A Solid 6... and here's why...

Atmosphere, characterization, thematic insurance. There are times when watching templatic zombie films becomes overly absurd, so coming across a film like this is a breath of fresh air.

For me, a sense of dread from the environment has a broad effect on what I am witnessing. The pain and exhaustion in this film comes across perfectly. The way the characters are dropped into these situations helps make their internal conflicts more at the forefront than the lumbering zombies themselves. Why? Because life is about living to distract oneself from inevitable death. To persevere. The zombies are metaphors, the nightmares and flashbacks a catalyst. And in the end when all hope is lost, that's when miracles happen.

Sure this is low budget and has several silly moments where the characters do stupid things, but the way the story and atmosphere unraveled they made sense. When exhausted, stressed, hungry, and emotionally spent... people do stupid things. You cannot be hardcore on top of it all in such situations, especially in African heat. Your body does not respond the way you'd expect it to. For example... people complain about the main character needlessly struggling when he washed up on the beach but I saw it as exhausted legs not awake yet. He was, after all, afloat all night, hungry, thirsty, stressed. Slow moving zombies in that light made for a very tense situation. A nightmare in reality. It may look silly at a glance but realistically that scene worked.

Yes, also, they wasted too many bullets when they could of been stabbing the zombies easily, but in a way not everyone has experienced The Walking Dead series. I can look past that based on the story here. This comes full effect near the end when he finally finds the compound and hacks and slashes like crazy to get through. The mind was motivated differently.

I applaud the filmmakers for their artistry and love of the genre. It does remind one of the George A Romero / Lucio Fulci days. For that I can forgive the bad parts and highly appreciate the good. This IS good story telling. Not great... but worth the respect.

Cheers to all who can see this.