Rammbock: Berlin Undead

A man named Michael was dumped after being in a relationship for 7 years.  Her name was Gabi.  She dumped him, and then she moved to Berlin.  I don’t remember where they originally lived, but it wasn’t very close to Berlin.  Michael decides that he needs to return Gabi’s keys to her.  So, in true stalker fashion, he travels to Berlin to give her back her apartment keys.  When he gets to her apartment, Gabi is nowhere to be seen, but there are two plumbers in her apartment.  Immediately after walking in the door, one of the plumbers turns into a zombie.  He attacks the other plumber (a younger guy, named Harper).  Michael is able to pull the older plumber off and get him out the door.  Michael and Harper barricade themselves in the apartment.

The apartment complex is u-shaped, so they’re able to communicate with the other occupants of the complex.  However, the zombies are drawn to sound, so they can’t talk to each other too much without drawing the attention of the zombies.  Every time they try to discuss some sort of plan with the others, a pack of zombies flood the complex. 

This movie had an interesting take on zombies…although they weren’t really zombies, in that you didn’t have to die for the infection to take place, and they could run.  It was kind of like 28 Days Later in that respect, but with a big difference.  An infected person would not actually turn into the zombie-like creature unless their heart rate increased to a certain level (if one wanted, they could compare this to a zombie version of Speed).  There was a radio broadcast early in the movie that made mention of a possible cure, so the infected tried to stay calm as long as possible, in the hopes that a cure would come before they turned.

I kind of enjoyed that aspect of it.  You had infected people trying to find ways to keep their heart rate down.  One character tried meditation.  Another character’s wife was infected, so he kept her on a steady diet of sedatives. 

The zombies looked good.  Very creepy and menacing.  I particularly liked their eyes, which where completely white.  It made for a disturbing look.

That’s the good.  Now the bad.

I hated Michael.  Hated him from the very beginning.  I’ve read a handful of reviews that described him as “lovestruck”.  I describe him as useless.  Everything was about Gabi.  “Gabi this” and “Gabi that”.  For the majority of the movie, he was paralyzed in his decision making, because all he could think about was Gabi.  He and Harper had literally just shoved a zombie out of the apartment door when they heard a banging at that exact same door.  Michael rushed to open the door, convinced that it was Gabi.  Harper had to hold him back.  He overcame this as the movie progressed, but by that time it was too late.  I was already thoroughly entrenched in my hatred of Michael by the time he came around.  I could appreciate what he did, but I still couldn’t like him. 

I have one more nitpicky point.  The movie is called Berlin Undead, but the creatures weren’t actually undead.

This movie was pretty short, clocking in at a little over an hour.  And the last 10 minutes or so were pretty good.  But it wasn’t a great movie.  It was decent, and I enjoyed parts of it, but it wasn’t a great movie.  But it wasn’t terrible, either.  And, in a world filled with terrible zombie movies, that has to count for something. 

Rating: 2.5/5