It should be said that the approach to the zombie genre seen in "Portrait of a Zombie" is indeed new and innovative. However, that doesn't necessarily make it great.
The movie had potential, and if it had a bigger budget the movie would indeed have been so much more than it was. I must say that "Portrait of a Zombie" turned out to be a rather ambitious amateurish project. But it was still enjoyable enough for what it was - and for what it turned out to be.
The storyline in "Portrait of a Zombie" is about a family that have a zombie at home, their son Billy. The neighborhood is in uproar and the family still treats him as being alive and still being their son.
Story-wise, then there were aspects to the story that were alright, but in overall, it wasn't memorable.
What really needed more detail, work and better execution was the make-up and effects of the zombies. It was basically just make-up added to people's faces, and of course they committed the ultimate flaw here; forgetting about the neck and ears. So the face had make-up and special effects applied, while the neck and ears were left in proper skin tones. It is just such a bad mistake to make.
The gun effects in the movie were just atrocious, and the movie would have fared so much better if they had opted not to have guns in the movie at all. If you are going to do guns, at least have them done right.
And the way that Billy was moving just didn't go well with me, it looked like a crippled duck trying to dance break-dance. It was just awful.
The acting in the movie was actually good, given what the actors and actresses had to work with.
But for a movie of this production value, I will still applaud director Bing Bailey for managing to get this on its feet and turn it into what it was. If you enjoy zombie movies, then "Portrait of a Zombie" is definitely worth watching a single time, because of its unique approach to the zombie genre. However, just don't get your hopes up for a next Romero movie in the making.
