I read about this movie first over a year ago when it was reviewed at Ain't it Cool News. At the time the film makers were having the initial meetings in hopes of picking up a US distributor. Unfortunately, a year later, it doesn't look like that is going to happen. The review was very enthusiastic, and the movie went on my must see list. Since it did not not get a US distribution, I eventually forgot about it. Then a few weeks back it somehow came to mind, I think it may have been mentioned in another review or something, I really don't remember. I decided to look it up, and found it at an Australian based DVD retail site, Atlantic DVD. Seemed like a good deal for it, and I decided to order it. Two weeks later, it arrived in my mailbox directly from the land down under. I eagerly ripped off the plastic and dropped it into my gloriously region free DVD player. What I was presented with was a wonderful concoction of horror, suspense, action, and comedy inspired by the likes of George Romero(Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead), Sam Raimi(Evil Dead I+II, Spider-Man 1+2), and Peter Jackson(Dead Alive, Frighteners, Lord of the Rings Trilogy).
The movie starts with Renee, a beauty pageant winner, she has just discovered that the bank is taking over ownership of her parents farm and decides to leave town. As she is leaving, there is a meteor shower over the town and we are treated to people being struck by the falling rocks, and then getting back up again. Not even ten minutes into the movie and already we have zombies. She takes refuge in an old farmhouse, the home of the town crazy, Marion. Shortly after that, a couple of cops and another civilian show up being pursued by a hoard of zombies. We now have our band of heroes ready to survive the night.
From here they must escape the predicament there in and get out of town. Along the way, there are zombies, lots of them, that get in the way of their escape. This gives us plenty of opportunity for splashes of gore, and plenty of it. During their trek, it is discovered that there is something bigger going on. By the time we get to the end it is something completely different than when it started, I won't give it away, but it was quite strange and unexpected.
I've got to say, I loved this movie. It is the kind of cult film that feeds off of the others that have come before. Mainly the Evil Dead series and Dead Alive, with some elements of the Living Dead trilogy. It takes elements of those films and builds on them, bringing us a new original film that deserves a bigger audience than it is getting. First off we have a new anti-hero in Marion(played by Mungo Mckay, yes that's his real name!), armed with a triple shotgun, and plenty of other guns laying around. Second, excellent gore effects and unique ways to kill the walking dead. Thirdly, a whole new mythology to build upon, I would love to see sequels, the possibilities that the story gives us.
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