Official Score = 1 Devil[/caption]Believe it or not, it is very rare that I see in what my opinion would be considered a bad Zombie movie...
The truth is, is that because of that fact that some might say that I am biased in favor of those types of horror movies, well the truth is, is that as far as the super natural monster movie goes, Zombie movies generally do tend to be my favorite... That said, I am not biased... The reason being is that I have seen bad Zombie movies!
Being such a fan of Zombie movies like myself, I am saddened to say it, but it is true, I mean, I have seen some Zombie movies that made it almost impossible to suspend my disbelief, I have seen Zombie movies where the acting was utterly disgustingly bad, I have seen some with stories that were so bad that the writers of the movie should be ashamed of themselves... I have seen some where the the special effects were so bad that me being a B movie fan (a type of movie that the mainstream would consider to have bad special effects,) still thought the special effects were horrible!
I have seen some that have all of those elements, and I have seen some that have some of those elements as well... And I hate to say it, but Dead Season (2012) just happens to be one of those movies that have the majority of them in some capacity...
Written by: Joshua Klausner (Psycho Sleepover), Loren Semmens (Resurgent) and Directed by: Adam Deyoe (Yeti: A Love Story). Starring: Scott Peat (Transformers), Marissa Merrill (Photographic), Corsica Wilson (Veer!) & James C. Burns (Coldwater).
Dead Season tells the story of how after a viral outbreak around the world brings the dead back to life, and ends civilization on planet Earth, 2 survivors by the name of, 'Elvis' (Peat) and, 'Tweeter' (Merrill) along with a boy (who doesn't make it) head down to Miami together to pick up a boat that Elvis had chartered while traveling from Pittsburgh...
Once the three make it on to the boat and set sail though for the Island that is supposed to be their salvation, they learn that there is a Zombie on the board that ends up poisoning the kid before either Tweeter or Elvis can kill the Zombie (which means that Elvis ends up killing both the boy and the Zombie).
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Tweeter (Marissa Merrill) & Elvis (Scott Peat) as they escape from the their boat in the hopes of finding salvation![/caption]Once Tweeter and Elvis make it to the island though, they are met with a group of para-military survivors who immediately welcome them in to their community...
Of course though Tweeter already takes an immediate dislike to the inhabitants of the community, while Elvis seems to fit right in... So as the two friends begin to take different paths in regards to their new lives on the supposedly, 'bombed out' Island, of course it will be up to the Zombies to bring them closer together and to help motivate them to make it to safety!
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Tweeter is not exactly happy with her new neighbors![/caption]The things that I did like about this movie are as follows:
1. I thought the special effects (i,e. The Zombies attacks and what not) were pretty on the ball.
2. For the most part I liked most of the acting in this movie as well.
3. I also wanted to say that I found the concept that the humans on this Island's food source was the un-infected humans that they killed... (I know it is morbid to mention, especially considering that cannibalism is just weird and wrong, but it is a purely original take that I have seen in Zombie Apocalypse movies!)
4. Lastly I thought that in some ways this movie was a nice homage to George A. Romero's zombie movies...
Now the bad part is that I didn't like:
1. Marissa Merrill in this movie (her look screamed that she seemed to either hate or be disgusted with just about everything and everyone in the movie).
2. Also the Island that they were supposed to have swam to that has the new human civilization on it is supposed to have been a gunnery range that was used by the United States Navy (before the end of the world), and supposedly was a bombed out crater that had the Navy having shot all sorts of missiles, bombs, (including nuclear weapons on it)... the problem is, is that you can't make an Island become a bombed out crater, if it has tons of apparently well maintained buildings on it, and a few pieces of trash on it...
3. Now I mentioned above that I thought that this in some extent was a good homage to George A. Romero's zombie movies, and I did for the reasons above, but the truth is, is that I don't mind a fresh take brought to an old idea, but I don't like people who just try to re-dress old movies to make them look like new... Which is what this one did and here is what I am talking about.
A: The new civilization collapses after the main stars show up (i,e... 28 Days Later)
B: The new civilization mostly comprises of lazy military survivors, to the point where some of them almost seem to dress up like some of the military officers from, Day Of The Dead (1985).
4. The next thing that I wanted to mention here is the fact that I did kind of consider that this movie was a little to art house for my tastes, and with all of the scenes where it was just quiet music with the cast doing something after awhile got kind of annoying.
5. The last thing that I wanted to mention was the introduction of worthless characters in the new civilization whose only value in the whole movie is that they get eaten at the end of the movie.
In the end, this movie is not a great one, it has it's moments, but it is definitely not one that I would consider putting in my collection!
http://youtu.be/d3zClfnTJqE
