The Demented

I have to give the first positive review for this film because the ones available at the moment are terribly close-minded and harsh. The consensus of the current reviews bitch and moan about the ending, which I felt, was incredibly realistic. I actually found that to be a quality most likable about this film is its ability to be realistic for such a low-budget zombie film. By realistic, I mean that the characters are relatable when it comes to their reactions and their fates. They make choices and they die like one actually would given there be a zombie apocalypse. It is difficult to write a zombie film that stands out anymore due to our zombie obsessions. That being said, sometimes its fun just to watch a film that portrays that very situation, play out naturally without there being something totally new and never-before-seen. CHILL OUT people!! It's a low-budget zombie film! I don't know why people expect so much from films, especially the low-budge indies. If you're not pretentious and/or jaded, but you like a fun zombie apocalypse film, then you will probably have a fun Sunday afternoon watching The Demented. Plus, let me just point out that the zombie sleeping thing was incredibly creative and really very creepy in my opinion. That was a super cool new zombie characteristic, mad props to the writers on that.

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I don't know why this got such a low rating on IMDb. The acting wasn't top-notch, but it was good enough, certainly better than the 3.8 stars that it currently has.

It's a low budget take-off of 28 Days Later, but they do a fair enough job on it. Sarah Butler's the reason I watched this, but she wasn't used to her full potential. Kayla Ewell is the protagonist. Her acting's never been that great, even in The Vampire Diaries. And she kept yelling at very inappropriate times, such as when they needed to be silent. Gosh, that was annoying.

They had a subplot between Charlie and Naomi. I thought they'd have Charlie somehow tell the others she let Naomi die, but that never happened. I don't know why they bothered putting that in the movie unless they just wanted the audience to dislike Charlie.

Overall, I was entertained. Again, the acting wasn't top-notch, but the movie was fun. I gave this movie a 5-star rating. If you like virus movies that make people turn into drooling, blood-thirsty cannibals, you'll enjoy this. If you're expecting The Walking Dead or Dawn of the Dead, forget it.

'The Demented.' The latest in a seemingly never-ending line of zombie films. Only the monsters aren't zombies - they're more the 'infected' that we've seen before in 28 Days/Weeks Later or the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. Both films were great successes, but, just because you have 'running zombies,' doesn't guarantee you an automatic hit.

Perhaps the main problem here are the characters. Okay, this is a horror film and no one's expecting deep and meaningful character developments with watertight arcs etc, but, both Dawn of the Deads, 28 Days/Weeks Later and others like them, proved that just because your heroes are getting chased by zombies, doesn't mean you can't give them some decent traits to make the audience relate to them.

In The Demented we have six friends. Let's call them, 'Attractive Blonde Female, Attractive Brunette Female, Attractive Mixed-race Female, Attractive Dark-haired Male, Attractive Blond-haired Male and Attractive African-American Male.' For that's all they are - we never really learn anything about them, so we don't really care when they start getting chewed up one by one.

And there isn't really that much gore. I know this is a cheap film, but a bit of entertaining mayhem might have given it a bit more of an edge. So our six generic protagonists get caught up in a zombie outbreak. How does it happen? Does it matter? Do you care? They just do. So they're chased continually, in between sneaking here and there while the zombies are 'sleeping standing up.' Whatever.

If you've never seen a zombie movie before (there must be one of you) then you may actually enjoy this. Or if this was made all those years ago before Night of the Living Dead, it may even have been called 'groundbreaking' and 'a classic.' However, it wasn't. And there's absolutely nothing here that you haven't seen before. If you like zombie films (or running zombie films in particular), stick with Dawn of the Dead 2004 or either 28 Days Later film. Both have budgets, gore, suspense, action and decent characterisation in them. The Demented has none of those, sadly.

There are movies that have in-depth plots. There are movies that have interesting, complex characters. These films often make us contemplate our existence through obtuse themes that require introspection and careful pondering. And there are movies that are none of these things and yet still maintain a level of entertainment - visceral experiences that emote excitement, or fright, or romance, or comedy... perhaps even all four if we're lucky.

The Demented has none of these traits. It is devoid of any artistic originality. It is predictable and bland. Watching it makes me contemplate how much I value the hours I have left on this earth, and whether or not I should choose to go do something else right at this moment. But The Demented is a cheap zombie flick, and this fact alone forgives many sins.

The ending however, catapults this film past redemption. It makes me angry in ways that other things make me angry, like willful ignorance, 3rd world poverty, and excessive Facebook selfies. In the last few minutes of the film, just before the credits rolled, had there been a baby present, I would have punched he/she in the face. Had there been an invaluable painting handy, I would have smashed it into oblivion and declared art dead forever.

This is what you can look forward to if you decide to watch this film. Perhaps that's what you're after: a reason to be depressed and angry at the world. Perhaps you're manic and need a reason to not love yourself anymore. Then this is the film for you.

I wanted to like this one, I really did. But when they make characters so stupid, or annoying that you want them to die, I don't think the writers did a good job. A good movie will make you feel bad when people die, not cheer that the annoying girl has died. This is one of those movies that really annoys you when they make bad decisions. I get maybe they didn't realize they were going to be in a zombie movie, but screaming and making as much noise as possible all the time is never a good choice. Walking down the middle of the road isn't smart. When in a town of zombies, you don't walk into new buildings screaming hello for example. The girls have to scream and cry at every possible instance. Half their lines are screaming the second half of the movie on.

I don't know what to think of that ending, I'll give it credit for some out of box thinking.

In the end, this wasn't a total waste, but it felt like it could have been more. It has most of the generic characters and generic scenarios you would expect, except for the ending.