Death Walks (2016)
Matt Boiselle
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Starring Lucinda Rhodes-Flaherty, Francesca Ciardi, Jon Guerriero
Directed by Spencer Hawken
Zombies in a shopping mall… now where on earth have we seen that particular premise before? Give me a minute; I’m sure it’ll come to me. Ah well, maybe I’ll have thought of it by the time this review has wrapped up.
So here we are in this glorious year of 2016, and we’ll flash back three to 2013, when director Spencer Hawken came up with the idea of putting together a zero-budget horror film, using community members in Romford, London, to help cast Death Walks, a zombie flick that aims high and, despite flaws, still manages to entertain on some levels. Here’s the funny part: For ME to say that I was entertained by a modern-day zombie flick is a stretch all in itself, but this here little production was a nice addition to an already overstacked sub-genre in the horror world.
Location: Mercury Mall – With scattered shoppers and store owners slowly heading for the exits, a lone woman (Cannibal Holocaust‘s Francesca Ciardi) kneels by the exit doors, scribbling something on the floor and mumbling incoherently. Soon thereafter, interestingly odd occurrences begin to shift towards the shopping center, and not before long do the shambling undead start to come a-knockin’. A small remaining band of both patrons and employees are left inside to fight their way past this imposing throng of zombies, and something tells me we’ve done this before… DAMMIT, what was the name of that other film?
Now, all things considered with the non-budget, the inexperienced actors, and (shoot me for saying this) the inane plotline, the film is fairly amusing; and for a first-time directorial spin, Hawken manages to deliver on the goods of putting out a maiden voyage presentation. The film looks like it had some serious dough at its back, and for that alone I’ve got to give it an “atta-boy” point in the positive direction, and at the risk of sounding like a complete downer (as I’ve been known to do), I’ll counteract my normally dour opinion and say that I’d surely be willing to give this another peep, if for nothing else than to maybe reinforce my decision with its end result.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to Google the name of that other “zombies in a mall” flick.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
