To kako - Stin epohi ton iroon

I did go into this expecting to be frightened and instead I found it to be absolutely hilarious- but that's not a bad thing! The characters are funny, if a little shallow, but this is a horror movie so what do you really expect? The film even plays on the stupidity of the horror movie plot conventions (especially relevant to Zombie films) and the characters therein by making no effort to hide the ridiculousness of their survival, adventures and the plot line in general.

I'm not Greek, as I realise some of you other reviewers are, I'm British and I still thought it was fantastic; I saw it at Edinburgh film festival where a respectable crowd watched it laughing in unison at the funny bits and clapping at the end. For such a low budget film it was great, I don't really know what people expect a low budget film to be able to do with 'Hollywood Effects', they cost an arm and a leg and often are just as silly if not worse than this film achieves.

Sure the plot was unlikely, the effects were questionable, but all in all it was funny, entertaining and I was more than happy to suspend my disbelief and just enjoy this bloody brilliant little film from a country only making around 30 films a year!(numbers given by the film's director who did a little talk and was a funny man himself) I would fully recommend this as a comedy-horror film.

Viewed at the Festival de Cannes 2010

A sequel to the way, way better 2005 film, Evil In The Time Of Heroes is, sadly, a mess on every level. Previous reviewers have said this is a Greek film for Greeks! And I am sure in the original language the characters and situations have far more resonance. But nothing can disguise the fact that in terms of what matter; story, script, characters, development, direction and, well, everything that goes into a film, this production got away from all those concerned and, at best, looks like it's being made up and improvised as it goes along.

Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing, because let's-do-the-show-right-here can still have its charms. But for Evil In The Time Of Heroes this doesn't apply because the film is so confusing in terms of narrative and continuity it's impossible to figure out hows and whys. Historical flashbacks, featuring Billy Zane (I think a sad effort to throw in a 'name' after everything else has failed) try to make sense of what's going on but serve only to add more confusion.

Okay, so the story makes no sense but there's always the acting, right? Not in this case! This is one of those films best viewed with your eyes closed! But maybe these people are big in Greece and household names, so who knows? In any event, there is every Greek stereotype on display here, but since that's the Greeks poking fun at themselves I've no beef with that.

To end on a positive note: I really do respect anyone who makes a film and Evil In The Time Of Heroes makes a real effort. Unfortunately it doesn't go anywhere. If the film makers return to their roots, examine how and why the 2005 film works and this bigger-budgeted one doesn't, then here's all success to their third outing.

I absolutely respect that the filmmakers did a fine job with the budget that they had, and its very clear that everybody involved had a great time making this movie. And you know what? Good on them! I'm glad they took something so ridiculous and cheesy and just ran with it, having a blast along the way; but this film is surely not for everyone and in the end wasn't for me. In many regards it is clear that "Evil in the Time of Heroes" was simply meant to entertain, and to a degree it certainly succeeded. I laughed and gasped and had a half-decent time (not a stellar/memorable time mind you). However, when all is said and done I found this particular venture into the realm of ridiculous horror was too stylized and ambitious for its own good.

For starters, I think it can be easily argued that "Evil in the Time of Heroes" works as an experimental film more than anything and as such I can honestly say you will more than likely hate this experience if you are not familiar with this type of filmmaking. This film is literally all over the place. It jumps back and forth between modern times to ancient times, between current events to hours/days/minutes/seconds ago, and after a certain point it just becomes clear that the film doesn't really know when or where it needs to focus and truly doesn't care. This is fine to an extent, but it also becomes slightly frustrating and eventually grows stale.

As such, "Evil in the Time of Heroes" is a definitive example of the hand-held shakiness, quick cutting, fast paced, bizarre camera angles, seemingly direction-less style which seems to pop up every once in a while (even in mainstream cinema like with "Crank" and "Crank 2: High Voltage"... only amplified).

Furthermore, it becomes clear that one may not even be able to fully appreciate the themes and jokes without some understanding of Greek history and modern life in Athens. Of course there is a large degree of slapstick humour, situational comedy, and an overall absurd awkwardness which can be enjoyed by all. And I certainly valued those aspects. But the completely random pacing of the film, coupled with the preposterous actions its characters take and the bizarre situations that occur, are sometimes a little too much to choke down.

So take this review as a little forewarning on what to expect. "Evil in the Time of Heroes" is NOT your typical horror-comedy along the lines of "Shaun of the Dead", "Dead Alive", "Night of the Creeps", "Re-Animator", "Return of the Living Dead" etc. It is something entirely different... ABSURDLY different. With this in mind, perhaps you will enjoy the film for what it is!

This is splatter/comedy for a very select audience, with a lot of inside jokes and tastelessly absurd gore, but very little substance and style. This is a sequel to "Evil", a zero-budgeted amateur zombie movie that came out in 2005 and unexpectedly grew out to become a modest cult hit. The budget for the sequel was much higher, but apparently all the cast members were volunteers. "Evil in the Time of Heroes" implements a bizarre and unappealing narrative structure that constantly jumps back and forth between Athens in ancient times and present day. In both eras, the place is infested with zombies and only a small handful of people (courageous warriors in the past and random losers in the present) remain and battle for survival. Out of nowhere Billy Zane ("Titanic", "Dead Calm") shows up as some kind of prophet slash Jedi Master and he shepherds the pack of undisciplined survivors in their fight against the living dead. How about that? Billy Zane speaks Greek and appears in a crap horror movie for free? The make-up effects are often splendid and the film contains numerous very creative killings sequences, but the lack of subject matter and character development quickly gets on your nerves. The whole thing is hectic, very incoherent and desperately tries to appeal to the comic book fanatics. This is fun & relaxing for about ten minutes, but what remains is a completely immature and easily forgettable "just- another-zombie-comedy"

Picking up where the first film left off, the survivors are now on a race against time to defeat the evil that has trapped Athens before international forces drop the bomb that will destroy them all...

The first film probably should have ended where it did without this follow-up. While I appreciate the attempt to explain the evil's origin, the introduction of the world outside Greece... and the presence of Billy Zane (who either speaks Greek or has a person who does voiceovers with his tone perfectly), it just cannot compare to the first film.

The effects are cheaper, the plot is thinner (which is a bold claim for a zombie film)... and overall it was just not as fun. The increased supernatural elements were a big turn-off. I liked the introduction of militant groups that take advantage of the chaos, but they did not have time to be developed and I have no idea what their motives or anything were. Perhaps they had none?

Worth watching? Not so much, but maybe if you really need to see who survived the first film and how...