Moi, zombie - Chronique de la douleur

"I, Zombie" successfully pulls the zombie genre out of the clichéd assumption that the walking dead congregate in groups and enjoy their feasting on human flesh. Writer-director Andrew Parkinson takes a more sensitive route, presenting us with a likable young chap who, after an argument with his girlfriend, finds himself out in the countryside, where he is bitten by a feral woman. The rest of the movie, as the subtitle implies, is a document of his loneliness and pain as he's turned into a reluctant, decomposing killer. While the makeup FX are a bit rough in spots and some of the events become redundant, Parkinson delivers some disquieting imagery (including screwed-in metal plates covering up wounds) and invokes surprising sympathy for the protagonist's plight. Visually, the film possesses a look and tone akin to the work of Jorg Buttgereit ("Nekromantik," "Schramm"), and carries a similarly deeply felt effect.