I saw this film as part of the 'A Night of Horror Film International Festival 2009' in Sydney.
Reel Zombies is a 'mockumentary' set in the near future when zombies have taken over the earth, and a follows a group of filmmakers who capitalize on the situation by making a zombie movie.
When you think about that, you can begin to see the comedy potential - and it's there in spades! Mike Masters - playing himself as the director - sees himself as 'ahead of the game' because Hollywood production has dropped to zero since the 'real' zombie incursion. "Yeah, but after a zombie outbreak, whose gonna wanna go see a zombie movie?" asks one of his cohorts. Similar pieces of gold are scattered throughout.
Real zombies are wrangled and used as cheap, expendable extras saving on make-up and gunshot effects, and preproduction meetings are interrupted by excursions to the outside parking lot to kill a few 'strays' that have wandered in.
I won't spoil it any further! Suffice to say, a must-see for fans of the zombie genre for its high originality.
A couple of downers: the pace struggles a little here and there, nothing too serious, and Mike Masters' overuse of the 'f-word' seriously detracts from the comedy at times and actually would have been much funnier without it. I'm not a prude, it's just that saying 'f**k' a lot simply isn't comedy - give me something smarter, please! Besides that, I enjoyed this film very much.
Reel Zombies is a 'mockumentary' set in the near future when zombies have taken over the earth, and a follows a group of filmmakers who capitalize on the situation by making a zombie movie.
When you think about that, you can begin to see the comedy potential - and it's there in spades! Mike Masters - playing himself as the director - sees himself as 'ahead of the game' because Hollywood production has dropped to zero since the 'real' zombie incursion. "Yeah, but after a zombie outbreak, whose gonna wanna go see a zombie movie?" asks one of his cohorts. Similar pieces of gold are scattered throughout.
Real zombies are wrangled and used as cheap, expendable extras saving on make-up and gunshot effects, and preproduction meetings are interrupted by excursions to the outside parking lot to kill a few 'strays' that have wandered in.
I won't spoil it any further! Suffice to say, a must-see for fans of the zombie genre for its high originality.
A couple of downers: the pace struggles a little here and there, nothing too serious, and Mike Masters' overuse of the 'f-word' seriously detracts from the comedy at times and actually would have been much funnier without it. I'm not a prude, it's just that saying 'f**k' a lot simply isn't comedy - give me something smarter, please! Besides that, I enjoyed this film very much.