UNDEAD: A Review

[ROBERT]

Since it's been a little slow in here. I'll post a few Toronto Film Festival reviews ass backwards,from time frame I saw them. Why backwards? Well..., just fucking because.




A CGI meteor shower, caused by an asteroid collision, in space, turns most of the local yokels in a remote Australian fishing village into the walking dead. A bloodbath ensues before six survivors make it into an underground bunker,in a farmhouse. Unaware that the events on the surface are about to get weirder. Undead's fairly copious gore, goofball humour,appropriate and even clever one liners and accents all recall Peter Jackson's superior Dead Alive. But the Sperig brothers' horror comedy has some scif fi twists, regarding the zombie plague's origins. A fine pair of heroes in local small town beauty-queen Ren and stoic action-man Marion, whose guns and ammo may not protect them from the zombie plague's real cause.



What it doesn't have is the underrcurrent of dark menace that runs through Jackson's film, or much of a grasp on scares,or overt horror. (Gore,thankfully it does have to a good extent, but it's used like a comic punchline.) It eschews this, for more of a science fiction approach which involves Aliens turning the zombies back into humans!! Sorry but when you're infected, and become a zombie. There's not supposed to be any turning back.The title of the film IS undead.I felt cheated,by this.(sorry if a spoiled something, but it pissed me off) Not to mention the CGI effects that far outnumber all the zombie gore. Although some were quite impressive. Undead is about as original as a 21st century zombie plague film can get, but it's TOO light and frothy when it should be merciless when dealing with a situation where people are surrounded by flesheating zombies.


The Sperig brothers at the Q+A period afterwards did seem like sincere genre aficianados. They sold they're car,when they started filming no budget guerrila style. And did 95% of all the CGI effects themselves. Very impressive. but I couldn't help but wonder if the teeth on they're film were filed down when other people became involved, in the production,and it eventually received a huge increase in budget. From a production standpoint it's pretty amazing the scope they accomplished on a 1 Million dollar budget. But man I wished it had teeth.

[Griff [Mola]]

Pissed off or not, Robert, that's a major fucking spoiler, man. Bring me the bore worms!

But you're right. Fun as it is, UNDEAD's only defining traits that truly set it apart from the competition are 1) its Aussie (no mean feat) and 2) it mixes in a bit of sci-fi - in an attempt to do something different with the formula. Interesting ...but kinda dilutes the genre elements when all is said and done.

All in all, its a fun enough romp (especially if you can understand and appreciate the lingo) and an amazing accomplishment by two very motivated nerds for pittance. Good for them.

[ROBERT]

Pissed off or not, Robert, that's a major fucking spoiler, man. Bring me the bore worms!

Understandable. But I didn't reveal how that fits into the storyline. It just annoyed me so much I had say something.

[DylanDog]

Although your review is less than glowing, in a weird sort of way, that little spoiler almost makes me want to see the movie more. At least it sounds like they are trying something different and I'm hip to that. But I agree that these zombie flicks should be darker, which is probably why I've watched Day about 15X since the dvd came out.

[ROBERT]

I'm all for trying something different with the zombie genre, so long as it's makers dont forget it's about UNDEAD flesh eating zombies,and not put the emphasis on comedic situations or Star Trek inspired Sci Fi. Peter Jackson never forgot the horror when making his films. Up and coming filmmakers should really make a note of that, when making a horror/splatter/comedy. The spoiler really isn't that big a revelation if you don't know exactly how it fits in with the proceedings. Best thing I can say about Undead is that it was a solid first attempt that lost it's focus. But it's never boring.

[Kimberly]

I went to the screening of this a few weeks ago... with the brothers on hand to present the film. They told some interesting little facts about the making of the film.... but Robert summed it up pretty well. Though the female cop in it is now the projectionist at their local theater while the recluse gun nut in the film was the same theaters former projectionist... anyhoo... I thought it was an amusing little story.

I liked the film alot... thought it was alot of fun. For me it got a little confusing at the end... between the aliens... and wtf was going on but in the end it was explained about them turning the people back in to human.

I really liked a few of the recluse gun nut's shooting style... I forgot the character's name so that's why I keep refering to him as such... I also couldn't get enough of the fish... had me laughing so hard. For a first effort I was very impressed... and look foward to after the new year... when Lion's Gate will release the film.