User Reviews

One of the biggest divides that seems to exist between concept and approach in filmmaking is that of the B-movie – a lark simply meant to amplify camp, kitsch and fun to delirious levels. But what seems to be more often the case is the arrival of flicks which approach the genre superficially, revelling in lazy dialogue, dull slaughter and gore and boring characters rather than applying a grindhouse feel to well though out material. While there are some attempts to spoof the well worn tropes of this type of endeavour, too often does Zombie Hunter cheat the audience, revel in its laziness and fail even to live up to the gimmicky promises plastered on the DVD case.

Let me get the bluffs out of the way first, because these are not so much spoilers as they are an accurate description of events. In quick succession: Danny Trejo appears in little more than a cameo, the souped up muscle car exits the picture early on and the "clown with a chainsaw" represents little more than a blip. And in case you have no idea what this movie is about and why the heck I would bring this up, yes those were major selling points present in the advertising. What remain are inane and groan-worthy dialogue and timing and delivery that rival pre- school plays and repetition at all levels.

I hate to be too harsh on Zombie Hunter because when it's all said and done it's a rather innocent endeavour, never vying for much, featuring thesps who in some cases are experiencing their debut roles and, despite its many pitfalls, is never insulting. It's all just rather wrongheaded and draining. The weird highlight for me was in lead Martin "Hunter" Copping who's growling, monotonous delivery seemed to craft a character that was just as nonchalant concerning the apocalypse then about the junk in which he was starring. Don't get me wrong, it's all very bad and very one note but his attitude made the viewing more tolerable.

The rest of the cast is made of folks – truly no offense as I'm sure I would join their ranks if I attempted to act – who have little hope of securing steady jobs in Hollywood. The dialogue may be horrid but they make no effort to bring it to life. Even a hammy, hackneyed script can be given a weird sense of charm with the right performer delivering the lines. It's immensely clear across all fronts they are waiting on prompts and very likely gazing at cue cards. Their infuriating actions and their interactions displayed amongst one another do very little to right any wrongs.

But as I iterated early on, there are clear – and surprisingly successful – attempts to spoof the style of film in which Zombie Hunter eventually revels. Hunter has some amusing early scenes with the undead as does the prologue (which explains the outbreak) have some charm in its own way. Coupled later on with zoom-in shots of a girl's butt, substituted for her, you know, face when running away from a threat, or a puke-off that spoofs the "grizzly discover" cliché, there are scenes that show promise. But collectively their relative occupation of the running time leaves much to be desired.

In the end, Zombie Hunter is only something that could be recommend with the disclaimer it be played in the background while you and your friends shoot the *bleep* and sip some beers. The thorough distain for creativity and decision to wallow in camp rather than embrace or satirize it means this B-movie simply doesn't even get a similar grade to rival its intended stamp.

A curious blend of a few ideas and genres here, foremostly a clear cut grindhouse approach which appears to be all the rage these days. The film stars Danny Trejo which should give the game away as to what grindhouse type flicks this capitalises on. You only have to look on his filmography (and co stars) to see how many of these flicks are getting churned out!.

The plot is simple and highly unoriginal. An addictive drug has turned some people into flesh eating zombies which has in turn spread. America appears to be an apocalyptic wasteland where 'The Hunter' roams, he kills zombies. He comes across a small settlement with other survivors and together they plan an escape by air to islands in the Pacific. Its your basic flee the zombie plague fare.

What is interesting about this film is the combination of ideas. The main character of The Hunter is basically 'Max Rockatansky' with a classic Clint Eastwood 'man with no name' vibe just for good measure. I mean look at his name for a start...The Hunter/The Road Warrior, close huh. But mainly he drives an all black dirty modified Pontiac Trans Am (I think) which looks identical to the Interceptor in 'Mad Max'. But wait there's more, he even dresses like Max in all black with shades and handles a similar shotgun too, only thing missing is a pet dog. I might also mention the guy in the role (Martin Copping) is Australian too haha what are the odds?!.

So yes the main heroes look is a bit of a rip off but it works, he's cool, grizzled and dispatches zombies with aplomb. You have the main theme of a 70's/80's Mexican grindhouse approach with a Mad Max main lead fighting zombies in a Resident Evil setting with an actual Resident Evil monster too (not sure where they came from though). Trejo is playing 'Machete' again but with an axe, oh and there's a clear cut 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' homage/rip off too...got all that?.

Being a low budget affair the effects are average, the blood n guts look fine but the CGI monster things aren't. That said the low budget does work for the film giving it that gritty-ish look, as what tends to happen with limited resources. The cast are a mixed bag with Copping coming across pretty hokey with his over macho posturing but he's a fun character. Of course there are a couple hot chicks in the survivor band too, one clearly being some ex-stripper/model/porn star type who is bad at acting but good at being slutty (I liked that). Hated the fact that our hero doesn't take her up on her offer of guilt free sex, dude are you mad?!.

