Among the Living

While watching a decidedly low-budget film, I often ask myself why the filmmaker's chose to devote time and money to making it. Was the story so compelling to them that they felt it must be told? Did they believe they'd make a killer sale to Netflix? Or did they receive a government grant that needed to be spent?

It's hard to say what motivated the team behind this film to undertake this talky, static production that barely qualifies as a zombie entry. It features an ineffectual and deceitful sod wandering around the countryside supposedly looking after his sister as he tries to find their father. Along the way they meet some other folks, have long conversations, drink beer - or get smacked about.

You meet a few "infected", but this is mostly a film about hiking and camping, punctuated by gabby intermissions and the main character - the author of his own misfortune - weeping at his self-inflicted fate.

With surprisingly few edits, this could be sold as stock footage of the English countryside.

There some iconic scenes in zombie movies - 'Dawn of the Dead's' shopping mall full of staggering corpses, Cillian Murphy wandering round an empty London, Rick on horseback riding down a deserted freeway towards a desolated city. All of these work well because they're all normal settings we're all used to, only turned on their head so that they're absolutely horrific.

Now we come to 'Among the Living.' Have you ever walked through a wood and thought, 'This is like a zombie apocalypse!' Probably not. Because you can walk through a wood right now and it would be like you're on the set of this movie.

Yes, there are some nice landscape shots of the British countryside, but the budget (or lack of) prevents the story from ever becoming anything truly terrifying. It's about a man and a younger girl (brother and sister - presumably to move away from the far more famous plotline of 'Last of Us' travelling across the countryside in order to reach their family.

It tries to ramp up the tension when a zombie appears (and there's rarely more than a single ghoul on screen at one time) by dramatic music, but not enough happens to justify the score. Plus the zombies operate on weird rules. Maybe I missed a single line of dialogue where zombies are afraid of light, because everyone seems fine with shining torches in the dark and even creating pretty light shows with lanterns without fear of getting eaten. Plus the undead seem to operate on random rules. Are they totally braindead, existing purely on instinct? Or do they retain some form of human logic? Sometimes they act like mindless beasts, other times they'll stalk and hunt their victims - mainly on what the plot dictates at the time.

There's long periods of talking where not much happens, but then that could be a good thing as the actors are hardly top quality and don't get me started on the two child actors. I know it's difficult for kids to act sometimes, so many films don't rely on them too much. This one did - and it probably shouldn't have. Then the adult actors play characters who aren't that likeable in the first place.

Overall, there are so many zombie films and TV shows there are dozens that are better. This one might have been more novel if it came along almost twenty years ago. Now it's a dime a dozen. There was a nice scene midway through with some decent dramatic tension when someone had been bitten was trying to find a 'way out,' but apart from that there really isn't much here to recommend.

This film is worth the watch if:

• You enjoy watching low budget films
• You're open to a blend of genres (drama on a horror back drop)
• You like a slow burn

Among The Living includes thought provoking moments and steers away from stereotypes - this is not your typical horror zombie movie.

The film showcases some amazing locations, which contrasts the grim reality of living and surviving in a world in crisis. This film brings an element of social realism to the horror genre that isn't often seen.

Although this film doesn't include loads of gore or zombie action, it presents the realistic threat of other humans.

Was so slow I picked up a book, read, and taught myself hot to crochet while watching it only in hopes that I didn't waste money renting it. It reminded me of a family movie that was given Steven Spielberg's theatrical background music to try to infuse the movie with some hope in action. Hope died.

The actors were good. The directing was good. The plot was slow.

I can not say more about this movie not much happened. So enjoy steps to crocheting to meet the required amount of characters needed to warn you:

Chain a multiple of 3 plus 4. To begin the blanket stitch, you will need to make a chain of the amount of stitches needed plus an additional 4 stitches. The additional 4 stitches will provide some slack for working the first double crochet stitch.

Make your chain as long as you think it will need to be for your project. For example, if you are making a blanket, then you will probably need to chain at least 90 stitches, plus 4, for a total of 94. Or, if you are making a washcloth, then you can probably just chain 18 stitches, plus 4 for a total of 22.

Ok I gave 9, but it's at least a 7. And here's why...

This movie is NOT AN ACTION HORROR FLICK. It's a REALISTIC approach to sci-fi about zombies. It is actually pretty great and entertaining. Acting is on low-par, but it's believable and reminds me of a documentary (live documented event).

Many different situations, except for one long dragged episode where yeah it could have been done better. But still it's pretty good. This movie focuses on survival in the event and gives a broad perspective over real life situations. And very realistic human interactions and decisions as well.

This movie looks like a fan-fiction of something. But I mean that on the caring spectrum. A thought-out dramatic events and reactions - survival. I wish there was maybe more back story or at least descriptions how the zombies are and their characteristics (virus symptoms) though.