MovieChat Forums > Chrysalis (2014) Discussion > I Just Saw It, And...

I Just Saw It, And...

posted 10 years ago by chrismackey1972
24 replies | jump to latest

I thought it was extremely well done. The beginning was a little slow, but because the film was rich in characterization, that's gonna happen. To me, character development is a plus, because then you actually care about the characters. I have to say that if you're looking for a movie with zombies, zombies everywhere, this isn't it. This has zombies, walkers, biters, infected, whatever you want to call them, but the main focus is the character development.

For low budget - according to IMDB.com, it cost $35,000, they did a great job on making the sets look like they are from an apocalypse. I've seen movies with much bigger budgets that had much worse results, so give this one a try. There wasn't a weak link in the acting, writing or directing IMO, except the one sex scene, which was kinda out of place and unnecessary, but the girl did have nice breasts. lol.

The actors all looked like the world sat on them and kicked them to the side of the road, and that's how they should appear since it's an apocalyptic situation. It went through the dire need to find food. When Vera was asked if she'd eaten, her response was "Today?" Showing that eating every day was not a usual event for these characters.

Many zombie movies are done in an action-adventure way, like Dawn of the Dead. If that's your speed for zombie movies, then this probably won't be for you. However, if you like movies that - again - are rich in character development, along with some zombie moments that are scary, you should give this a try. Personally, I thought this was much better than that Brad Pitt behemoth, World War Z. I don't think anything touches The Walking Dead for the zombie genre, another that does great character development, but this doesn't try to. They simply had a story to tell, and I think they did a great job telling it.

[–] nightbiker-1 10 years ago

"And no, I had nothing to do with this movie other than being an audience member."

Yeah, well, color ME convinced. I'm wondering though, and it might make for good popcorn fodder on the weekend. I'm usually up for that sort of thing when I have plenty of time on my hands. That being said, I'll stick this one on the 'to see at a later date' list. In no hurry, but hey, I've enjoyed some pretty terrible ones in my time as well (grin) so who knows? Maybe this one actually IS a hidden gem as the Op claims it is.

[–] sarabware 9 years ago

Well, I most assuredly had nothing to do with the making of this film, and I was mesmerized. What a refreshing change from the usual fare - an intelligent script, solid characters and actors, well-directed -. I cared about it. It and it's implications and metaphors stuck with me. Grateful. PLUS on a low budget? More, please. <3

[–] Owiman 10 years ago

I enjoyed the first minutes the most. It's a fresh take that it's set 25 years after Z day. Most Zombie movies usually have the story around the start or a short time after.

How they searched for food in the begining felt real, ie: no food. But how they have almost unlimited Flashlight battery and bulbs after 25 years seemed odd. Then they found basicly unlimted food supply for the rest of the movie, and made noise on purpose by throwing rocks through windows.

It's annoying things like those that take you out of the setting and movie and you have to think about it.

During the movie I kept wondering why they didn't look for a farm to set up instead of trying to scavenge afer 25 years.

Anyways, the sets should have looked far more like tsjernobyl area after 25 years, which it didn't do to full. ie: vegetation growth.

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[–] GlassCityFilms 10 years ago

Hey everyone! Thanks for the great discussion about the film; it means a lot that you all took the time to watch and appreciate the film and talk about it. If you enjoyed it, awesome - spread the word! If you didn't...well, that's cool too. Plenty of zombie movies out there in the world for all of us. :)

John Klein, director
www.TheRestAreDead.com

[–] StepstonefilmsImdb 10 years ago

For a movie that cost only $35,000 I was impressed. Great choice of locations. Reminded me of The Road in tone, so is pretty sombre, but I really liked it. Well done to the makers, I can't wait to see what they do next.

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[–] knightofdreamz 10 years ago

Not a fan.

I think TelegraphOperator did a very good job of explaining the issues i had. Although they left out one major issue, i personally had.
Penelope is an utterly useless human being, and that makes no sense.
This is a person who would have had to have dealt with zombies and extreme survival literally her entire life, yet 95% of the movie she's completely helpless. I understand she is often sick, but she does not even give off the feeling of a strong person who would survive 25 years after nukes were dropped and zombies took over the world. Her character, seems like it should be written for someone who dies off...... 2 weeks? 1 month? after the whole thing started. And that makes no sense to me, as again, this woman would have been raised only knowing this survival.

".... Now i have become death, the destroyer of worlds" - Robert Oppenheimer

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[–] ben-kurstin 10 years ago

As the writer I disagree with that, she might seem weak, but if crying when sad, or not knowing how to read is all your judging on then you miss all of the real strength in her.

She kills several infected on her own, even while Josh is right nearby. She almost puts an ax through his head when he scares her, she is prepared to fight.When Josh is pulled down the hall, she runs after him immediately. Letting Josh take the lead and following isn't weakness, it's proof she doesn't know her own strength. It's interesting, most men I've spoken to say shes weak, and most women I've spoken to say the opposite.

Either way thanks for watching it, and I love to hear constructive criticism of what people think.

