THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

In this Spanish found-footage movie, a TV presenter filming a documentary about firemen, accompanies a firefighting crew on a callout to an apartment building, hoping for some insight into their daily lives. However, this is far from a regular callout as the film crew, firefighters and apartment residents soon find themselves quarantined, prevented from exiting the building by heavily-armed men. According to officials, a previously-undiscovered disease has been traced back to one of the apartments and everyone in the building must stay there until they find out what the disease is and how to stop it spreading. For those trapped inside, the true horror is about to begin as they begin to realise they will never leave the tomb-like apartment building alive.

MY VERDICT:

Despite the low-budget Rec was filmed on, it is actually a very effective and hard-hitting Zombie horror movie. However, these are not conventional Zombies at all; they sprint around, growl, snarl and slash like the infected from 28 Days Later but, by the end of the film, you will learn that they are completely different - there is no man-made virus that escaped in this film but a biblical virus of sorts, a demonic virus. I think this is a really wonderful idea that brings something new and unusual to a fairly regular 'escape the monsters', found-footage horror movie. I adore how it is cleverly woven into the narrative; first, you have no idea what is going on, in the middle, through story-hints and character dialogue, you gather that it is some form of escaped 'rabies' virus before, finally, at the end of the film, realising that the so-called Zombies are actually possessed people, a possession by evil that somehow spreads through saliva. I also need to give credit to the movie developers who chose actors to make the film feel more authentic; the lead character who presents a TV programme in the film is a TV presenter in real-life and the residents of the apartment in the film are not "proper" actors, they are just people who could improvise well. And improvise they had to as, for large sections of the film, the actors had no idea what was going to happen - the developers did not give them complete scripts so the sheer panic, terror and look of fright is much more genuine. There are a couple of negatives however. First of all, the film's shaky-cam, found-footage style will put some people off from the get-go; it can get more than a little nauseating as the camera is bouncing around on the shoulder of a cameraman running for his life. The film is very short too - it is fitting for the story and limited setting of the single apartment building (which, by the way, is a real apartment building to keep the authentic feel, not a set) but it is still a little disappointing that the end arrives so soon. Also, while the demonic Zombies are well-detailed and terrifically acted in general, there are some bits of the film where they clearly seem to be going for the main character and ignoring all other nearby targets; not a major issue but it does make the Zombies seem less of a threat.