Road of the Dead

WYRMWOOD is a high energy zombie flick from Australia that combines the road movie genre with a classic zombie apocalypse outbreak type horror yarn. It has a little of the verve of VERSUS but in the end I found it quite predictable and a little overwhelming.

What's clear from the outset is that this is one step up from being an amateur film. The look of the zombies is cheap, especially with those Halloween party contact lenses, although there's copious gore to help make up for this. The acting is of a generally poor quality, but the film goes for a semi-serious approach so that doesn't matter too much.

What WYRMWOOD does offer is action in spades. There's barely any plot, just a handful of characters battling both zombies and some sinister scientists bent on human experimentation. None of it made much sense to me, but the director works hard to infuse his film with vibrancy and momentum, and he does succeed in part.

Before the multitude of the crappy zombie movies you've seen lately, back in the day in 1992, Australia was producing a zombie movie that remains cool even today, made by a little known New Zealander called Peter Jackson. It mixed zombies with comedy, original ideas and wacky Aussie characters.

23 years later Wyrmwood is an obvious homage to Braindead, but adding a few elements of its own. The main character, almost a dead ringer for Bruce Campbell in The Evil Dead, is trying to get to his sister's place in the middle of a zombie plague. Not only are there zombies everywhere, but petrol has become not flammable. The only solution: rig a car to the gasses that zombies breath out and make an armored truck running on zombies. Meanwhile, the sister is being captured by sadistic psychopath military types in order to experiment on her.

There are many references to cult films, like The Evil Dead and Mad Max, and the ending of the film leaves a lot of place for sequels. This is not a perfect film, but considering that it is an Australian zombie movie made with unknown actors and probably a low budget, there was no chance it could have been. Instead we are treated to a wonderfully original film, made by people who clearly enjoyed playing with the genre and love the same movies that we do.

Bottom line: more than anything, this is a fun film. If you liked Braindead or The Evil Dead you will like this one as well. It opens an interesting idea, also used in the season finale of Z Nation, of the zombie whisperer. People die or live based on luck more than anything and it is refreshing to see this in an era when nobody ever dies, for fear of antagonizing the viewers. I recommend it, I enjoyed watching the film!

Having watched many zombie films of all different types over the years, I am happy to say that Wyrmwood is an interesting take on the genre. I can't say too much about why I like this film and I would suggest going into it without doing much research into it.

What I will say is that there is a decent amount of action and some very unique and creative twists on the zombie phenomena. Some of these work better than others, though to be fair the film has a somewhat playful dynamic so the unorthodox creative liberties will be appreciated fans who enjoy a bit of silliness.

The bizarre plot devices and comically stoic characters like Frank (Keith Agius) contrast well with the always sombre lead Barry (Jay Gallagher). That said, the character development of Benny is a bit problematic. What starts out as cringe-inducing stereotyping quickly moves to what might be construed as racism. It could be the case that this is an attempt at a deeper social commentary on the genre or Australian film, but that might be a stretch given the overall tone of the film.

The practical effects are decent and the use of CG, while not perfect, doesn't take away from the experience. There are some gory shots but these are nothing that more skirmish viewers wont be able to handle if they are familiar with the genre.

There isn't really too much in the way of character development and the plot is fairly light, but the pacing and the way the film jumps between a couple of different story lines makes the film enjoyable to watch.

One of the things that makes this film stand out is the somewhat surreal and often mysterious cast of characters. It might be the case that the filmmakers left the characters underdeveloped on purpose. Either way the somewhat larger than life characters work well with the overall ambiance of the piece, especially when reflecting on a certain theme revealed by Frank. The Doctor in particular stands out (just how long has it been since the dead started rising again?).

In the end viewers are likely to be left with some unanswered questions, but it is forgivable if we take this to be a slightly different zombie universe than we are used to. Ultimately Wyrmwood is a fun and enjoyable film that will be particularly enjoyable for zombie fans, partially because it unapologetically refuses to be held back by the unspoken rules of the genre.

Although the film is not perfect, I salute the filmmakers for taking some risks and ultimately producing an interesting take on an otherwise tired genre.

It was a thrill ride just like Mad Max Fury Road, with a team of strangers teaming up to survive the Zombie apocalypse that's going down. One of the best and craziest Zombie movies I've seen. It's exactly the roller coaster I would expect from the land down under.

Unlike Fury Road, however, the story is lacking. It's not a good ridiculous it's more of a stupid ridiculous

The filmmakers make it seem like the story is unimportant, which is true. No one needs to know why Zombies exist only that they do and Wyrmwood totally goes out there with the genre.

The weak story does not overshadow the amazing action, set designs and costumes in the movie, as well as the ensemble cast.

It was so much fun to watch.

It's great to see not only the spirit of DIY filmmaking but Ozploitation cinema alive and well in the form of the Roache-Turner brothers (Kiah the director, Tristan his co-writer) blood filled and over the top zombie carnage horror/actioner Wyrmwood: The Road of the Dead, a film that was clearly a labour of love for these aspiring filmmakers and a film that in recent months has grown quite the reputation on the festival circuit that has seen the filmmaking duo well and truly become the next big thing in the local industry.

Filmed from my understanding over a number of years on a budget that was more than likely made up of family, friends and everyone else in between, there is no questioning that this is an unpolished film but at the same time a film that you can't help but appreciate on a level where you understand that the limitations set before the filmmakers failed to derail a film that is at its core a hugely energetic and often fantastically inventive tale. While we all know that the zombie genre of film and TV has virtually been done to (pardon the pun) death over many years Wrymwood has enough OTT ideas, violence and the Aussie humour we all know and love to keep us glued to our zombie guts covered seats for it's pretty quick fire 90 or so minute run time and in an age of films that look to cover up there budgetary flaws it's a joy to see Wyrmwood reveal in its roots.

Every part of Wyrmwood feels as though it could've been made in your backyard and in anything but a negative it gives the overall sense that this is a film that is truly its own beast. It's glorious to see the Roache-Turner brothers use the locales at their disposal to great effort from the wilderness through the "road of the dead" this is a tale that feels Australian and benefits from it while the movies performances range from impressive through to never passing acting school yet it doesn't bring the film down, it in fact brings it to a new level of enjoyable even though what your witnessing is akin to watching a friends high school media production.

With some off the wall ideas (mind controlling zombie hordes, zombie blood as a new source of fuel, just to name a few) and with an impressively constructed yet whole heartedly home grown production Wrymwood is indeed a film in a league all of its own. There are myriad problems with the film, mainly some downright lame scripting and some pretty lacklustre acting but when things click in this blood splattered ride they certainly work to a very high level. On the back of this effort you'd suggest that the Roache-Turner brothers most certainly do have a career ahead of them that hopefully sees them given a much bigger stash of play money that would no doubt see them craft some wickedly inventive and entertaining cinematic moments.

3 pieces of steak to the face out of 5