THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

Hybra-Tech is, to the public, a wonderful company that handles environmental disasters, medical research and even food manufacture. However, when a teenager is abducted by the company, his friends start to become suspicious. After sneaking into the company’s headquarters, the meddling kids inadvertently release a wave of flesh-hungry Zombies.

MY VERDICT:

Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis tries to breathe new life into the franchise by utilising clear influences from other Zombie media but ultimately, barely scrapes the ‘average’ mark. The first of these references is Resident Evil as the overall story is almost identical to both the games and movie franchise. A company, on the face of it, is helpful to society, bringing huge wealth to the world and protecting its citizens, but it hides an evil underbelly of Zombie capture and retention as well as the research and creation of bioweapons; there is even a sinister Albert Wesker type character in charge. Unfortunately, this movie really does not have the budget required for a huge company with many employees or high-tech, space-age laboratories but the sets are, at least, convincing - if a little sparse. In the later stages of the movie, when the Zombies break out and everyone has guns, shooting the slowly approaching undead, a heavily armed SWAT unit turns up with a tank-like vehicle. The action is at night, dimly lit by the exterior lighting of the megacorporation's single building, the SWAT members firing constantly as they methodically advance, dropping Zeds with ease - this reminds me heavily of Resident Evil 2 and Raccoon City. Most of the Zombies, especially those that escape from captivity, do look suitably Zombie-like, with cracked skin, open wounds and dull, vacant, clouded eyes which is a highlight for the film. However, these Zombies go down with a single headshot (or repeated machine gun fire) so are typical undead, not the series signature living dead that are almost impossible to kill (or rekill, I guess). At one point, a group of Zombies tries to punch, kick, and strangle the heroes - bizarre behaviour for mindless Zombies that seek only to devour human flesh (one of them even talks and has, seemingly, retained all of its humanity after turning). The second reference of the film is, oddly, Scooby Doo as the heroes of the story are a group of teenage kids battling to unravel the mystery behind this shady organisation and get the truth from its mysterious leader. And this brings me to the main negative point about this movie; the acting, both of those kids and all the other people in this film, is abysmal. None of the characters are likable, have any meaningful backstory or interesting motivation.