The Zombie Apocalypse

This little movie that could was made in 2008 on a budget of about $5,000.  To me, that says alot.  It seems now you probably couldn't cover food or fuel on a movie set for five grand.  Anyway, let's get this started...

The movie opens with one man (Miller) being handcuffed and forced to kneel.  Another man rambles on about how he's waited so long to kill Miller.  Then, the man opens a door releasing their test-subjects (the zombies).

In the next scene, we meet Mark and Tom.  They're two college roomates that decide to go out one friday night.  By looking at these two, they must've either become roomies by fate, or they must have known each other for years.  One's a hard partier that could care less about studying, and the other is a hard studying, RPG game playing, medical student.

On the way to the bar, they meet a girl who was bitten by a "homeless man".  After running away from the hobo, the trio make it to the bar.  This is where they first meet Dwight Miller.  Miller's car is broke down, and he needs help.  The girl offers to help fix the car, while the guys just wanna drink.  Miller notices the girl's bite, and he kills her.  Shortly after this happens, the bar is surrounded by zombies.

The rest of the film follows Miller, Tom, Mark, & Raven (another girl they met along the way) as they try surviving the end of the world.

This movie was filled with bad acting (the bouncer in the bar takes the prize), poor special effects, and some bad comedic timing.  All that aside, I give this one a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10.  I found out after I watched this movie, that there is a prequel comic book that explains Miller's story, and the possibility that his wife started the Zombie Apocalypse. Too bad that couldn't have been added to the movie.  Maybe if they'd cut out alot of the poor attempts at comedy, they would have been able to add that in.

Warm Bodies

Any preconceived notions you have about zombies and zombie films need to be forgotten while you watch this one.

The movie starts out with R walking through an airport terminal.  R likes to play a game where he basically makes up a back story to all of the other zombies he encounters each day.  During this we pretty much learn who R is, who is best friend, M is, and what the Bonies are.  We'll talk about the Bonies in a minute.  R and M can't remember their own names, much less talk.  So, their conversations go like this: "Ugh"  "Mmmm" "Ehhh"

The Bonies are the zombies that are too far gone.  These zombies can't process thought or really do anything except eat anything with a beating heart.  Keep that in mind.

One day, R and the others decide to go out and  look for a meal.  They have to travel in packs because everyone wants to shoot them in the head.  They come across a group of young scavengers from a group of survivors.  These survivors have done pretty well in the 7 years since the world ended.  R and his group attack the survivors.  R eats the brain of one of the men and instantly obtains that guy's memories.  R decides to save his meal's girlfriend.

R and the girl (Julie) spend a few days together and slowly R begins to become human again.  R's interaction with the other zombies spreads the "backwards virus" and the other zombies start to become human again as well.  All of the new beating hearts have given the Bonies new prey.

Reluctantly the survivors team with the zombies to kill off the Bonies.  By the end of the film all of the zombies have come back to life, and are trying to start their lives over again.

Now, down to business.  On a scale of 1 to 10 this one gets a 7.  I was expecting non-stop laughs.  It wasn't what I was expecting, but it was still worth watching.  There were several funny moments, a few good one-liners, and Rob Corddry as M was cool. That dude makes me laugh.  It wasn't great, but it was still pretty good.

Autumn

This one starts off showing a school classroom. One kid starts coughing, the next minute they're all coughing. Soon, the whole school is infected.  The first few opening minutes show how the world has become infected.  A very cool car crash scene follows that.  Soon, billions die within hours.  Kinda makes ya think. 

Soon, we meet a group of survivors.  The group is in hiding not knowing what to think.  A few days later, the dead begin to rise.  But, they seem to be deaf, blind, and can barely move.  Weeks later, the undead become a threat.  They're attracted to color, sounds, and can run really fast.  So, the survivors come up with a plan: Be quiet.

After lots, and lots, and lots of talking between the final three survivors (the others were too loud).  In one scene towards the end, the dead (who at this time could see, hear, and were basically hunting down humans) had surrounded the farmhouse our three survivors were in.  Then, one of the survivors just opens the front door, runs right into the thick of them, and escapes.  VERY disappointing.  

I like the way this one started, but it didn't take long for this one to go down hill and go fast.  On a scale of 1 to 10, this one gets a 2.

Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption

This one had the look and feel of a cheesey 80s film.  But let's start at the beginning.

There are almost no humans left.  The U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. have detonated all of their nukes in an effort to kill off all the zombies.  Instead, the zombies now outnumber people 10,000 to 1.

The opening of the film begins with the main character (I can't remember his name) running away from the group he was with.  We learn later on that that group has become a bunch of looters.  They not only loot from abandoned towns, they even take from other survivors.  Anyway, the group is hunting down the guy, when he comes across a smaller group that gels together like a family.  They have small children, a babysitter, a sniper group, and team of looters as well.  The difference is, they don't steal from other groups.

The entire film is about the large group chasing the runaway.  The runaway meets up with the small group, and they hide until they can't run anymore.  There's a big gun battle at the end, and the small group wins.  The End.

There was one scene in this movie that I couldn't believe I was seeing. And for that, this movie will get an extra 3 points.  The scene in question?  The runaway is in a grocery store.  He hears a baby cry.  Runaway runs to save the baby.  What he finds is a zombie eating a baby while the mother lay with her stomach ripped open.

Now, the moment nobody has been waiting for... On a scale of 1 to 10, this movie gets a 1.  BUT, with the 3 bonus points, the final result is a 4. By the way, I read another blog somewhere that called this movie more epic than The Walking Dead.

Xombie: Dead On Arrival

This is an animated short film that was first created sometime in 1994.  It was intended for release on the internet as a four or five part mini-series.  I found it edited as a full movie on Netflix.

The movie opens in the distant future with a little girl waking up and not knowing where she is or how she got there.  Quickly, a swarm of the undead are after her.  Enter the movie's hero, Dirge.  He's a xombie.  This is where we learn the difference in zombie and xombie.  The problem is, both words are pronounced the same. Xombies remember who they are.  They know they are dead. Zombies have an irresistible urge to eat human flesh.  Now, you know the difference too.

For safety, Dirge takes the girl (Zoe) to his home. Dirge explains to Zoe that the earth is infested with zombies and that her only hope is to go to the safe zone that was built.  Along the way, the pair stop at a museum.  There they fight a dinosaur, and meet it's owner, another xombie, Nephthys.  She explains that she was a servant to an Egyptian royal.  Nephthys goes on to explain the movie's back story as well.  She even explains that the safe zone is mostly run by robots designed to protect the humans.  If Dirge gets too close, he'll be killed by the robots.

To make a long, boring story short, Dirge and Nephthys take Zoe to the safe zone.  Once they arrive, a herd of zombies chase Zoe.  In an effort to protect Zoe, Dirge does get too close to the robots.  Zoe makes it into the safe zone but Dirge is killed. Maybe.  The movie ended with hints to a sequel.

I was kind of excited to see an animated zombie film.  But one about zombies saving humans, fighting dinosaurs and robots was not what I cared to see.  So, on a scale of 1 to 10, this one gets a well deserved 2.