Zombies of Mass Destruction

I think with a title like this "Zombies of Mass Destruction" many people are going to pass on this movie, which would be a bad thing to do. I was doubtful about the movie, just because of the name, but I decided to watch it anyway.

Alright, well this is a marvelous zombie movie, it has everything you need in a zombie movie. Lots of zombies (usually with adequate make-up, wardrobe and effects), blood and gore (though the blood in this movie was very strangely red) and of course a story that will sink its teeth in you - no pun intended.

Right from the very beginning I had a feel that this movie was going to be interesting, despite it not being a multi-million dollar Hollywood production. And right I was, oh yes! The story is very good and have a good, constant flow to it. So you are never left with a boring and dull taste in your mouth. Sure there are some points where you wonder about stuff, like how come suddenly there were so many infected people on the island. But that doesn't really bring the movie to a halt. You look past it, because the movie is that interesting.

The characters in the movie were well portrayed and likable. Some more than others, of course. I found the dialogue to be good enough. And also, I thought most of the characters in the movie were good for the story and added flavor and color to the story. The cast was, for most of the roles, very nicely cast.

The effects of the movie weren't too shabby either. Of course, they were not on Romero's level, but still they were very nice to look at and seemed real enough most of the time.

And also, if you are the type that approach movies analytically, then this movie does have some interesting things that it deals with, such as terrorism, homosexuality, religion, racism, to name some. And these elements work well in the movie. Of course, if you just watch a movie for entertainment, these still add depth to the entire movie.

Overall, I think this is one of the better "low budget" zombie movies I have seen in awhile. It would be a shame to let this one pass you by if you are a gore hound or zombie fan. Don't let the title fool you, as it almost did me.

This movie definitely gets two thumbs up - if a zombie hadn't bitten off my left thumb. This is most definitely good entertainment.

I went in not knowing ANYTHING about ZMD other than it was a Zombie / Comedy. It really does nothing in the Zombie genera that you have not seen before and the comedy and attempts at political satire pretty much always fell flat on their undead faces. There were a couple of good gore and gags moments that made me grin a little but most of the humor left me rolling my eyes. The kind of wit and social satire the writer of ZMD seemed to be going for in this is a fine line to walk on and they only managed to touch their toes to that line a few brief times. The script is not as smart or in tune with pop culture and current events as it tries to be which is sad because there is a good idea in there waiting to be made into a movie. I don't see how anyone could think ZMD can stand up next to movies like Sean of the Dead or Zombieland which both had shining and brilliant performances and a scripts written by people that know and actually understand comedy. Anyone that can't see the difference are themselves mindless zombies.

That said I did not hate ZMD but lets be realistic people…it is pretty low on the zombie food chain and I doubt I'll reanimate it's rotten corpse on my TV screen anytime soon.

First off I'd like to address the audio issue, whoever mastered this needs to learn that when something is only 20ft away is doesn't need a second worth of reverb this caused pretty much any noise off screen to sound incredibly awful. This is something that shouldn't be a problem even in a low budget film it would've been better off with no processing.

As for the zombie scenes I was actually surprised at the quality of makeup and acting during these scenes, some of the effects were noticeably low budget but overall quite impressive for what they had to work with, there was a lot of camera cuts which seemed a little over done.

In the political sense it addressed several issues touching on homosexuality, religion, mayoral office, and the middle east. it did seem to overemphasize them but perhaps that was the point. I only had a problem with how they were trying to make a point it detracted from the flow of the movie, there would be one scene where they're fighting zombies and then the entire mood changes to make political point it seemed like the writer wrote a political movie then an editor came along and said what do you think of adding zombies. The scenes didn't mesh together and felt forced.

The cast seemed a good fit for the characters they played, however the acting was definitely B-film quality I'd say the gay couple and the Iranian girl were by far the best actors/actress of the film. The Iranian father's actions and lines seemed rehearsed and forced. The zombies seemed as you would imagine from most zombie movies slow, stupid and bloodthirsty.

In conclusion a Zombies of Mass Destruction is a zombie film crashed into a political movie and didn't have any insurance to fund the collision repair, which makes for decent zombie killing action mixed with b-c class acting and interruptions of over-exaggerated political views, when I say interruptions I mean it takes on the mood of an entirely different movie.

This film reminded me of a George Romero zombie movie, no not the good old ones I mean the crappy modern ones where he tries to shoehorn in some political commentary and it just doesn't work. Billed as a political zombie comedy it fails on all three levels.

Politics? Well, it mentions politics but has nothing to say about it really. It's just there.

Zombies? This isn't too bad, there's some good scenes of zombie action but they are spaced too far apart and the gaps are filled with boring scenes.

Comedy? It's just not funny, at all. It thinks it is, but it isn't.

I wouldn't waste your time, nothing happens for 30 minutes and the zombie bits are only slightly better than a cheap 80's Italian zombie flick. Rent one of those instead it's got more laughs (unintentional) and will probably have a lot more action. None of the characters have stories that lead anywhere which must surely be indicative of one hell of a crappy piece of fiction to even the least discerning viewer.

I have a hard time understanding how people can see this movie as anything more than mildly entertaining. I decided to watch it with high hopes as I am a big fan of the zombie genre and some reviewers compared it to Shaun of the dead and Zombieland. In my opinion however, there is no comparison, even when taking into consideration the far lower production costs of ZMD. There is no depth to any of the characters and I don't see how the acting can be viewed as anything more than up to par. The humour and satirical elements consist of easy one-liners which failed to even make me grin. I mean, come on : "Don't shoot, I'm gay". Is that even a joke ? If I was to compare this movie to anything I've seen, I might consider Zombie strippers. However, Zombie strippers, at the very least, added a new original take to the genre and there was some much appreciated subtlety to the humour in the script. Furthermore, I've seen Zombie strippers twice whereas I would never consider sitting through ZMD a second time. In all honesty, I feel generous in rating this movie with a 3/10.