[–] knightofdreamz 10 years ago

"As the writer I disagree with that, she might seem weak, but if crying when sad, or not knowing how to read is all your judging on then you miss all of the real strength in her.

She kills several infected on her own, even while Josh is right nearby. She almost puts an ax through his head when he scares her, she is prepared to fight.. Letting Josh take the lead and following isn't weakness, it's proof she doesn't know her own strength. It's interesting, most men I've spoken to say shes weak, and most women I've spoken to say the opposite.

Either way thanks for watching it, and I love to hear constructive criticism of what people think. "

Oh fantastic, the writer!

Okay so, her character is a weak character in this situation we are lead to believe is happening, not in general. I actually think this applies to all three characters as the entire movie i was scratching my head asking myself how these people have survived for 25 years in these conditions.

So look at it from our perspective. The people who are going to watch this are low budget movie fans, horror fans, zombie fans, right? That's gonna be like, 90% of people watching this movie. So we already have set ideas and rules placed in our minds for movies like this and if you change that, then you have to do a damn good job of establishing those changes.
So without establishing any specifics we are simply told that zombies happened then bombs went off. We've all seen enough survivor movies, zombies, etc. to have a basic understanding of what this means. So the characters have to fit that idea as well if they are to be believable.
In this case we are told to believe that these easily emotionally driven people, often panicking and fairly gullible have survived this world for 25 years. A world that (without any changes made to established lore or explanations as to why they would be this way) would chew up and spit out the best of the best of the best of the best. These characters work in a situation of a year, six months, after said events but not 25 years. You can call it semantics or petty, but that bothered me the whole time to the point where it killed the characters for me.

Lastly, whats the explanation for the zombies chasing the other woman? Was that left out in editing or not written in? I know she was bitten and survived but that does not tell me why they are attracted to her. Again, by established lore, or simply.... without presenting an alternative, im going to assume that would make her smell more like them thus less attractive to them, unless they are cannibals. Are they cannibal zombies?

".... Now i have become death, the destroyer of worlds" - Robert Oppenheimer

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[–] ben-kurstin 10 years ago

I think I should end up just starting a new thread filling in the plot holes that people have been finding, some of which aren't plot holes, but simply not spelled out.

Abira says it's as if they can smell that she's infected, they are drawn in more by scent than they are by sight. When Josh is grabbed he just happens to be close enough for them to grab him. Penelope covers herself in lighter fluid, effectively masking her scent as a person. Now none of this is spelled out directly, so it's not as if there was anything that a viewer missed.

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[–] davannacarter 10 years ago

Overall, I thought the movie was decent. Didn't wow me but it was better than mediocre. Things I that pleasantly surprised me:

1. No constant swaying cam or shaky cam.
2. You kept the "BOOM!" jump scares to a minimum (although, I would prefer them not to be in the movie at all).
3. You actually filmed the movie in America instead of Canada or California and say it's in the Midwest.
4. You actually used American actors.
5. You didn't use celebrities (tired of boring, overused celebrities hogging all the indie roles).
6. You actually tried to make the characters engaging and try to make us care for the characters.
7. Nobody got killed while having sex or smoking pot.
8. The actress had nice boobs (next time show her rear too).

I have a few nitpicks like "why didn't they just hold up somewhere with a high wall and try to start a farm or something?" Or "why didn't they arm themselves to the teeth?" However, I have seen waaaaaay worse by filmmakers who didn't even care to try to bring something new to the horror genre. In fact, it's not just horror. It's movies, in general. I've seen so many horror movies where I start shouting, "It's obvious the director doesn't even care to make a movie that engages the audience. What's the point of rehashing the same junk or making a movie that will piss off the audience?"

At least you guys tried and you have talent in filmmaking. That gets you guys a thumbs up from me. I eagerly await your next movie.

[–] knightofdreamz 10 years ago

I think I should end up just starting a new thread filling in the plot holes that people have been finding, some of which aren't plot holes, but simply not spelled out.

Again, if you are drastically altering lore, logic and/or tradition, then yes you have to spell it out, and you have to do it effectively.
Apparently there are plenty of things viewers missed and even with explanations, still don't make a whole lot of sense. Like... give us a specific reason as to why lighter fluid was used, otherwise im with the other guy. Burn some scented candles all over your house and a zombie will never walk in.

And i still think the character writers was completely wrong for the timeline and events we are told to believe. This is an issue everyone i watched this with had a problem with.

".... Now i have become death, the destroyer of worlds" - Robert Oppenheimer

[–] GlassCityFilms 10 years ago

KnightOfDreamz:

Well, thanks for watching it with a bunch of people, first of all! That's kinda awesome, actually.

Mmm...scented candles...

I totally understand where you're coming from, and maybe part of the problem is simply in the marketing, to start. If it looks like a zombie film, walks like a zombie film, and talks like a zombie film, it must be a zombie film. From our standpoint, I don't feel we were ever trying to make a zombie film, though. It's not the undead, and it's not playing by the rules of "shoot them in the head" or "you become one once you die" or whatnot.

