Bonus points are due here for being the first film with the guts to try and emulate Shaun of the Dead, blending humor and horror as two men and a woman try to fend off hordes of the undead. Of course, it fails miserably to live up to the standards of Shaun, coming short on just about every level. That said, what's the phrase? Shoot for the stars, and if you miss, you still might hit the moon? For, if this suffers badly in the previous comparison, all told, Lemay has delivered a competent and workmanlike effort that largely managed to keep us interested. The FX are not bad, and there is an attempt to provide more of a rational explanation than usual for the outbreak, with slug-like parasites being responsible. They attach themselves to the spine of the victims and can manipulate them that way, which is kinda cool as concepts go.
The main problem is, that's about it as far as the imagination goes. None of the participants are sufficiently well-developed as to make them more than cyphers, and the storyline doesn't push the envelope in too many interesting directions, though I did like the idea of using shotgun shells filled with salt to destroy the parasites. It might have worked better if Jake (Hose) and Randy (Lemoine) had been stronger characters with a more-clearly drawn conflict between them. Still, this was not a disaster, and has a few moments, such as the Grandma Bingo Hall Massacre, which are almost up there with the kind of delirious insanity managed by the classics of the zombie genre. Don't expect too much - think Night of the Creeps perhaps - and you could be pleasantly surprised.
[The film was released in the US last November by MTI Home Video, but somehow managed to slip the net until now. For more information, see the MTI website.]
C+
February 2008
