‘Zombie Resurrection’ Review
Stars: Eric Colvin, Jim Sweeney, Danny Brown, Simon Burbage, Jade Colucci, Joe Rainbow, Rachel Nottingham, Shamiso Mushambi, Georgia Winters, Rupert Phelps | Written and Directed by Jake Hawkins, Andy Phelps
Opening with a fantastic animated title sequence which explains the basic plot – soldiers return home from war infected with zombie-like symptoms which quickly spreads through out the populace – Zombie Resurrection is a brand-new, very British, take on the cliched zombie apocalypse tale. This time with one major change… One of the zombies in this movie displays Jesus-like powers! Yes, when he touches other zombies they are miraculously returned to life. Is this zombie “saviour” the cure for the undead plague, or is he heralding the end of the world?
From the offset Zombie Resurrection lays it cards on the table – this is NOT a film to be taken seriously; even if there are a number of scary scenes that rival those found in many a more serious zombie film. And it doesn’t skimp on the gore either! Early on there’s a scene in which one of the undead has his spine torn out by one the the surviving soldiers – which is only the tip of the gore-filled iceberg as far as this film is concerned.
Yet whilst the film may be filled with a number of familiar genre tropes, gleefully fulfilling the need to scare the audience and piling on the blood and guts, where it really succeeds is in its characters. They may not be the most well-rounded or in-depth characters we’ve seen in a zombie movie, in fact you could argue that a lot of the roles in this film are little more than caricatures rather than characters, but the script and its laugh-a-minute use of over the top profanity more than makes up for it. Perhaps it’s also because whilst the film is filled with stereotypes, for the most part these are NOT the usual folks you see in a zombie movie – it’s a trait Zombie Resurrection shares with Shaun of the Dead: the cast includes a fervently religious black woman, a tree-hugging liberal who sympathises with the undead, a loud-mouthed chav, and a father and daughter who could not be more different (he’s intellectual, she’s flightly) amongst others. Not your typical “heroes” in ANY zombie film! Not even the soldiers – so often a cliche in these genre flicks – don’t fit into any genre stereotypes. Especially not Jim Sweeney’s foul-mouthed, fight-loving, doesn’t give a f**k soldier Mac!
In the end Zombie Resurrection can best be described as a parody of the very genre it inhabits. The film is not without issues, and the low-budget nature of the production occasionally slips on to the screen but if you like your zombies with a side-order of black (often un-PC) comedy, you might just get a kick out of this movie.
Zombie Resurrection is out now on DVD and Blu-ray from Left Films.
