I was impressed for what this film is. Low budget zombie movie fun, with some unique twists. I had low expectations going in and was pleasantly surprised.
Technically it has a spit and polish I'd expect from a higher budget. The lighting, sound, shots and makeup effects are really well done. I studied martial arts 18 years and the fight choreography isn't bad either, for what it is. Hong Kong cinema it's not but it's still pretty good. And it's not a mindless zombie flick. It actually has some depth, which I'll explain.
Dexy is an excellent cast, IMO. She's full figured and while she doesn't look like what would be typically sexy, she exudes sexy psychologically. Her sexiness comes not through her looks or figure (unless you like full figured women) but through her appetite for and attitude about sex. She also exudes a caring and warmth. If you had a beautiful looking actress playing that part, the subtly would've been lost, I think. Personally, I'm a fan. I thought she was great.
Ross Kelly is excellent as the brooding husband, turned on, yet disturbed by his wife's antics in the bedroom as he satisfies his own desire for flesh elsewhere.
Matool is the only minority in the whole movie I think, so having a Hispanic in the lead is refreshing. Being introduced so strongly I thought his character kind of got "lost" as the movie progressed.
The Stink of Flesh in an interesting title in that, the people are not that different from the zombies. Both crave flesh in a mindless, animalistic way that underlines its apocalyptic theme. Zombies aren't capable of ethics or morals and in the same situation neither are the people. All that's left is a desire for flesh and survival. You can't get much more basic in human behavior than eating and having sex and having the 2 parallel in a movie was really a fascinating twist. I just wish the story was presented better.
There are some things that didn't make sense (to me anyway) and it was really one of only a few things that disappointed me. I thought some good acting and an excellent premise was wasted on the lack of cohesion in the story and plot.
Zombies aren't angry. There's a sadness and emptiness that belies their behavior and zombie acting really is a unique perspective. I still look to Romero's films for the ideal zombie. I did like the idea of a "hyper - 28 Days Later" type of zombie. Zombies act through physiology and eyes... if they have eyes, so I feel the zombies could've been better, but that's being totally subjective. So the makeup effects sort of overshadows the zombie acting.
There really is some disturbing stuff here that I can take or leave. Again being a little disappointed in the story I would've preferred more focus on story and characters and less peripheral stuff going on that added little to nothing to the story. But nonetheless a great effort. I really enjoyed it.
