Code Red

I have watched at least 300 films to date, and I don't often give ratings less than a 5/10. Even if a film is not to my liking, I can still judge all the aspects of the film (acting, music, cinematography etc) and come to a reasonable verdict. 'Code Red' is the lowest rating I have given a film to date, it is that bad.

It is especially crazy that I gave such a low rating as I really enjoy the zombie genre (The Walking Dead, Shaun of the Dead, and The Last of Us come to mind) and science fiction in general.

'Code Red' is woefully bad. Essentially every aspect of the film is poor. Acting, camera work, pacing, and what on earth was that ending!?! Many films fall into the category of: 'so bad that it is good', but 'Code Red' is just plain awful. Do yourself a favour and watch another zombie flick. 2/10.

Surprisingly good. As a zombie movie fan I am constantly sifting through terrible zombie movies hoping to find one that is good, and this actually is. Watched this film with an open mind but not holding out much hope that it would be anything above par, but the acting was good, albeit with a stereotypical militant loner joint lead, locations were good, as were the effects/visuals, and i actually cared about a number of the characters. The opening sequence was filmed brilliantly and set the tone well. I do feel that the conclusion fell someone flat in relation to the rest of the film hence not giving a higher score but overall an enjoyable experience.

Code Red: A minor Zombie flare-up in Bulgaria is caused by a corrupt Colonel who sells weapons on the black market little knowing that an old Biochemical gas is stored with the other armaments. The base is being handed over to NATO so a US Special Forces Captain is sent to investigate. Some good combat scenes as the film opens at the battle of Stalingrad where the gas is first deployed, raging, running Zombies rise from the dead biting all round. Maybe Stalin decided to mothball it as the Zombies couldn't be controlled and it ended up forgotten in an old depot on a Bulgarian Island. Even a touch of dark humour as a cranky old woman goes full Zombie. But this is a savage narrative as a full scale Zombie Outbreak occurs, people flee, turn in bunkers and overrun the uninfected. Zombies are cut down by gunfire and flamethrowers. A worthy Zombie film which makes the most of a low budget. Written & Directed by Valeri Milev. On Netflix. 6/10.

OK so first lets get the bad things out of the way...some rather dubious and clichéd dialogue,some rather clichéd and dubious actions by the 'good guy' towards the end of the film and a rather odd feeling that something is missing....IMDb lists the run time as 118 minutes but the UK DVD runs for 90 minutes??? and at points in the film it feels like some stuff has been cut away.now the good news.decent acting,plot although not original,good production value and fx and some pretty cool zombies.lots of old school fx work and blood squibs.think planet terror meets doomsday meets lenzi nightmare city.well worth a watch for zombie fans.real world it's 2/10 but in the horror direct to video world it's a solid 7/10.

I saw the trailer of the movie a few years ago. It got me excited but then I kinda forgot about it. Found the finished movie by accident recently.

The bad things first - It's not a movie that will become a cult classic or even memorable. The script is pretty usual. There is lots of cheese in both dialogues and characters. The main character, GI Joe El Macho, aka Special Forces agent John McGahey was literally made of Mozzarella and topped with Gorgonzola. FX are a bit old school and green screen is apparent in some scenes.

The plot is based on real events that happened in Bulgaria. Few years ago there was an "accident" at a weapons warehouse at Chelopechene. It was widely suspected that it was a cover up for stolen munitions. First 15 minutes(scenes of Stalingrad) are excellent. I think they were shot by a team different than the one that did the rest. Zombies are plenty. I prefer fast and agile ones(28 Days Later type), and they are in Code Red. Acting is decent. The characters were shallow but actors did a decent job to make them believable.

A note to my fellow Bulgarian viewers - The image of Bulgaria presented in the movie is cliché 90s Eastern Europe. I don't know if this is required to make the movie marketable abroad, but please don't make a fuss about it. We are either too touchy or too nihilistic about this kind of stuff. And please go and ****** buy the movie if you liked it. It's a local production with decent results. We don't get too many of them. Please support the people that managed to do it.

This is a B movie so if you are general viewer the score is 4/10. As a horror/zombie genre fan I would give it an honest 6/10. My actual score is 7/10 but that's due to sentimental reasons :)