Rating: D+
Dir: Scooter McRae
Star: Stark Raven, Flora Fauna, Daniel Johnson, Robert Wells
Flora Fauna? Hmmm…never trust a film where it looks like everyone involved is operating under pseudonyms. This “existentialist zombie film” has a neat idea at its core – the living dead just want to be part of society – but the amount of development here is more appropriate to a Twilight Zone episode than a full-length feature. The heroine has to make her way back to New York and her boyfriend, through the remnants of a civilization in which mortality has lost its sting, ever since the angel of death impregnated a human woman (though this is such an obscurity, it’s only clear from reading the sleeve). Reaching her destination isn’t the end of matters, however.
Some thought has gone into the impact of such an event on society, on religion, for example, as well as more mundane aspects. I also liked the idea of people committing suicide to live forever as zombies, despite the downside (pooling blood and the smell). The problem is that the execution is painfully sluggish, with not nearly enough sense of energy or impetus to keep you interested. I was never quite sure whether I should root for the heroine or not; you’re given insufficient information to justify any kind of feeling towards her, or anyone else in the movie. It’s cold, distant film-making. If that’s what McRae meant by “existentialist”, he’s achieved his goal, but is welcome to keep it.