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Reviews
Dead Genesis (2010)
Total Romero
This is one hell of a zombie movie. It's been along time since any zombie flick that I've seen has managed to capture the spirit of those classic Romero movies. It's got the social commentary angle going for it and that traditional zombie spirit as well. Dead Genesis also manages to have one of the most graphic and gory openings to a zombie film that I've ever seen. Many have the grand epic openings, this is much more personal and disturbing.
It's a simple story (almost like the flip side of Diary of the Dead) where an attractive documentary filmmaker is making a film about the War on Dead. The War on Dead of course is a metaphor for the recent War on Terror. This filmmaker heads out into the woods and spends some time with a group of zombie hunters called the dead heads. Now this is where the movie slows down a bit. But I like it, it takes a much more psychological view on the zombie apocalypse then other zombie movies do. And based on the ratings here, I don't think many people seem to "get" the movie.
She follows these zombie hunters along for a few days and starts to see that maybe everything isn't what it seems. These hunters (who state numerous times that they're trying to protect humanity) are far worse than the flesh eating ghouls who wander around seeking food. It's a brisk and interesting hour and a half, good bits of dialogue between characters, and plenty of blood and guts through out.
There are a few things that don't quite work. This is definitely and low to no budget horror film. A few of the actors don't exactly hit the mark. It's also obvious that there wasn't much money to work with as some of the locations are pretty bland in parts. But it does have a lot of heart and that's where it counts. I read an interview with the director who said that he was directly influenced by Romero. This is clearly evident while watching the movie. It manages to echo the original Dead trilogy in a way that I haven't seen other low budget zombie films do. This one remembers that it's the characters and story that counts, not the zombies.
If you can find a way to check it out, I highly recommend that you do.