Undead (2003)


REVIEWER RATING: 
7/10


I remember seeing the trailer for this film a long time ago and thinking it looked pretty cool. At the time there weren't many special effects and I was thinking it was gonna be real low-budget. After seeing a better trailer with more zombies and special effects I was digging it a lot more. Apparently the brothers who directed the film funded the movie from their own pocket and those of family and friends and the special effects were done all on their home computer. Pretty cool stuff.

Its been a while since I've seen a good zombie movie, so I was very pleased to enjoy this flick. The movie has a nice blend of humor and action-horror. The story is basically about a small Australian fishing and farming town being overrun by meteorites, which apparently turn the living things it comes in contact with to die and rise as zombies. A mysterious dark cloud covers the town and speculation whether it's an alien invasion is brought up. It's up to a beauty queen, a mysterious fisherman, a couple and two local police officers to fend off the zombie-town and find a way out.

This movie is unique in the fact that it combines aliens and zombies together in one movie. The last time I saw something like this was in the 80's movie Night of the Creeps, which is a very cool flick I might add. The movie has an overall dark-bluish look to it, because of the dark clouds that's over the town, which gives the zombies a neon-like look to them at times, especially with their eyes. I thought that was pretty cool. The movie doesn't tone down on the gore and even adds a little humor to it, much like what was done in Dead Alive.

The mysterious fisherman character that's introduced early on in the film, which you can also see on the poster holding the badass three shotgun weapon, is a pretty badass character, but I expcted him to be more mysterious and not be introduced so early on. I think he honestly would have been a lot better having been a traveling zombie-hunter possibly from another town, but that would have confliced with the story. Oh well. I'm still awaiting the day when I see a badass zombie hunter in a movie. At least this guy came kinda close.

The lead cop character, who was played as cowardly and indecissive, was the main key role as the comic-relief, which is both good and bad, because he did get rather annoying at times. Overall this is one of the better zombie flicks to come out now-a-days and I think it should please zombie fans, like myself. I would have given the movie a higher rating, but I thought the humor was off and unecessary at times and the fisherman character could have used a little more work on. Other than that, it was a good flick. You can expect to see this baby come out next year thanks to Lion's Gate. For now you'll only be able to see it in festivals, Australia, or possibly through download. I know when it comes out next year that I'm getting the DVD.

A good zombie flick that should please zombie fans, like it did for me. Has an interesting and unique story and a good amount of gore and humor, but the characters and humor do get annoying at times. Worth a watch.
OVERALL: 
A good zombie flick that should please zombie fans, like it did for me. Has an interesting and unique story and a good amount of gore and humor, but the characters and humor do get annoying at times. Worth a watch.


UHM is an independently owned site that relies solely on ad revenue, so we ask that if you like this site and what we do to help support by temporarily disabling ad block (if you're using one). If you'd rather help in other ways you can also send a tip by clicking here (or the button below). Any amount helps and will go towards the costs to maintain the site. Anyone who donates will also be listed in our thanks page.