The Killing Strain

I picked up "The Killing Strain" from Amazon because of one reason; it is a zombie movie. I am a sucker for zombies, and just have to watch all that I can. When I received the movie by mail, I put it in my 'to-watch-pile' because the DVD cover looked sort of discount-like. So nearly two months pass by before I sit down to watch it.

"The Killing Strain" really surprised me, because it was not the kind of cheesy, low-budget crap zombie movie that I expected it to be. There was actually good production to this movie and they had fairly good actors and actresses on the cast list.

The story in "The Killing Strain" is as you have seen in countless zombie movies prior to this one. A strange infection is rampart, turning people into mindless killing machines - zombies, if you will - and the protagonists find themselves in the middle of the chaos. Yeah, nothing new here. But still, the movie was executed in such a manner that it managed to keep me entertained and watching. Being trapped in a farmhouse, again very cliché, there is a group of people coming together for survival, and of course personalities and tempers clash as not everyone is on the same page. And sure, the characters were fairly generic and cliché, but still it worked out well enough.

There was one thing that I didn't really like in the movie, and that is the "28 Days Later"-style zombies that are fast, agile and running about. But hey that is all a matter of preference. And the movie was still great, despite the running zombies.

The effects were good as well, and the zombies had great make-up. Now, you didn't really get the tradition guts, gore and gorging on intestines that you usually get in Romero's movies and such. But the zombies still had a great touch of being dead to the make-up and effects.

I don't understand the low rating this movie have gotten, because I found it to be one of the better non-blockbuster-produced zombie movies I have seen in quite some time.

As for the ending of the movie, well, I will not spoil anything by revealing it here, but that ending was so obvious, it could be seen coming a mile away.

I love a good zombie film, great bit of escapism, most times it makes for good viewing, even the B grade variety are OK to watch for a laugh. But this horror of a film is as bad as a B grader will get! Where do they get these 2 bit actors from? no not the people that act the zombie roles. The blood and guts parts are OK, but that's where it stops, the acting is so poor it nearly turned me into a brain dead zombie! And damn that script is horrible, and yes the directing is not much chop either. Should you watch it? sure why not, but be warned it is crap, but it is a great film to remind you of better films from the past, or hopefully better one's to come.

A very solid 1 out of 10

THE KILLING STRAIN is another garden-variety zombie movie, made at an independent level (and on the cheap) and shot out in the wilds of Texas. It's a pretty unconvincing and uninteresting little movie, content to plough well-furrowed fields instead of chronicling anything new, and is let down as a whole by the usual constraints of indie film-making.

The main problem the film has is the derivative script which fails to give the viewer either an interesting storyline or likable characters. The amateur cast do their best but their roles are very ordinary with nobody standing out from the crowd. The special effects are limited and the zombies in the film are just your bog standard looking types with little to distinguish them from another hundred movies.

In essence the film is a version of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, with various survivors holing up together in remote buildings to survive an onslaught of the living dead. If no other zombie movies existed then this one would feel quite exciting, but it's that over-familiarity that ruins it for me; to make a mark these days, a zombie film has to do something really special, instead of being merely ordinary.

Another of the many lame zombie movies to come down the pike. I'll start this out by saying this; if you're even thinking of watching this trash, skip it and go watch The Girl With All The Gifts or Train to Busan. Those are worth your time. This is a cliché ridden, poorly acted, lame mostly rip off of Night of the Living dead. It starts with a flat tire. Guys wife goes to take pictures - she gets attacked, killed and turns. Guy runs off, finds the worst boarded up farm house in the universe, filled with all stereotype characters, one's a redneck, one's a granny, two are hot girls (one's the rednecks girlfriend) and the final guy may or may not be gay. They don't know it but... Just do yourself a huge favor. Skip this silliness. You'll be grateful.

I just saw a screening of this at it's weekend debut at one of the three theaters it showed in San Antonio. I have to say that it does some decent justice to the zombie genre.

I actually went to school with and acted in the director/writer's first stage production back in high school. Daniel has come a long way since "Await The Eclipse" by a long shot.

Not to say this is the most ground breaking zombie film by any means (it is quite hard to do so as the genre has been milked out of all scenarios it can possibly handle), but it is very entertaining in it's own right.

If anything it is a great glimpse of what is to come from these great actors and formidable director. There were great performances from the leads and the comic relief of the the character 'Neil' caused much intentioned laughter from the crowd. By the applause after the screening I think the crowed got what they came for and I would deem this effort a success.