This is my (slightly lengthy) first review for the Escapist, so please tell me what you think and how I can improve. Criticisms of the constructive variety are welcome. Thanks for reading!
I?m proud to be an Australian. It?s a funny relationship between me and Australia. Australia is most known for its heat, its beaches, its large rocks? I hate the heat. I hate the beach. I don?t mind large rocks though. I had an opportunity once to climb Uluru, but chose against in respecting the wishes of the local Aboriginal tribe. But I digress. There are a lot of things about Australia that I hate, and most are perfectly justifiable [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/95636-Left-4-Dead-2-Australian-Appeal-Fails], in my opinion. However, my heart swells with pride at its mere mention in the global world of digital entertainment in any form. So when I heard that there was a zombie movie based in Australia, I felt a desire, nay, an obligation to watch it. And so, without further ado, here is the resulting fallout from that particular venture into the slightly niche market of the Australian Zombie Movie.
First of all, a brief synopsis seems to be in order. A group of survivors attempt to escape from a small town in Queensland after a meteor shower turns its residents into flesh-eating zombies. Aliens seem to be involved somehow.
While that does technically sum up the movie?s basic storyline, it really does fail to do the rest of it justice. And not in a ?hey, it was totally waaaaay better than that!? sort of way, but more of a ?they forgot to mention the fact that it was, well, kind of rubbish? fashion. Allow me to elaborate.
It?s probably best to think of Undead as the Australian version of Shaun of the Dead. Think of it as Shaun?s eager nephew, working out in the local fish and chip shop, trying to make enough money to so a homemade movie for some high school media project. Shaun?s nephew loves zombies and aliens, and decided at some point ?why don?t I just stick them together??, and so Undead was born. The phrase ?low budget? is to this movie as the observation ?a bit hot? is to the sun. Which isn?t to say that it?s a bad thing of course; if the only good movies were the ones with 8 digit budgets, then that would make for a pretty sad film industry, with no room for independent film-makers. No, there are plenty of other, much better reasons why this movie is awful.
Overcompensating? Moi?
The movie takes on an overly light persona for a zombie movie, steeped heavily in black humour, and this is where I become a little unsure about my own perspective. You see, while I truly love my country, I really don?t understand Australian humour. I have watched several Australian comedy movies before, and I have yet to see any that really made me laugh, save for one (see The Castle [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Castle_(film)] ) and even that was steeped heavily in the same humour that confuses me so, despite actually managing to make it funny at the same time. It?s a style that I can?t quite seem to put my finger on, but it?s present in all Australian comedies, and most dramas. Either way, what you take from Undead will vary on whether or not you ?get? this type of humour. However, I can?t say that my not understanding the jokes is enough to call it bad. Nope, but even if you understand the jokes, there really isn?t much to take from this movie.
The story is soaked in camp, taking bits and pieces from various zombie and alien movies and trying to fit some semblance of a plot around it. I won?t go into too much detail, should my review invoke the desire in you, respected user, to watch this movie, but I just have to say that the story itself isn?t anything spectacular. Nothing new has been introduced; everything in this movie has been done in numerous others before, and executed much better. I will briefly mention that classic staple, the humble zombie.
The zombies in Undead pop up from the ground like targets in a fairground sideshow. Literally. I can?t quite remember if they included the ?cha-ching? sound, but I certainly wouldn?t be surprised if they had, considering the droll tone of the entire affair. The light atmosphere is in stark contrast of the gratuitous use of cheap and bizarre special effects, such as people having their heads removed with a single swipe and zombies being rendered asunder by steering wheel locks. They can be compared more to the ambling wrecks of Night of the Living Dead, rather than the speedy variety of the more recent Dawn of the Dead. As has already been mentioned, a recent meteor shower appears to be the source of the zombies, but it is never properly explained how. The affliction doesn?t just turn already dead people into one of the mindless marching meat-munching masses, but by all outward appearances also appears to turn people who are doing nothing more innocent than kneeling and not looking at the other characters. The ambiguity can be forgiven though, as this is not the movie to itself seriously.
However, there is one minor nit-pick that I would like to raise. I have in the past noticed a distinct lack of the word ?zombie? in various iterations of the genre, and this would seem to indicate that, in the world that the story is set at any rate, there are no such things as ?zombies? (that or none of the characters have ever even heard of zombies before, which I think would be extremely unlikely). Now, I have no problem with this trope. If they want the idea of zombies to be new to the characters, then introducing a world in which zombies are ne?er heard of is fine by me. What I don?t like, however, is movies in which the characters have heard of zombies, but have no idea what to do with them. In Undead, the word zombie is mentioned during a heated argument between the characters, so the concept of a zombie is not new to them. One would think, therefore, that at least one would know think to try shooting them in the head because, as everybody knows, that?s how you deal with a zombie. This is established later on in the film, of course, but the fact remains that this is zombie 101, people. If you know what a zombie is, then you should know how tokill stop one.
