Dead Genesis

I was rather excited to stumble upon the "Dead Genesis" DVD in a secondhand store, as I had planned to purchase it from Amazon. So I picked it up, believing I had made the bargain of the month. Especially the tag-lines on the front cover were enticing: "the must-see indie horror film of the year" and "Romero would be proud".

Romero would be proud? Of this movie? I find that very doubtful. The movie reminded me of something I would have been able to make with my own JVC Everio G GZ-MG130 camcorder. The movie was just one major shaky camera experience. I am sure that some people like these "documentary-like-do-it-yourself-with-a-shaking-hand" kind of styles in movies. But I don't! It gives the movie such a lousy feeling, a feeling of something very amateurish and homemade. And this shaking camera thing, the director thought was the right way to go, was initially what made me turn off the movie about 1 hour into it.

The story in "Dead Genesis" wasn't that bad actually, but it was far from the best and most compelling storyline in a zombie movie though. However, the movie was plagued by some really questionable acting performances. Now I am not saying that everyone was bad, far from it. Most people actually did good jobs, but there were a handful of 'actors' in the movie that were so bad that I sat and wondered how they made it past the screening process. Perhaps they were friends with someone in production? Especially that soldier guy on the pickup truck, who was shooting zombies. Wow, that was without a doubt the lousiest acting performance I have ever had the unfortunate pleasure of beholding.

"Dead Genesis" does have a fair share of blood and gore, which is what makes it almost worth to sit through the movie for. Almost! The zombie make-up was adequate, some painfully fake prosthetics here and there, but overall fair make-up and effects on the living dead. One of the better things in "Dead Genesis" was actually one of the first scenes where as woman was gorging on the entrails of a child. That scene was actually the one thing that stuck with me after turning off the movie after 1 hour.

Normally, I rarely turn off a movie before it is ended, so a movie have to be really, really boring of uninteresting before I do that. And being the zombie aficionado that I am, I have to say that this movie was bad, even for low-budget zombie standards.

It is now standing on the shelf of my DVD collection, bagged and tagged, and I know it will never get picked again and put into the DVD player. Not worth the effort, sadly.

Wait, there wasn't an earthquake?

this is the shakiest film ever made, and to be avoided by anyone who doesn't want to be motion sick in the first 20 min (several times)

If the shaking doesn't get you, the terrible acting and effects may actually come close to destroying any love for the entire genre. I've heard that the UN is declaring this movie to be a crime against humanity.

I was so looking forward to this. I had been following its production, reading the blogs and visiting the movie's Facebook page. I really wanted it to be good.

Most of it seemed to have been shot in the same clearing by the side of the road no matter where in the woods it was supposed to have been. The bartender's voice was ADR'ed - badly. The lips were in sync but no attempt was made to duplicate the acoustic space the other actors were in. I am all for zombie whores but why did they have clothes on? If you are going to use a zombie as a sex machine, cut its arms and legs off and put its head in a box don't just chain it up. The head shots were CG blood spatter and it was obvious.

I give the zombie makeup a B+ rating. Most of the close up zombies were really well done.

Above all else, it was boring. They don't have a FinalCut filter for bad acting.

In the first 5 minutes of this movie, I was drawn in. What a great beginning! (That kid must have zombie fan parents!) It was sufficiently and realistically gory and heartbreaking. The zombies looked great. Good make up, realistic blood and guts with good camera use, focusing well on the action, getting a good view! (Only down side I noticed was the skin was a little too elastic) When they "ate" the guts...you SEE them eating the guts!! I loved the new take on the old genre. Taking the zombies and making sport out of them. I have always thought, especially with the slow moving Romero style zombie, how easy it would be to subdue them. This movie is about the morality, of killing. Even if it is zombies. Is it "right" to support the "war on the dead" This is the first movie that really explores, in this direction. I thought it was a little satirical. But I'm a sarcastic person....It IS definitely a philosophical zombie flick, if you can imagine that!! The acting was not Hollywood great, but it was still done well enough I found myself interested and intrigued. It did roll quite slow, and I would of liked to see more zombie action, since it was done so well! Within 20 minutes, the shaky camera syndrome was making me a bit dizzy, but I didn't notice it too much after that. This movie is shown in the view of the lead character, a female reporter and her investigations of a "hunting group" while out in the world, hunting zombies with them. If you LOVE the genre like I do, and discussion/conversation in a movie doesn't bother you ,I think you should give this film a chance.

While I commend a very low budget Canadian production for actually getting distributed, and I can over look most production issues due to shooting on a shoe string (been there).

I couldn't watch more than 25 minutes of this movie due to shaky cam syndrome. It was like watching a video shot on full zoom, held with one hand.

I watch movies on my 80" projected 16x9 screen and the excessive shaky cam look made me ill. (SCS seems to occurring more and more in low budget productions lately. Very sad.) Unfortunately the above issue didn't allow me to see enough to critique plot/acting.