Undead (DVD)
Steve Barton
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The land Down Under. It’s known for its beauty, its friendliness, and its beer. With Undead there has been another thing added to the Aussie menu. Us. That’s right, fiends, add another spine to the barby! There’s been a zombie outbreak the likes of which you have never seen!
Zombie films. It seems we just cannot get enough of them, and I am in heaven as a result! It’s my favorite subgenre, and the pickings have been plentiful to say the least. Enter Undead. This is not your ordinary zombie romp. There’s a lot more going on in the quiet town of Berkeley than just your average flesh eater rampage.
It all starts during a meteor shower. The flaming space rocks hit the earth with a vengeance, immediately turning anyone they come in contact with into carniverous beasts. A small group of townsfolk gather together to fend off the attack when it suddenly appears to be painfully obvious that the undead are the least of their worries — or so they think. To go into any further detail about the story would spoil it for you guys, so just take it from me: Get your hands on a copy of this film yesterday, and enjoy the gory, gooey ride.
And gore and goo there is! Plenty of it in fact! Every zombie film needs to have splatter. Zombies are just not PG13 friendly creatures. They rip, gnaw, and chew to every gorehound’s delight, and delighted you will be. My only critique of Undead‘s usage of the red stuff is that a lot of it is digital, and that is bound to make many purists roll their eyes.
Actually, there are a lot of digital effects in this film. Some look great while others appear a bit too cartoonish. I am no big fan of CGI, but even I have to admit Undead features some simply stunning visuals, all brought home with crystal clarity thanks to the advent of DVD. And speaking of which, what DVD review would be complete without a once-over on the extras included?!
We get another nice package from Lions Gate here. From making-of featurettes to film festival Q&A footage! There are two commentaries included, one with the cast and the other with the crew. Animatic to film comparisons, Internet featurettes, make-up and camera tests . . . I could go on and on, and that is a very good thing!
Undead was met with little fanfare during its brief theatrical run, but I have no doubt it will find its audience here in the States through DVD. Everything a zombie film fan could want is here in spades. And shovels. And clubs. And everything else that is used throughout the film to mangle our ghastly group of walking corpses!
Undead (2003)
Lions Gate Films
Directed by Michael and Peter Spierig
Starring Felicity Mason, Mungo McKay, Rob Jenkins, Lisa Cunningham
Special Features
Two audio commentaries, one cast and one crew
Making-of Featurette
Zombies Internet Featurette
Toronto Film Festival Screening Footage
Supernova Convention Footage
Animatic to Film Comparison
Human Dolly Construction Video
Camera and Make-Up Tests
Deleted Scenes
Extended Scenes
Artwork and Design Sketches
Bonus Trailers
4 out of 5
Categorized:Reviews