The film is also amusing in places too, intentionally? I don't know, doubt it, but it is. The last three left alive find a locker chock full of machine guns/sub machine guns etc...the zombies are beating the door down, the last sexy chick remaining declares 'there's too many, they're too strong!'. You have just found Rambo's toy chest, are you serious right now? zombies aren't bullet proof.

I actually found myself liking this film mainly because of Copping's hero character, I'm not really a fan of the grindhouse genre/approach but the use of other styles and ideas worked well. Its not fresh and new, we've seen this type of thing a billion times before but I personally liked this films style, the cut of its jib. Gotta love that dialog and the end credits soundtrack has a pretty sweet electronic 80's style rhythm.

'Don't worry about me babe'

5.5/10

This movie is a very failed attempt of some sort of Resident Evil kind of genre. Even from the trailer we are shown who is about to die and who is going to make this film an embarrassment to the world.

I have to write at least 10 rows for this comment and that is too much for this movie, yes it does not help the movie industry and I have no idea who makes this atrocities!? Every day a "wanna be" movie director comes out and puts a monkey in a wheelchair to write a failed script with zombies just because they can make a fast buck and that is a crime to the art of action horrors that keep zombies "alive" in our "brainz"! If you want to smoke something funny and laugh at something stupid this is the movie for you, but other than that you can dodge this fiasco like a train on fire!

When I was looking through Netflix trying to find a good zombie movie to watch, I came across this one and saw the story for it and the picture so I clicked on it and watched it. I first thought it was pretty good then it just seemed like it was made by a 9 year old, saying "retarded" and really poor editing. That's what I really noticed was the editing. It was terrible and it looked like someone went on Windows Movie Maker and pressed some buttons for 5 minutes and called it editing. It was also really unrealistic. I understand that a zombie movie wouldn't be too realistic because "zombies" but with the huge monster who looked like Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy and a clown zombie with a chainsaw. I am out of words. I wasted my time watching this. One more thing I forgot to add was the main character was trying too hard to be cool and it made him look terrible.

The film starts with a newscast about Natas, or sin, which is the new 'it' drug. The government is taking steps. The viewer watches the newscast being looked at by Natas users.

A year later, Hunter is out in the desert, killing the occasional zombie. His Camaro breaks down from the blood and guts blocking his air intake. Sigh. He stops for gas, and ends up killing 8 zombies. He has not seen another non-zombie ('survivor') for six months. Then someone shoots him while he's driving. He and the car look pretty bad, but the drag him back to camp.

The small group gets to know one another. Hunter and x go out to assess the damage on his Camaro; they encounter zombies. Soon the compound is attacked by zombies, including some sort of full-on mutant that looks like it was never a human. This was a disaster. Jesus dies taking out the lead monster.

Down the road, they run out of gas. They all get sick from looking into a non-operational freezer. Someone steals their truck, which sets up an ambush by a crazy with a chainsaw. What was the setup for this?

Hunter, Alison, Ricky, and Jerry make it to the airfield, which is supposed to help them out, somehow. Just where can they fly to that will be safe?

Do any of them get out alive?

-------Scores-------

Cinematography: 2/10 Endless, stupid, in-your-face filters. Pink was my least favourite filter, but others were bad as well. Otherwise, the picture was rather low in quality, say mid-range VHS.

Sound: 6/10 Not too bad, but with wretched incidental music.

Acting: 2/10 Much to my disappointment, Danny Trejo's role was rather small, but that's where the +2 comes from. The main character is played by Martin Copping, who is more than a little boring, irrelevant, out of tune with the other actors. Clare Niederpruem was not a plus. Jade Reiger was decorative, but not a great actress. Jarrod Phillips gave one of the worst performances I've seen. Terry Guthrie barely seemed present.

Screenplay: 1/10 Not much of a story, but it does have a beginning, middle, and an end. The dialog is horrible, as is the internal logic of the story. They stop because they are out of gas. Someone steals the truck (how?). Hunter recovers the truck; now it has gas. Right. Alison and Ricky are being chased by a fast guy with a chainsaw. Alison: we've got to get going! Ricky: I'm tired.

SFX: 2/10 Second/third rate. Bad zombie makeup, splatter effects, vomiting effects. Blood shows up as pink, purple, orange, dark, and occasionally red.

OK I hardly ever write reviews but for this I have to, This has to be the WORST film i have ever seen for so many reasons Zombie film usually rock but this was just rotten so so so bad i feel ripped off because it actually has the ingredients to be a great film its like they wanted to make it bad. First it has 1 half big name in it Danny Trejo so you think it might be good, WRONG IT SUCKS, he gets wasted after a C%$p small part by a very very fake CGI monster. And then there are 2 very fit babes in it, 1 with big bangers who wants to bang everyone AND THEY KILL HER OFF, Man come on she was the only thing worth looking at. Plot stunk they obviously tried to make a cult film Tarantino type but ended up making a bag of Cr*p, don't waste your time in fact if you hate someone then buy them this as a present, Director K. King GIVE UP YOUR DAY JOB...