Re-Kill

I normally dislike the found footage genre (although as another reviewer said, I do like starship troopers so would advise those who liked the humour and/or style of Starship Troopers to give this one a chance).

I know other reviews have made a point of mentioning how shaky the camera was, but imo...its less shaky than what you would expect if you were actually being chased by a bunch of re-animated corpses that want to eat you. And (again imo), the shaky cam helps you submerge yourself into the film better - by creating the sense that they were panicked and running for their lives.

While I wouldn't think that this film would appeal to the masses and be winning any Oscars any time soon, I feel it is definitely one of the better zombie films - to the point that I've came here to review it (something I rarely ever do).

I thought I'd seen it all and with TV shows like Fear the Walking Dead and The Walking Dead there would not be much more to add.

Plot: zombie virus has spread throughout the world and mankind has to do what is necessary to halt the spreading. Managing to contain it somewhat the government has created a special unit to clean out neighborhoods and secure that not a second outbreak will occur. A TV station has created a show around this unit.

I just love zombie movies, can't get enough of the theme of a small group of survivors trying to make it. Sadly, good zombie movies are hard to come by these days and ,quite frankly, it is a difficult genre to reinvent.

The Walkind Dead is excellent, showing the depravity of men combined with gore and survival. However, movies, unlike TV series, do not have the luxury nor time to explore that theme since you only got two hours or so to tell a story. Therefore zombie movies tend to revolve around getting from point A to point B or defending some sort of gated community. By now that has become dull which makes Re- Kill somewhat new, re-inventive even although not a revelation of sorts.

Re-Kill is structured like a mixture of reality TV, shows like Cops and the ever so popular found footage films (genre), which makes it a little bit new. And yes, you get plenty of gore too!

The positive sides is thus that it is relatively new, plenty of gore, good effects and decent acting from well known actors although not top notch. The zombies are not the slow, traditional ones of Romero's, but fast like 28 Days Later.

Downsides are the shaky camera, which is way too shaky even for a found footage movie; in general, too simple a plot; unexplored carachters; and not so much about the how, when, who and why.

A tip of the hat goes to the hilarious commercial breaks and the interviews of "real people" surviving the virus/attacks which echoes both Verhoeven's Robo Cop 1 & 2 and Starship Troopers. They are what really keeps the movie interesting and funny.

Bruce Payne is worth mentioning. Too me he is somewhat of a legend. But I must confess, I have always thought his acting style to be awkward and a bit stiff. But here he seems a bit more "alive" and tries to give his carachter a personality.

I haven't seen all zombie movies so I can't really say it is one of a kind within the genre itself, but to me it is kinda new and therefore I can't say "see this one if you liked...". However, if you like zombie films in general, traditional or more action driven, you will probably enjoy this one.

I give 6/10 due to its "newer" take on the genre, good acting (for the genre), the sfx.

Re-Kill doesn't just employ average shaky cam, this is the shakiest cam that ever shakes. Being found footage doesn't exemplified the utter chaotic scenes, especially when the action starts and the editing shifts into drunken state. It's a shame since the movie has a couple of unique renditions of zombie genre that are funny in its satirical overblown tone.

Story mainly follows the squad of soldiers investigating new threat of Re-Ans (its witty attempt to not use the Z-word). The squad brings cameraman to capture the mission in episodic format, thus the mockumentary style. It also brings a few nifty humors with faux commercials and silly products in the interval of each Re-Kill episode. The social commentary about consumerism is blatantly crude, and it's by far the best aspect of the movie.

Some of these mock shows are excessively wild, but seeing how many shocking reality shows already on TV, it's ironically plausible that a channel might exploit zombie apocalypse. The action part could be decent as well. The cast of Roger Cross and Scott Adkins is fitting for B-movie gorefest.

To their credit, it's an above average in term of acting, and the plot can be immersive with its first person perspective. It already has a justification to use monologues in supposed interviews as well as the squad bantering masked as behind-the-scene. It's a surprisingly deeper premise than ordinary zombie outbreak. The clever outlandish tidbits are very enjoyable and strangely don't disrupt the pace too much.

However, the camera is where everything falls apart. It trembles frantically even in simple conversations. When the action hits, it turns into a mess of unfocused scenes, flailing random shots and choppy editing every half a second. This may just be random shots of walls or floor, or worse, the second coming of Aliens vs Predator : Requiem.

I've seen many found footage movies, it's understandable to have some jittery cam, almost expected in a dysfunctional way, but Re-Kill is utterly horrible and gave me actual headache. Re-Kill expects audience to tolerate its shoddy camera work, it's honestly almost unbearable to watch at some points and might very well ruin the movie.

How to ruin a movie. Have a nice enjoyable spin on an abused genre such as zombies. Have a nice cast of actors. Have a good doze of violence and gore. Have good sound and camera positioning / scenes.. And then COMPLETELY RUIN IT WITH AN OVERKILL AND OVERDO OF SHAKE CAM / CAMERA MOTION!

What a waste of resources and potential. I physically could not sit through this movie because i got a headache and motion sickness because someone thought it was a good idea to ruin a perfectly decent movie with an over-usage of shake cam.

This is not a debate about love or hate about camera motion. This is about the notion that there now is a whole ARMY of simpletons out there that think it is good viewing to overkill on camera motion.

Camera motion when done the right way (not to much degree of motion and not to much zoomed in) is actually very enjoyable and can add tense, action etc to scene.

Shamefully in this movie it completely ruined what could have been a solid good movie.

After a Zombie Apocalypse, most of the world's population has been annihilated. The R-Division is trying to eliminate the last zombies (called Re-Animates or Re-Ans) in segregated zones to avoid a second and final outbreak and rebuild Earth. Their operation is filmed and showed in television as a reality show. The efficient Sarge (Roger R. Cross) commands a team of veteran soldiers and despite their experience, there are usually casualties. When they decide to investigate a compound, they find an army with thousands of Re-Ans. Will mankind be doomed to disappear?

"Re-kill" is a movie with a good zombie story and narrative that was inspired in "Starship Troopers". Unfortunately the awful shaky camera associated to zombies that run like hell is a mess and destroy the film. My vote is four.

Title (Brazil): "Renacidos das Trevas" ("Reborn from Darkness")