Anyway, the point of the story, for me, always comes back to the characters, especially the women, who I think are beautifully written and vividly drawn especially compared to the other entries in the sci-fi, zombie, horror, or post-apocalyptic genre.

The other stuff you've mentioned - the "plot holes" with Abira and her being a carrier, for example, or why they didn't just do x or y or z - doesn't necessarily warrant a long, drawn-out explanation from our characters in which they sit down and biologically try to reason out all the things that are going on. It's the winter, they're hungry, they're relatively uneducated, and resources are limited. They don't have time for that, and we don't have time for that; otherwise, we run the risk of trying to be the final season of LOST (which I like, by the way, but for unrelated reasons), answering questions that didn't need it and neglecting the ones that matter.

Obviously, that's our opinion, and you have yours, and like I've said before, it's awesome that you've taken the time to delve into it so much with us! We're low-budget filmmakers learning just like the rest of the world's artists, and it's always fun for us to get involved in discussions about what people think works or doesn't work about our films. So, thanks for that.

John Klein
www.TheRestAreDead.com

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[–] GlassCityFilms 10 years ago

Well, I guess we at least did something right if you enjoy talking about it, so that's good to hear! (And thanks, by the way, for paying for the film; that means a lot too. Much appreciated!)

I do understand that aspect of what you're saying. I guess, from my end as a viewer (and as a director), our goal was to allow the audience the freedom to fill in those blanks themselves to some degree, which some people have really enjoyed and others have nitpicked to holy hell. Both are totally valid ways of experiencing the film.

Re: the water bit...it's brought up a couple of times that the water supply is tainted, but things like rain water aren't, hence Abira's notion that she "knows where she can find some" fresh water, and the visual of Pen and Abira drinking out of the holy water fountain in the church. There's water to be found that isn't infected, and part of our logic of setting the film 25 years in the future was that the infected would be mostly gone, and thus the spread of the "disease" would ahve been curbed significantly. The infected you see probably haven't been alive for 25 years; they're probably recently changed and probably starving, hence Josh's quips about how he's starting to see a lot more of them recently (i.e. when Abira enters the picture).

And yes - 28 Days Later infected, not zombie undead. We conceived of the infection as a kind of neurological disease, and researched the various ways a disease like that would alter the body and the chemistry of the brain, affecting the skin (with pus and boils in early stages and with bits of flesh and hair falling off in later stages) and motor functions, hence the reason why they can run like berserkers but don't necessarily do it in a coordinated way.

With regards to the scene where Abira explains the infection...sure, it's definitely expository, but I'd argue that it's also very character-driven. Abira's trying to prove her worth to Josh and Pen because she's not as strong as they are and tends to leech off others, but can contribute smarts and an anthropological view on the world. Pen's jealousy starts to take hold here more, as Josh is mesmerized by what he's hearing because they've only ever heard fragments. So, to me, while it feels like an info dump (an interesting one, I think), it's also a scene that speaks to the characters in my mind (or, at least, that was our intention).

John Klein
www.TheRestAreDead.com

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[–] kkerbs411 10 years ago

Well, I enjoyed it. I am always on the look out for a new zombie movie, and many I shut off within the first 15 minutes or less. This one kept me engaged, so as new movie artists, you are definitely on the right track. I have a friend who just made his first movie (The Rage...Chris Witherspoon) and while it's not a blockbuster, you can see he definitely has talent.

Like others said, I would have liked to see a little expansion on the girl who was infected and why the zombies were so attracted to her. Maybe even the discovery of masking the scent (the lighter fluid) could have played into the movie as well.

What I did like was the new ideas introduced (the above mentioned) and the realistic looking actors....they always pretty them up, and they definitely looked like apocalyptic survivors (dirty hair, clothing, etc) and they were not barbie and ken dolls...real people. Thank you for that. I will keep a look out for your next movies. :)

[–] bainz 9 years ago

Just watched it...wasn't bad - gave it a 6/10. Better character development than most zombie flicks but the story was pretty generic though it keeps you engaged. For a 35k budget the visual/audio was EXTREMELY good. Makeup was well done for the zombies and the characters really do look war torn.

The acting wasn't bad, I really did feel for Penelope when the guy died People complaining about Penelope being helpless - sure she couldn't read but she was pretty good at killing zombies so I disagree - even Joshua had a mental breakdown later.

The story wasn't great. The whole miscarriage thing was weird (can't Joshua pull out LOL) and I wasn't buying the whole biological bomb/nuke story but, the story wasn't boring and did make me wonder what was going to happen next so I will give it that

I wonder what these guys could accomplish with a bigger budget.

If you're a fan of zombie/survival movies even with the market saturation right now - give this flick a shot. However if you are sick of zombie flicks...this one isn't that different.

[–] MammaJamma99 9 years ago

So are we supposed to believe that somehow terrorists brought on this plague? I mean c'mon i could see them maybe having the resources to attack one country but multiple countries at the same time? No way could any terrorist group have the resources, money and man power to pull off something that big and why would they do it worldwide which would mean certain death for Muslim countries too?