It’s sometimes a hard life being a zombie fan, with only the occasional underground splatter fest such as J.R. Bookwalter’s ‘The Dead Next Door’ (1989) or Peter Jackson’s ‘Braindead’ (1992) to slake our undying thirst for zombiegeddon. Hollywood in recent times has chosen stalking slashers to zombies, and although the remake of Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’ looks promising, it is anything but original. Indeed, the future for those craving new ideas (a zombie in a mosh pit for example), new settings (zombies on the moon perhaps) and new ways to destroy them, has been bleak for some time. That is, until now.
‘Undead’ is an ‘Australian zombie sci-fi action adventure Western’ that meets (and indeed, at times, exceeds) all of the criterion necessary for a classic zombie flick. A young woman called Rene (Felicity Mason) is preparing to leave Berkeley, a peaceful sleepy fishing town, following the death of her parents. However, as she leaves the town is hit by a freak meteor shower. The meteors carry radioactive contagions that transform those they hit into near unstoppable zombies, and those they kill get up and kill!
The zombies soon multiply and overrun the town, forcing Rene to flee into a seemingly abandoned farmhouse. She quickly realizes that the house has an occupant, the loner survivalist cowboy Marion (Mungo McKay), who has been preparing for zombiegeddon by amassing a collection of firearms (including a triple barreled shotgun!), food, gas and building an underground shelter. The pair are soon joined by cowardly policeman Harrison (hilariously played by Dirk Hunter), his partner Molly (Emma Randall) and couple Wayne (Rob Jenkins) and his pregnant wife Sally Anne (Lisa Cunningham), who have to fight for their survival.
Acid rain storms, gore, aliens, more gore and more zombies appear as the film progresses, and in one memorable scene, the group come to the town limits hoping to escape, only to discover a huge wall has encircled the area, trapping them inside. At the feature’s climax Rene discovers the true meaning of the aliens’ presence on Earth but the closing scenes suggest that they are too late…
In all honesty, by the end of this film I was simply jumping for joy. It’s so good to see an original, stylish and comedic zombie-fest return to the big screen. Although this is the first production by the Spierig brothers, the style and tone of the film suggest that they have been making movies for a long time. Whereas many fledgling directors cut their proverbial teeth by making shoddy ‘show reel’ pictures before getting their hands on a big budget and established cast, the Spierigs have made their own self financed film, and what a film it is. Go and see it, enjoy it and then, like me, imagine with excitement the kind of movies these two are going to be making over the next few decades. The mouth waters…
