Once again, it has been a while since we've had zombie club. But, just because we haven't officially met for a while doesn't mean I have to stop watching zombie movies.
I have been looking forward to this one for a while. A considerable buzz has been building for this movie ever since it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. These two things always came up when this movie was reviewed:
1. The movie was told from the perspective of a zombie.
2. It was made for $70.
It's difficult not to mention those things, so let's get them out of the way. The movie follows a single zombie (Colin). We see him become a zombie, and we follow his shambling zombie self through zombie-infested London. Where most zombie movies follow the survivors, this one follows a single zombie, trying to navigate through these strange streets that he once knew so well. On his journey, he encounters a number of stereotypes in the zombie movie genre: the twisted survivor with a dark secret, a band of zombie hunters, the family member who wanted to try to save him (and the family member who wanted to kill him), people running and fighting for their lives, and some who have accepted their fates. The only difference is that we're seeing it from the other side. We know Colin, and now we're following him as a zombie. These zombie hunters appear to be terrible people in this movie...but put them in a Romero movie and they look like heroes.
I can't say that I was necessarily cheering for Colin, but I did feel a certain attachment to him. This isn't a faceless zombie, hell-bent on eating human flesh. This is Colin, a victim of circumstance. We see what he sees. He eats human flesh, not because he's a demon, but because he has no other choice. It is now in his nature. Furthermore, it shows what we could become. If Colin - a nice guy with a good life - could become a zombie, so can we. It wasn't his choice, just like it wouldn't be ours.
Throughout the movie, we see Colin recognize different objects and places from his "past life". This was reminiscent of Day of the Dead, when Bub was able to remember things from his living days. It didn't seem to apply to everything (he didn't recognize his sister or mother at all), but it did occur from time to time.
The movie was made for $70, which is pretty impressive. Sure, you can tell that it did not take a lot of money to make this movie. Still, for how much it costs, it looks pretty good. The lighting is a bit off, and there are times when the sound left something to be desired, but, for the most part, they did a great job. The zombies looked pretty good, and there were some pretty terrific looking death scenes. The acting was pretty good, too. All in all, they did great with what they had.
Overall, I really liked the movie. There were times when it seemed like it was running a bit long, and there were long periods where not much happened. But the goal of this movie was not to be action-packed; the goal of this movie was to see zombies from a different angle...for us to identify with zombies in a way that we may not have been able to before. The filmmaker (Marc Price) was building a mood throughout the movie...even in those times when it seemed like nothing was happening. Those times further helped us to bond with Colin...to see the world through his eyes. By the end of the movie, I didn't mind those slow moments.
Loved the ending. I don't want to give anything away, but it was somehow sweet and heartbreaking.
I highly recommend this movie...but know what it is going in. It's a zombie movie, but it's not your standard zombie movie. You can also tell that it was made on a low budget, but that's easy enough to get past. Once you get caught up in the story, you won't really care what the budget was.
Watch this trailer and check out the website
.