DEAD MEAT (2004)

I always keep my expectations very low when I'm about to view a small budget horror film as more often than not these types of films are awful. Dead Meat however, is one of the rare few exceptions in that it completely exceeded my expectations and turned out to be a pretty good movie. It's all thanks to good direction and excellent editing. Director Connor McMahon's filmmaking style is a well blended mix of four different master directors. It's a heavy dose of George A. Romero and John Carpenter with touches of Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi thrown in. While McMahon isn't near the level of any of these directors yet, he does show a good amount of potential. The atmosphere is bleak and creepy as is the look of the film. McMahon's editing in the movie is extremely tight and efficient. He knows exactly when to cut away and he doesn't linger on anything that may look a little off kilter. Many young director's have a severe problem of either doing way too much quick cutting and over editing, or they just execute lingering shots that outstay their welcome. Editing is Dead Meat's greatest strength. The running time is short and the film is never boring thanks to this punchy approach.
The basic premise is simple enough. Mad Cow disease is making the bovine population go nuts and attack people. The victims turn into zombies and start eating other people. Most of the zombie scenes are actually pretty good, especially considering the film's low budget. The effects and makeup are well done and are aided by the dark look of the movie. The build up and tension filled moments are where McMahon successfully emulates Carpenter and Romero. The splattery gore scenes are more reminiscent of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series and Peter Jackson's Dead Alive but not quite on their level. These scenes are where the film loses it's focus a little as the movie stops taking itself seriously and gets a little too cheesy. One scene that didn't work for me in particular was where a character takes out a zombie by throwing a high heel shoe into its eye. Some of the crazy action scenes do work far better though and are pretty fun to watch. I wanted the movie to continue along with the dark tone it started out with, but in the end everything still turned out pretty entertaining
The acting was surprisingly impressive for an inexperienced cast. There are a few moments where the cast's look a little green, but for the most part they're consistently effective. There are some big laughs as well in the movie with The Coach character in particular being truly hilarious. He's a profane, grumpy guy with a huge chip on his shoulder and has more anger towards regular people he meets than the actual zombies he's combating. Everyone is completely believable in their roles and the movie is all the better for it.

Dead Meat is an excellent start for Connor McMahon and it makes him a director people should watch out for, especially horror fans. It is by no means a great horror movie but it's certainly an excellent start. There are some big laughs, cool effects. and a great atmosphere to it. With a bigger budget McMahon has the potential to turn out something really good and hopefully he'll get that chance in the near future. For now though, horror fans and zombie fanatics should have no problem feasting on the flesh of Dead Meat.