action pretty lively with many grisly details and few suspenseful jolts that do work, even with the surprisingly workable mock attitude to proceedings. Make-up effects are well captured, and while the computer generated effects look dodgy (truck accident), but they don't do any harm and are truly forgotten when the unpleasant zombie action breaks out. Camera-work sometimes can get trapped on zoom, but its frenetic style has control. Some interesting colour filtering strikes up some atmospheric visuals, and the adjustable soundtrack mixes it's country twang with heavy metal aching to the suitability of the scene. The performances might be amateurishly overacting, but they brought the right feel to their characters. The leads weren't bad. Dennis Lemoine gives the film it's punch with his dry remarks and gung-ho approach as Randy. Adam Hose in a blithely restraint turn is agreeable as Jake and Brynn Lucas is plays the gorgeously brainy chick Alex with decent amount of aplomb.

Not bad, not bad at all. "Zombie Town" might not be original and one to ponder on, but this fodder is enthusiastically made by genre fans who have seen too many zombie films and there's nothing wrong with that. This Indie film is well worth a look.