Yesterday
An ultra low budget Canadian film shot on 16mm. Various people attempting to survive a zombie outbreak reluctantly join forces to head out in the wilderness to avoid the mayhem. The first film from Canadian director Rob Grant who made Fake blood which was a popular entry at a recent Grimmfest. Its his first film and it shows. In the commentary they talk about the numerous errors in the film, which ended up becoming a guerrilla film-school for the director. For all its faults it has its charms. If you remember the old shot on video zombie flicks starring non-actors with mullets this is about that level. It has a DIY charm and relentless pace to it that made it enjoyable. It's still something of a mess.
Dead Shadows
Another low-budgeter. This one from France. A bit more slick than Yesterday but not as fun. A meteor crashes into Paris and begins mutating the populace into lovecraftian horrors. A young man must fight to stay alive. Dead shadows main problem is that it feels incomplete. It feels like the makers shot what they could and put it together to advertise their concept. I may be wrong but it felt like a showreel. It has some great scenes in it including a genuinely creepy moment with a female-spider hybrid attempting to seduce the lead character. The trouble is that it doesn't engage enough consistently or fit together as a complete film as well as it should. As sloppy as Yesterday was it felt complete and fit together better than this. Worth seeing, just dont pay a lot of money to do so.
Doom Asylum
This is more like it. A gory eighties slasher flick set around an abandoned asylum as a demented and disfigured killer begins hacking up a bunch of teens who have decided to hang about the place for no good reason as kids in slasher flicks are want to do. What makes this fun is the strange, witty script that gives it somewhat subversive appeal. Its about 80 minutes, the kills are decent. The location works and the actors are not always great but it all adds to the strange charm of the film. I had low expectations going in but I think this will end up being a go-to slasher flick like slaughter high when i'm in the mood for something from this era.
 |