It's a great core premise: troubled zombie flick's shoot gets overrun with real zombies. It could have been gold, sadly it wasn't.
The cast try. The crew do what they can with what's clearly a very limited budget. It's obvious that a lot of local goodwill went in, too. There are some scenes where it's pretty clear that most of the local town turned up and gave it their best shot - look at the rugby game sidelines for what I mean.
The trouble with the movie is what isn't there. The lead actor is simply not compelling enough to identify with, even after it's clear that he needs to become a badass if he's going to survive. The comedy feels like it's actors working lines from tight scripts and there's no vibe to it at all. In an area with some of the most compelling scenery and natural light on earth, the whole thing is shot in a generic forest under flat light (honestly, it looks like it was filmed under clouded skies at mid day). The cinematography is fixed cameras at a polite distance with plenty of unused space in most of the shots. The worst is the direction. This movie is staid, bloated, and terribly, terribly slow.
It's slow like a glacier is slow. Really.
There'll be the inevitable comparisons to homegrown classics like Bad Taste or Braindead. Nope. This isn't anywhere near those movies, at any level, and if you want to see what can be done on a tight budget then look those movies up. I've given a few stars for the sake of the support leads (especially Jocelyn Christian, who deserves better), but that's it.
See it if and only if you are making a movie and need to research mistakes to avoid.
