When I purchased "What's Left of Us" (aka "El Desierto") from Amazon it was solely because of it being a zombie movie. However, now that I have seen it, I must admit that I am more than sorely disappointed. This movie failed both at being an entertaining movie and also at being a zombie movie.
The synopsis of the movie does not really reflect the movie in any proper way, especially because it does make the movie sound like it would be interesting.
"What's Left of Us" turned out to be nothing more than a love-triangle-drama set in a pseudo zombie apocalyptic world. You see but a single zombie, and that is just a young man in questionable make-up. No rot, decay and decomposition in any way. Gray Foundation make-up and such. Can we say classic low budget zombie make-up? The story revolves around Jonathan, Ana and Axel, whom are trapped in a small, boarded up apartment with the world falling to pieces around them. Jonathan is obviously in love with Ana, and so is Axel, albeit secretly. And Ana is flirting heavily with both of them.
Right, there is very little of any interest to this story, and I must admit that I dozed off two or three times throughout the course of the movie. And nothing really took a turn for the better. The movie just trotted ahead at a mind-numbingly dull pace.
The acting in "What's Left of Us" was adequate, although nothing outstanding. And I can't say that any of the stars in the movie put on particular memorable performances. However, it was uncanny how much William Prociuk resembled a young John Savage.
The entire movie was permeated by a very annoying sound set, which was more of a nuisance than it added to the atmosphere of the movie. I am of course talking about the sounds from the speakers that the survivors had set up to keep track of the happenings outside the building. I am sure that the idea seemed good on paper, but it didn't work in favor of the movie on the screen.
"What's Left of Us" will now go to its final resting place on the DVD shelf, to slowly fade away into oblivion. This is definitely a movie that cannot sustain more than a single viewing, if you can get through a whole viewing that is. If you are going to sit down for a Spanish language zombie movie, then your money is better spent on "Juan of the Dead", for example.
