It's zombie apocalypse time yet again in a film that at least tries to do something a little bit different. We're never told the reason behind this particular outbreak at any point in the film because it is simply not important. What IS important is the relationship between the two central characters: Ben (Jeremy Gardner) and Mickey (Adam Cronheim), an odd couple who have nothing at all in common aside from their love for baseball and chain-smoking and their drive to survive in a new world where danger lurks around every corner. Ben is the 'strong' one. He's loud, crude and has no issue bashing in heads when need be. In fact, he goes out of his way to make sure that every zombie that crosses his path is killed. He feels it's his responsibility. Mickey, on the other hand, is the 'sensitive' one. He's lonely, emotional and wants to cling to whatever bits of normalcy he can (sleeping in beds, listening to music...) He's also not at all the violent type and has somehow managed to survive this entire time without popping his brain-bashing cherry; something his buddy eventually forces him to do out of sheer necessity.
Despite being frequently at odds with one another, both know there's strength in numbers and, since it's been months since they'd last encountered other surviving humans, they're kind of stuck with one another. Like many couples, they fight, bicker and do thoughtless, careless things they deserved to get bitched out over, but they always manage to make up. Whatever conflicts arise, it's nothing that can't be worked out by tossing the ball back and forth and talking it through. The two men have managed to survive for months traveling through the New England countryside where the zombie population is more scattered, but things finally start to unravel once they reach Connecticut. First, they're carjacked by a crazed man desperate to be reunited with his family in Arizona. Then, they find themselves running across a band of not-so-friendly survivors who live in a place called "The Orchard." After Ben is shot in the leg by one of them, he and Mickey find themselves trapped inside a car at the side of the road with a swarm of zombies crowded around outside.
Based on the reviews on here, this seems to be a 'love it or hate it' type of film for most viewers. I guess I'm one of the few people who is somewhere in the middle. While I liked a lot of what I saw here, I did have some major problems with this film that tried my patience. I began growing a little tired of all of the overlong, self-indulgent shots and the frequent time-killing music montages that went on for an eternity and seemed to exist solely to pad out time. This film could have easily been shorn of about twenty minutes with nothing lost in the process. The ending was also extremely frustrating because of the protagonists don't seem to do all that much to try to get themselves out of their desperate predicament when they have many tools at their disposal. There is no sensible reason why two men who have a baseball bat, a lighter, a knife, alcohol and other such things on hand would just hop out of a car and brave a zombie horde without even taking a weapon with them! I mean, make a torch, fashion a spear out of the knife and bat, or just take the bat... do *something*
Regardless of those annoyances, I did find myself drawn in enough to actually care about how things panned out, which is more than I can say for a lot of other films. Though the performances aren't brilliant by any means, they're not bad either for amateurs. The screenplay has some intelligent moments and character observations and there are nice, simple touches sprinkled throughout, as well as a good amount of humor. The cinematography and score are both pretty good and there are some excellent songs on the soundtrack, as well. Most impressive of all is all this was made for just 6 thousand dollars and it's a more ambitious and a better-quality film than numerous movies with multi-million dollars budgets. Flaws and all, it shows lots of genuine promise and anyone working in the horror genre who shows promise is someone worthy of championing since there are so many talentless hacks already working on these types of films.
And finally, a little warning: This is NOT an action film and if you're expecting something like RESIDENT EVIL going in, you may be disappointed with what you see here. This plays out more like a comedy-drama than anything else and the zombie scenes themselves are secondary. A nice counterbalance if you want it both ways is THE DEAD (2010), which has the same 'male bonding over a zombie epidemic' theme with more action and gore.
Despite being frequently at odds with one another, both know there's strength in numbers and, since it's been months since they'd last encountered other surviving humans, they're kind of stuck with one another. Like many couples, they fight, bicker and do thoughtless, careless things they deserved to get bitched out over, but they always manage to make up. Whatever conflicts arise, it's nothing that can't be worked out by tossing the ball back and forth and talking it through. The two men have managed to survive for months traveling through the New England countryside where the zombie population is more scattered, but things finally start to unravel once they reach Connecticut. First, they're carjacked by a crazed man desperate to be reunited with his family in Arizona. Then, they find themselves running across a band of not-so-friendly survivors who live in a place called "The Orchard." After Ben is shot in the leg by one of them, he and Mickey find themselves trapped inside a car at the side of the road with a swarm of zombies crowded around outside.
Based on the reviews on here, this seems to be a 'love it or hate it' type of film for most viewers. I guess I'm one of the few people who is somewhere in the middle. While I liked a lot of what I saw here, I did have some major problems with this film that tried my patience. I began growing a little tired of all of the overlong, self-indulgent shots and the frequent time-killing music montages that went on for an eternity and seemed to exist solely to pad out time. This film could have easily been shorn of about twenty minutes with nothing lost in the process. The ending was also extremely frustrating because of the protagonists don't seem to do all that much to try to get themselves out of their desperate predicament when they have many tools at their disposal. There is no sensible reason why two men who have a baseball bat, a lighter, a knife, alcohol and other such things on hand would just hop out of a car and brave a zombie horde without even taking a weapon with them! I mean, make a torch, fashion a spear out of the knife and bat, or just take the bat... do *something*
Regardless of those annoyances, I did find myself drawn in enough to actually care about how things panned out, which is more than I can say for a lot of other films. Though the performances aren't brilliant by any means, they're not bad either for amateurs. The screenplay has some intelligent moments and character observations and there are nice, simple touches sprinkled throughout, as well as a good amount of humor. The cinematography and score are both pretty good and there are some excellent songs on the soundtrack, as well. Most impressive of all is all this was made for just 6 thousand dollars and it's a more ambitious and a better-quality film than numerous movies with multi-million dollars budgets. Flaws and all, it shows lots of genuine promise and anyone working in the horror genre who shows promise is someone worthy of championing since there are so many talentless hacks already working on these types of films.
And finally, a little warning: This is NOT an action film and if you're expecting something like RESIDENT EVIL going in, you may be disappointed with what you see here. This plays out more like a comedy-drama than anything else and the zombie scenes themselves are secondary. A nice counterbalance if you want it both ways is THE DEAD (2010), which has the same 'male bonding over a zombie epidemic' theme with more action and gore.