Film Review: Zombie A-Hole (2012)

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SYNOPSIS:

Zombie A-Hole takes place in a world that’s a bit different from our own. A realm that teeters on the edge of sleaze and comic book stylized awesomeness. It’s Planet Terror meets Sin City meets The Good The Bad and The Ugly. All the men are hard-asses, and all the women are bombshells. Just because vengeance is your way of life doesn’t mean you can’t look damn sexy while you dole out hearty doses of whoop-ass. Everything is just a bit bigger and more interesting than their real life counterparts. This is a an exploitation flick with a southern gothic flair

REVIEW:

It is fortunate for wanna be filmmakers that we are currently living in a time where making an independent film is perhaps easier and less expensive than ever. Digital technology and computer editing software have made it much simpler to finally fulfill that long dream of making a film. Sometimes, these low budget ventures end up being decent entries into the genre, but more often than not the amateur approach to the film consumes it, causing it to be bland and unwatchable. Simply put, everyone with a camera and the means should not make a film unless they know something about the process.

With a reported budget of only $3000, Zombie A Hole represents the lowest of the low budget independent films made each year. The budget limitations are blatantly obvious and from the first seconds of the film, it is obvious that the technical aspects are extremely lacking. The picture is grainy, and not a way that is sometimes effective at creating atmosphere, but the way that just makes it look like your neighbor’s old home movies. The lighting is insufficient in many scenes, making it hard to distinguish what is going on. The sound is also sometimes muffled. It screams student project loudly and clearly. And while the story is at least a tad ambitious and different from other zombie films, one has to wonder that even with a bigger budget would the filmmakers have been able to improve it that much? The amateur approach to the film transcends any budget.

Speaking of the story, Dustin Mills, the writer and director, does deserve some credit for his quirky and unique take on the zombie sub-genre. This is not your typical zombies-chasing-a-small-group-of-survivors-through-various-locations story. Instead, we have a main character who is hunting a zombie who enjoys preying on female twins. There are a few decent gags and witty lines that illustrate that Mills does at least possess some true talent and creativity, but based on this film, it seems it is best suited away from the camera. A competent director could have taken the script and done something special with it, but instead the film goes through the color-by-numbers motions, stopping once in a while to implement some corny slow motion effects or awkward framings. And beyond some cheap looking gore and liberal amounts of nudity, there is not enough stylistically here to keep most viewers attention. The cheapness of the whole thing is distracting and the few moments of cleverness are few and far between.

In the end, Zombie A Hole does not do enough to warrant any recommendation. One on hand, it deserves some credit for a unique story line, but on the other, it pretty much fails in every way imaginable execution wise. It will be a chore to sit through for many. And while I would never discourage someone with a passion for filmmaking from picking up a camera and going for their dream, it does not automatically mean that because he/she did so, that the final product deserves any praise or will be any good.

Zombie A-Hole (2012)