Film Review: Zombie Night (2003)

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SYNOPSIS:

Helmed by director David J. Francis and packing a visceral wallop, this postapocalyptic horror flick stars Danny Ticknovich, Sandra Segovic, Dwayne Moniz and Andrea Ramolo. In World War III’s nightmarish atomic aftermath, any survivors exposed to the chemical residue left behind soon begin to mutate into flesh-eating ghouls. Facing overwhelming odds, can the quick defeat the undead in the planet’s ultimate showdown?

REVIEW:

Ok, take a deep breath..as this one’s a pretty long ride. Zombie Night was the debut first effort from Primal Films later released under the Maverick Distribution label. The intention of making a good Zombie film was there but sadly never materialized. A rather low budget effort can still hit its mark if it does what its supposed to, to satisfy an audience. If the element of sleep occurs several times in your viewing then there’s something wrong with the product. That mystery let down is no mystery. What this film suffers from is way too much script and not enough action. Even the worst of Zombie films can still win a few applauds if the kills or Fx are good. We had none of that.

For instance, in the one money shot where bumbling Derek shoots off the leg of an oncomer, the leg plops off to reveal a knee cap with no sever marks. Actually it made me laugh a little but that wasn’t the intended response. Moving on, there simply was too much redundancy in this film. The sets were always in basements or warehouses. Which while is a subtle howdy do to the Night of the Living Dead scenario just lacked in performance and dialog.

How were the zombies? These zombies were in slow mode, so they went with the Romero foundation. Most of the gore scenes were left to chewing on meat helpings left on bodies. Once in awhile you’d get a zombie titty shot. Though painted with green spray paint it was more like a moldy titty shot. Though good thing for us those shots used well endowed ladies. When all else fails show more boobs! That’s my motto.

The cast was a pretty wide ensemble of new actors who probably should have spent more time together . After a while the plot narrative becomes a drolling hum in my ears as nothing really makes we want to get up and dance. We had a wee bit too many cliche lines like “Let’s do it!”, “We’ll never make it out alive!”, “save your ammo” and “Let’s get the hell out of here!” that you expected Bruce Campbell to step out of the shadows at any moment.

In short, this film was a mess. The intro credits used an unreadable font (a no-no in title design). The sound FX were way over the top at times. The zombie munching sounded like a fat dude eating cornflakes. Lastly the acting felt really forced. Not a smooth voyage. You could actually feel the film crew growing weary of the production as the film carried on. I don’t hold these things against them as this as mentioned was a first effort and hopefully a learning tool on future productions. Even the effort of putting together team, a film and getting it released is a major endeavor. So take that into account. It made it to Blockbuster right!

The premise? Oh ya…. Martial law has been declared due to a zombie outbreak. Shelters are advised while the survivors take cover at various locations. Those left have to fight for their lives to keep from being eaten, turned or just shot from a member of their own teams.

Not alot much more to say about this one. It’s the first of 3 films produced by Primal Films. Since I’ve just reviewed the 3rd film I can tell you persistence pays off and you should buy that one and use this one to chuck at unwanted solicitors that come to your door.

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