Right, enough of all this pettiness. On to the characters!
Weapons of choice for the Australian in a zombie crisis!
Hmm. You know, I?m entirely sure how to proceed in this respect either. Is characterisation really important in a comedy movie about zombies? I mean, of course they?re important; they should be in all movies. But in this case, I don?t think heavy emphasis on characters is entirely necessary. In any case, the characters in Undead are one-dimensional at best, pointless at worst. Every character is a highly exaggerated caricature of common zombie movie tropes. We have the aggravated pregnant woman and her somewhat wet-behind-the-ears boyfriend, blind to all others save for themselves. Two police officers, the female whose apprehensive nature is laid on as thick as icing on an 8 year old?s birthday cake, and the overzealous male with a mouth that could do with some serious washing out with soap (seriously, I had to turn the volume off at some points because it was simply painful to listen to), whose ultimate motivations appear to be to confiscate every gun held by a character at any given point in the film (see Australian gun laws [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Australia]). Marion, whose motivation is best summed up by the quote at the top of review, is quiet, emotionless and, when he does speak, completely monotone. Ever since he was attacked by zombified fish (which probably says more about the movie that this review ever could) and abducted by aliens, he has made it his mission to destroy all aliens, and the zombies that they apparently leave in their wake. Marion has the ability to pull twin pistols straight from hammerspace, and blew of the head off a zombie using a soft drink can and a pen. The main female lead is the only one that could be considered to border on the side of realism, which isn?t saying much.
The only character that I found to be even remotely interesting was Marion, whose sole motivation is precisely outlined in that quote (it is for this reason that I added it, as that is pretty much all I took away from this movie). As you can imagine, the motivations of the characters don?t deviate much from your basic ?run away and shoot anything that shuffles? zombie fare, save for Marion, and each role is designed to make as much fun of zombie movie characters as possible, in lieu of anything even remotely approaching the realm of reality.
Having mentioned characters, I think now would be a good time to touch on the pacing of the movie. While the characters all have the innate super-objective that is to escape from the zombies, because they?re, you know, zombies, they don?t seem to be in any particular hurry to get anywhere in particular. Several scenes show the actions of one character whilst those in the background stand around, possibly twiddling their thumbs and contemplating Australian politics. While one may be able to forgive them for wanting the viewer to focus on the actions on the character in the foreground, it is at this particular point in my own argument that I realised that I didn?t really care what the people in the foreground were doing anyway, because it all seemed to be a great big waste of time. So there was a lot of on-screen time wasting, interspersed with several half-baked action sequences that seemed altogether too long, too pointless, and too stupid to be of any consideration, and this was the case for the majority of the film.
Just some brains thanks mate, then she?ll be right.
And finally the music.
Oh god, the music. I don?t think you could possibly comprehend exactly how much I loathed the music in this movie. I said at the beginning that the movie aims to make a light-hearted jab in the direction of zombie movies in general, and this is achieved by employing a cheerful atmosphere to juxtapose with the violence and gruesomeness of the zombie genre. Well, about 95% of this atmosphere comes not from the silliness of the zombies, the lunacy of the characterisation, or even the plain absurdity that is the story, but the music. Some of the scenes might even have been considered refreshingly serious, if it hadn?t been for the sickeningly bouncy, ever-intrusive score constantly ringing in your ears. And it went on and on, throughout the entire film.
There are barely words for me to use that properly describes just how much the music in this movie made me want to take a bullet to my own head. It was unquestionably, unequivocally the most painful movie I have sat through, sound-wise. I surmise anybody watching this would have their experience exponentially improved by turning the sound off. Don?t worry about dialogue, you won?t be missing much. You could turn the subtitles on I suppose, if possible, but there are no deep elucidating conversations between the characters or witty quips to reel off between friends, if that?s what you?re looking for.
I cannot with good conscience recommend this movie, to Australians or zombie fans alike, which sucks because I am both. I wanted to enjoy this movie, I really did, but it just came off as unbelievably stupid, annoying and contrived to be of any merit. If you?re in the mood for some good ol? black humour, I?d look somewhere else.
