I attended a special midnight screening of George Romero’s newest zombie masterpiece and after thinking about it for a bit I am ready to give my thoughts.
The film starts off in a rather satiric manner with a group of college students from University of Pittsburgh shooting a low budget horror film. Director Jason Creed (Joshua Close) is annoyed at his monster’s performance, complaining that he’s moving too quickly. Dead things move slowly, you see.
As the cast takes a break, we hear news footage about the zombie outbreak. Of course the media offers no real explanation of what is going on, but our heroes figure out pretty quickly that something is horribly awry.
The film follows this little group as they try to make their way to their respective homes across Pennsylvania in a Winnebago. The action is seen through the camera lense of Jason, who really wants to be a documentary filmmaker.
Now I know many of you are thinking, “oh man, not another first person shooter horror film”. Blair Witch, The Final Broadcast, Cloverfield, et al. It’s not like we haven’t seen this gimmick before. I’ve heard many people have tantrums over the fact that Romero went there for this film. I have to admit that I had some doubts going in.
That being said, this movie is really worth seeing. Romero adds a few twists to the first person shooter trick that make this work. First of all, there are TWO cameras. So you have different angles of the same thing going on at the same time. And as if to answer the question most viewers will ask (why the hell don’t you put the down the ^%$#$& camera?), Romero explains WHY Jason doesn’t put down the camera in a way that is very believable. The other characters in the film actually ask Jason that very question throughout the film, and while he does answer their questions with validity it does come back to bite him the butt (quite literally).
This is basically a re-imagining of Night of the Living Dead. Romero has taken the concept, which is a small group of survivors trying to get through the nightmare, and set it in the modern day with all the technology we use everyday. As the film opens, we hear a voice over by a survivor (Michelle Morgan). She explains that the footage was edited and uploaded to the internet so that people might know the truth about what is happening. The popular media has been spinning the events to keep every one docile, but there are endless hours of footage available on myspace, youtube and other services that were shot by survivors. One man at the screening felt the narration by this character was unnecessary and perhaps a bit distracting, but I disagree. I feel it gives a context and humanity to the events that are unfolding.
Like all Romero zombie films, this one is chock full of social commentary and observation. Too much, in fact, for me to really lay it all out for you in this review.
The cast is pretty generic on the whole. All the archetypes you expect in a film of this genre. There are a few stand out performances, however.
Scott Wentworth as the drunken media professor is the most memorable character in the entire film, second only to an all too brief appearance by an unknown extra as an amish man the group encounters during their travels. The professor is much more than he seems at first, and as the film progresses he becomes very endearing. It is his wisdom that keeps this motley band moving forward.
Ridley (Philip Riccio), one of the group who decides to abandon them early on to take refuge in his wealthy family’s Philadelphia home, is brilliant. I can’t say too much about his character without giving away important plot points of the film, but he is also a memorable character and plays his part to perfection.
I would also like to mention Amy Ciupak Lalonde, who plays a student from Texas. She’s awesome, folks. Just brilliant. She is the voice of reason, saying all the things the audience will be screaming at the screen.
There are some brilliant cameos as well. Simon Pegg , Stephen King, Guillermo del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Craven, and others make voice-over appearances. Romero himself makes an on-screen appearance as well.
This was a fully independent production, made with no backing of any major studio. The special effects are done by a group called Gaslight and they are brilliant! There are some wonderful kills in this film. The zombies are not seen very much in the film, which helps keep the focus on the main characters. Every kill is a primary kill. There are no secondary, background zombie kills or any shortcuts taken. I wish I could say more without ruining the surprise. But for those who know what it means, Greg Nicotero had a hand in some of the effects also.
The music is minimal, which helps add to the realism of the film.
On the whole, I say give this film a chance. I know we’ve all had just about enough of the FPS thing, but I feel Romero got it right this time. He answers all our questions, and even pokes a little fun at himself and the genre on the whole. This is everything a zombie film should be: tongue-in-cheek satire placing a mirror on society and forcing us to re-consider everything we thought we understood about what it means to be human.
Remember: FAST ZOMBIES SUCK!
WATCH THE TRAILER -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MdqNr0gN4Y
