The Good, The Bad, and the Ungodly.
Sorry for the pun, thought it'd be a nice catcher.
There is so much broadly negative about this film, and it has such a low rating, I'd thought I'd do what I almost never do on IMDB and post.
I really don't like most low budget horror and zombie films that make it out there. But I can usually find some real good parts in most of them. This movie came on PPS (a Chinese streaming movie thing, you gotta look it up) when I was playing movies from the "Western" category. It came on after movies like Grey Owl and Seraphim Falls, and I watched it expecting a Western, not a Zombie movie, so perhaps I'm coming from a different perspective than most.
I could have easily turned this movie off at any time after I heard the horrible acting, but the story and setting is a pretty damn good replica of Westerns. I quite enjoyed everything about this movie other than the acting.
As I've worked on films before and know how the parts work together, I'm going to be directly critical of the individual staff of this movie. Some people should be ashamed.
THE GOOD:
1. Props to Scott Peck, the DP. When he was in the zone, which seems to be dramatic slow takes (close, middle, and long) this movie shined. It really did. The POV filming of zombies when they got shot was interesting and dramatic. I wish he played it for more effect, but it was nice. The slow approach to the house by Jackson, hand feeling the long grass made me flashback to Gladiator in its execution. The brooding shots of loading weapons, especially the attempted suicide scene, long-distance shooting, and trekking along the woods while hurt reminded me a lot of other westerns, even ones Peck probably never saw (Johnny Depp's Dead Man). Very effective.
The shots in the dark, especially with the mirror, and intense action scenes were a little too confusing and poorly-lit to work, and Jeff Murphy really *beep* up your craft with his editing, but it seems you are already working with people like Chevy Chase and Christopher Lloyd, so good job! I hope to see more!
2. The story, as a western, is solid. I could do without the now cliche 21 Days Later "release all the zombies into the bad guy's house" ending, but there really was something here to work with, if the actors could bring it alive.
3. Ryn's physical acting. (maybe the shooting-up scene excluded)
THE BAD:
1. Every actor BUT Dion Day/Jackson (who played the tough-silent-rapper-turned-actor role no one can screw up) completely failed delivery and timing of their lines, and could not improvise lines that were probably written too wordy in the first place.
Ryn's voice went so gruff and silent, he became an emotionless shell. Voice overs made this even worse. Bad choice. Ryn's physical acting though, really made me believe it was
a Clint Eastwood character.
For example, there was a witty comment when Ryn turned the tables on Hans, who was trying to double-cross him again, something to the effect of "stop your billowing and put on the rope already bah blah blah." Too long and timed too poorly. Times like this in the film, something could have worked, if the acting and direction was just a litttttle better.
2. The script.
THE UNGODLY:
1. Jeff Murphy's editing. Reusing footage at the most uncomprehensible times and in the most uncomprehensible ways.
2. Blythe and Leah are probably the worst actors of the bunch in this movie. Walters is a close third for "dying" and screwing up "choke on it" which COULD have made me laugh. But hey, maybe Josh Bisset was sleeping on the mic and Mark Quod just said *beep* it in post, though. In fact, everyone's "dying" sounds were pretty unbelievable. Ever hear of rerecording voices in post Mark?
5/10
Would watch again if I could put all the actors on mute. Subtitles would be OK. With 40k on the line, someone needed to give more of a crap, but it's certainly watchable if you understand westerns and completely ignore the words coming out of the actor's mouths.