'War of the Dead' is a 2011 action horror film written and directed by Finnish directed Marko Mailaakso and starring Andrew Ternan, Mikko Leppilampi, Jouko, Samuli Vauramo, Andreas Wilson, Mark Wingett and Antii Reini. The world premiere of the zombie war movie took place at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival on the 22nd October 2011 and was released by Momentum Pictures on the 28th May 2012 on DVD. Since the release if this film was so limited in this country (I couldn't find a single cinema that played it) and many wouldn't have heard of it until the DVD release, I have decided to treat it as if it were a direct to DVD film and give it a full film review.
The story revolves around Captain Martin Stone (Ternan) as he leads a finely-trained, elite platoon of American and Finnish soldiers as they attack an enemy bunker. Underestimating their enemy's strength, they are quickly beaten back into the forest. As they try to regroup, they are suddenly attacked by some soldiers they had just killed a few minutes earlier. Forced to flee deeper into Russian territory, they discover one of war's most terrifying secrets and realise they have woken up a far deadlier enemy. The movies not bad, I'll give it that much, with a budget of only 1.3 million euros it was never going to be a blockbuster hit. It starts off with bad acting, bad one liners and a very rushed prologue. As the film goes on though, the story begins to pick up, along with the action, and the acting. By the end of it you are indulged in the story and characters. It kind of feels like a cross between a live-action Call of Duty: World At War Zombie movie and 2008s 'Outpost'. Films with zombies in them are always fun to watch, they're even better when the zombies can movie fast, jump and fight. Also it's a zombie movie with Russian and Nazi zombies, what a great combination!
It's like a mix of loads of movies, near the beginning, in the house, it;s like the first level of Nazi Zombies in Call of Duty: World At War, then later a bit like 'Dog Soldiers', then once they reach the bunker, it's nearly exactly like 'Outpost'. So it's by no means an original films, but it's definitely worth watching because we get a good combination of fire-fights, hand to hand combat, explosions and a handful of men fighting off hordes of enemies (with decent dramatic music in the background to make the situation feel even more helpless). It's a typical zombie film, and that's what makes it enjoyable. It's a shame that the movie didn't start off as well as it ended, I was tempted to turn it off at the beginning, and some of the special effects weren't too pleasing on the eye. I'd still recommend giving it a chance, if you're a fan of Call of Duty and zombies, then it's nearly the perfect film for you. I'm going to give 'War of the Dead' a 6.5/10.
I know it seems low even though I've said a lot of good about it, but I'm judging the movie as a whole.
No comments:
Post a Comment