I?m proud to be an Australian. It?s a funny relationship between me and Australia. Australia is most known for its heat, its beaches, its large rocks? I hate the heat. I hate the beach. I don?t mind large rocks though. I had an opportunity once to climb Uluru, but chose against in respecting the wishes of the local Aboriginal tribe. But I digress. There are a lot of things about Australia that I hate, and most are perfectly justifiable [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/95636-Left-4-Dead-2-Australian-Appeal-Fails], in my opinion. However, my heart swells with pride at its mere mention in the global world of digital entertainment in any form. So when I heard that there was a zombie movie based in Australia, I felt a desire, nay, an obligation to watch it. And so, without further ado, here is the resulting fallout from that particular venture into the slightly niche market of the Australian Zombie Movie.
[HEADING=1]UNDEAD[/HEADING]
Aliens. We must fight them.
- Marion
Aliens. We must fight them.
- Marion
First of all, a brief synopsis seems to be in order. A group of survivors attempt to escape from a small town in Queensland after a meteor shower turns its residents into flesh-eating zombies. Aliens seem to be involved somehow.
While that does technically sum up the movie?s basic storyline, it really does fail to do the rest of it justice. And not in a ?hey, it was totally waaaaay better than that!? sort of way, but more of a ?they forgot to mention the fact that it was, well, kind of rubbish? fashion. Allow me to elaborate.
It?s probably best to think of Undead as the Australian version of Shaun of the Dead. Think of it as Shaun?s eager nephew, working out in the local fish and chip shop, trying to make enough money to so a homemade movie for some high school media project. Shaun?s nephew loves zombies and aliens, and decided at some point ?why don?t I just stick them together??, and so Undead was born. The phrase ?low budget? is to this movie as the observation ?a bit hot? is to the sun. Which isn?t to say that it?s a bad thing of course; if the only good movies were the ones with 8 digit budgets, then that would make for a pretty sad film industry, with no room for independent film-makers. No, there are plenty of other, much better reasons why this movie is awful.
Overcompensating? Moi?
The movie takes on an overly light persona for a zombie movie, steeped heavily in black humour, and this is where I become a little unsure about my own perspective. You see, while I truly love my country, I really don?t understand Australian humour. I have watched several Australian comedy movies before, and I have yet to see any that really made me laugh, save for one (see The Castle [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Castle_(film)] ) and even that was steeped heavily in the same humour that confuses me so, despite actually managing to make it funny at the same time. It?s a style that I can?t quite seem to put my finger on, but it?s present in all Australian comedies, and most dramas. Either way, what you take from Undead will vary on whether or not you ?get? this type of humour. However, I can?t say that my not understanding the jokes is enough to call it bad. Nope, but even if you understand the jokes, there really isn?t much to take from this movie.
The story is soaked in camp, taking bits and pieces from various zombie and alien movies and trying to fit some semblance of a plot around it. I won?t go into too much detail, should my review invoke the desire in you, respected user, to watch this movie, but I just have to say that the story itself isn?t anything spectacular. Nothing new has been introduced; everything in this movie has been done in numerous others before, and executed much better. I will briefly mention that classic staple, the humble zombie.
The zombies in Undead pop up from the ground like targets in a fairground sideshow. Literally. I can?t quite remember if they included the ?cha-ching? sound, but I certainly wouldn?t be surprised if they had, considering the droll tone of the entire affair. The light atmosphere is in stark contrast of the gratuitous use of cheap and bizarre special effects, such as people having their heads removed with a single swipe and zombies being rendered asunder by steering wheel locks. They can be compared more to the ambling wrecks of Night of the Living Dead, rather than the speedy variety of the more recent Dawn of the Dead. As has already been mentioned, a recent meteor shower appears to be the source of the zombies, but it is never properly explained how. The affliction doesn?t just turn already dead people into one of the mindless marching meat-munching masses, but by all outward appearances also appears to turn people who are doing nothing more innocent than kneeling and not looking at the other characters. The ambiguity can be forgiven though, as this is not the movie to itself seriously.
