THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

The war with the Zombies has come and gone. Three years from that fateful time, the United States has fallen into ruin and only isolated groups of survivors remain - some seeking safety in numbers, hiding in lawless, shanty towns, others, walking the wastelands alone. When a soldier returns home, only to find his wife killed and his daughter taken by a group of deranged survivors preaching false prophecy, he begins a new mission - not one to kill the dead, but one of vengeance, one to kill the living that wronged him and to rescue his daughter.

MY VERDICT:

This low-budget film is average in most respects, occasionally dipping below the mark, and yet, despite this, it is surprisingly watchable. To start with the story is a very typical Zombie affair. It's the same old 'humans are the real monsters' scenario featuring racism, sexism and general violent behaviour with the usual 'god wants us to rebuild this world better' subtext - it has been done before and, to be honest, better than in this movie. Also, the whole plot of the main character wanting revenge for a murdered wife and kidnapped daughter is nothing new being almost directly copied from The Walking Dead - I would have loved to see something a bit more unique or some hidden twist be applied to make things interesting but, no, it's pretty much "go from A to B and kill whoever gets in your way". The acting, like everything else, is simply okay - nothing really stands out. Some of the dialogue seems to have been recorded after filming and, noticeably, plastered on - forgivable given the large, open, outdoor landscapes the movie is shot in but disappointing when character's spoken words do not match up with their lip movement. Where the film does really take a nosedive into the realm of the bad though is with the Zombies. They are generally acceptable but are clearly made to be scary rather than be actual Zombies. For example, one of them clearly stalks their pray, looking through a car window at a guy on the other side before stealthily moving around the vehicle when his back is turned. Another section sees one yelling, angry-looking Zombie get annoyed with another Zombie for bumping into him and straight-on punches the other Zombie in a very non-Zombie-like way - it just ruins the illusion of these creatures being brain-dead freaks. There are so few Zombies too; maybe nine or ten in total which, for a Zombie film about the end of the world, is the final nail in the coffin.