Dead Season

This is a film about a couple of people (Elvis and Tweeter) who meet up during the devastation of a zombie outbreak. They come across a guy who has some supplies and keys for a boat. They leave the Florida mainland and head towards an island. When they get there they are taken by a group of survivors to a gated complex with others living there. They soon fit in and find that there is more going on here than they thought. It soon becomes a fight for survival, and not just against the zombies.

Surprisingly, Dan Hicks is in this film. You probably will not see him, but it is interesting to me that a noted horror veteran showed up for this endeavor. His appearance may be the best thing about the movie.

Aside from some sound issues, the film is pretty good. Not a life-changing experience, but a zombie film with more going on than just zombies. There is a back story (though it remains rather murky) and a "shocking" twist (that does not really make much sense). It is a thinker... sort of.

Dead Season (2012)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Better than average film starts off after a zombie apocalypse takes out most people. Survivors Elvis (Scott Peat) and Tweeter (Marissa Merrill) meet by chance and soon the two jump in a boat and head off to an island. Once there they find more survivors being led by a man (James C. Burns) who is up to something darker than zombies. DEAD SEASON suffers somewhat from its obvious low-budget but for the most part this was an entertaining film that managed to have some brains for it, which isn't the norm for this type of picture. Unlike most movies that turn up on DVD, this one here isn't about cheap gore and dumb action. Instead we're given a pretty interesting story that actually had me caring about the characters, their issues and the situation that they're in. I thought the entire story was pretty good and I enjoyed seeing what a group of survivors might be doing to try and continue their lives while everything around them is pretty much dead. A lot of credit must go to the performances, which I found to be very good. I especially liked Merrill who was great in her role and I hope to see more of her in the future. I also enjoyed Corsica Wilson who plays a daughter locked up in the village. The gore effects are pretty graphic for this type of picture as there are several damaging bites and heads being shot off. I think a higher budget would have allowed for some of the plot to be developed more but there's still no question that this film gets quite a bit done and the majority of it done very well. Fans of the genre should be entertained by this one.

I've probably seen most zombie related movies which include all of Romero's work, 28 days/weeks and the less serious 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'Fido'. 'Dead Season' fits right around the middle simply because it doesn't add much to what's already been done. It feels like an extension to one of the other movies where you follow the characters after they finally get away from the main population.

The acting is obviously a little uneven because only the four main actors have real experience which always seems to be an issue with indie films. The secondary actors are noticeably less experienced but not enough to be a problem, they are really just scenery for the most part. The rest of the production is so well done that it's shame the story is so generic.

If you're a fan of all things zombie and need a new one to watch then I would recommend it because it's well done overall even with the flaws.

Another Zombie Movie.

I love zombie movies and the series The Walking Dead so when I see zombie movie I just have to watch it. I don't finish them all because some of them are just terrible and based on just blood and gore.

I Watched the movie with my wife and thought it was so bad, but we watched it all, we couldn't stop so it has to say something.

Most frustrating things were people doing things not logical and leaving weapons behind. Interesting take on the shortage of food but it does not make up for the bad acting and "special effects". Camera work wasn't bad so there is someone with a future that was involved in the movie.

Nothing special but be warned when you start U probably won't stop.

Acting not so great, story line not so great.

I sat and watched this with my wife this morning. I am a Zombie fan she isn't, so with some of the rubbish in this genre we did not hold out much hope! The positive thing is that we watched it to the end, with quite a few other zombie flicks we have not managed to do this. It is not a great movie but not terrible. The acting is fine, again not great, the storyline is very predictable. A goes into slot A, B into slot B. We knew everything that would happen from start to finish with no surprises whatsoever and we did not get anything wrong, Oh and we are not Mensa students! The camera work and settings were excellent for the budget and they used the location to the full. So is it worth watching? If there is nothing else on fine, We voted it a 5 out of 10, in reality we would have gave it 4.5 for the reasonable work they done. The reason we could not vote it higher was it was so predictable...