THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

Meteorites have impacted Australia near the quaint little fishing village of Berkeley. The rocks from space begin turning the residents of the village into undead freaks, driven to consume the flesh of the living. But there is something else a foot. Something potentially more terrifying than even the Zombies.

MY VERDICT:

This movie begins terribly - in the first ten minutes, you'll be ready to give up - but stick with it and, while never blossoming into near-perfection, it'll become a deserving thrill-ride of craziness. The story is bonkers and hard to figure out - involving aliens quarantining a human settlement in Australia so they can stop the Zombie outbreak from spreading across the entire continent. There are a tonne of plot holes; where did the meteorite come from, how does it trigger the Zombie infection, why are some people infected while others are not, how do the aliens know about the infection, why do they care what happens to Australia and so on. Fortunately, you don't really have to understand what is going on - in fact, it's probably better you just switch your brain off during this 'dumb' movie, the main focus of the movie being on action, which is definitely over-the-top and often in slow-motion - one character even explodes a Zombie's head with a shaken up beer can and a thrown pen! The acting is also over-the-top and, to be honest, hard to watch at times, most of the characters being stereotypical horror movie staples with none really being that likeable. While both of these elements do not make for an above average film, the movie does have one saving grace, dragging it from the tacky swamp of doom, and it's a biggie - the Zombies. The mindless deadheads are proper, old-school, lurchers; they shuffle about, moan, bash into one another, don't go down permanently until shot in the head and appear in large numbers. Yes, there are some bits I don't like with the Zombies - one section sees them appear to lay an ambush for the human survivors and another suggests that the dead ones can actually talk - but, on the whole, these are the traditional mindless ghouls that made me a Zombie fan in the first place. So, in summary, Undead is definitely not for everyone but, if you like Zombies half as much as I do, give this low-budget Australian flick a chance. American movie critic Roger Ebert provides probably the most accurate summary of the movie "Undead is the kind of movie that would be so bad it's good, except it's not bad enough to be good enough.".