However, there is one minor nit-pick that I would like to raise. I have in the past noticed a distinct lack of the word ?zombie? in various iterations of the genre, and this would seem to indicate that, in the world that the story is set at any rate, there are no such things as ?zombies? (that or none of the characters have ever even heard of zombies before, which I think would be extremely unlikely). Now, I have no problem with this trope. If they want the idea of zombies to be new to the characters, then introducing a world in which zombies are ne?er heard of is fine by me. What I don?t like, however, is movies in which the characters have heard of zombies, but have no idea what to do with them. In Undead, the word zombie is mentioned during a heated argument between the characters, so the concept of a zombie is not new to them. One would think, therefore, that at least one would know think to try shooting them in the head because, as everybody knows, that?s how you deal with a zombie. This is established later on in the film, of course, but the fact remains that this is zombie 101, people. If you know what a zombie is, then you should know how to
Right, enough of all this pettiness. On to the characters!
Weapons of choice for the Australian in a zombie crisis!
Hmm. You know, I?m entirely sure how to proceed in this respect either. Is characterisation really important in a comedy movie about zombies? I mean, of course they?re important; they should be in all movies. But in this case, I don?t think heavy emphasis on characters is entirely necessary. In any case, the characters in Undead are one-dimensional at best, pointless at worst. Every character is a highly exaggerated caricature of common zombie movie tropes. We have the aggravated pregnant woman and her somewhat wet-behind-the-ears boyfriend, blind to all others save for themselves. Two police officers, the female whose apprehensive nature is laid on as thick as icing on an 8 year old?s birthday cake, and the overzealous male with a mouth that could do with some serious washing out with soap (seriously, I had to turn the volume off at some points because it was simply painful to listen to), whose ultimate motivations appear to be to confiscate every gun held by a character at any given point in the film (see Australian gun laws [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Australia]). Marion, whose motivation is best summed up by the quote at the top of review, is quiet, emotionless and, when he does speak, completely monotone. Ever since he was attacked by zombified fish (which probably says more about the movie that this review ever could) and abducted by aliens, he has made it his mission to destroy all aliens, and the zombies that they apparently leave in their wake. Marion has the ability to pull twin pistols straight from hammerspace, and blew of the head off a zombie using a soft drink can and a pen. The main female lead is the only one that could be considered to border on the side of realism, which isn?t saying much.
The only character that I found to be even remotely interesting was Marion, whose sole motivation is precisely outlined in that quote (it is for this reason that I added it, as that is pretty much all I took away from this movie). As you can imagine, the motivations of the characters don?t deviate much from your basic ?run away and shoot anything that shuffles? zombie fare, save for Marion, and each role is designed to make as much fun of zombie movie characters as possible, in lieu of anything even remotely approaching the realm of reality.
Having mentioned characters, I think now would be a good time to touch on the pacing of the movie. While the characters all have the innate super-objective that is to escape from the zombies, because they?re, you know, zombies, they don?t seem to be in any particular hurry to get anywhere in particular. Several scenes show the actions of one character whilst those in the background stand around, possibly twiddling their thumbs and contemplating Australian politics. While one may be able to forgive them for wanting the viewer to focus on the actions on the character in the foreground, it is at this particular point in my own argument that I realised that I didn?t really care what the people in the foreground were doing anyway, because it all seemed to be a great big waste of time. So there was a lot of on-screen time wasting, interspersed with several half-baked action sequences that seemed altogether too long, too pointless, and too stupid to be of any consideration, and this was the case for the majority of the film.
Just some brains thanks mate, then she?ll be right.
And finally the music.
Oh god, the music. I don?t think you could possibly comprehend exactly how much I loathed the music in this movie. I said at the beginning that the movie aims to make a light-hearted jab in the direction of zombie movies in general, and this is achieved by employing a cheerful atmosphere to juxtapose with the violence and gruesomeness of the zombie genre. Well, about 95% of this atmosphere comes not from the silliness of the zombies, the lunacy of the characterisation, or even the plain absurdity that is the story, but the music. Some of the scenes might even have been considered refreshingly serious, if it hadn?t been for the sickeningly bouncy, ever-intrusive score constantly ringing in your ears. And it went on and on, throughout the entire film.
There are barely words for me to use that properly describes just how much the music in this movie made me want to take a bullet to my own head. It was unquestionably, unequivocally the most painful movie I have sat through, sound-wise. I surmise anybody watching this would have their experience exponentially improved by turning the sound off. Don?t worry about dialogue, you won?t be missing much. You could turn the subtitles on I suppose, if possible, but there are no deep elucidating conversations between the characters or witty quips to reel off between friends, if that?s what you?re looking for.
I cannot with good conscience recommend this movie, to Australians or zombie fans alike, which sucks because I am both. I wanted to enjoy this movie, I really did, but it just came off as unbelievably stupid, annoying and contrived to be of any merit. If you?re in the mood for some good ol? black humour, I?d look somewhere else.
