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It's Funny how sometimes a woefully bad movie can catalyze an explosion in the production of a certain genre of movie, be it horror, sci-fi, disaster or whatever. Take for example, the sadly predictable yet lamentable success of the excretable Dawn of the Dead remake; since its smash at the box office, there's been a welcome explosion of zombie flicks, at varying levels of the film industry, as corporations and indie film studios alike rush to stake a claim for the undead dollar, or, if you like, the putrid pound. Obviously several productions have been relatively well-budgeted outings, such as Land of the Dead and Shaun of the Dead, whereas others such as Rise of the Undead and Dead and Breakfast were evidently put together on a less than stellar payroll.
From the word go, it's obvious that Zombie Night falls into the latter category, but that's cool, I always like a low budget shlockfest, especially with zombies. However, although the movie spoon feeds the viewer with a relatively steady supply of cheese via its questionable dialogue, poor editing and laughable acting, it's quite well paced and, credit where it's due, offers some great dismemberment scenes. Beginning in a manner reminiscent of J.R Bookwalter's The Dead Next Door, the opening sequences present a collage of news reports heralding the arrival of the one-day-sure-to-happen-in-real-life zombie apocalypse.
Maybe it was the half bottle of whiskey I'd already sunk by the time I began watching, but it seemed to be quite a gripping opening ten minutes or so, as a young family returning from a holiday listen in stunned horror to radio reports of the holocaust, before their car breaks down and they flee for the sanctuary of a nearby building. Taking shelter in the basement (do these people never learn?), they eventually meet up with various random characters, many of whom literally pop in for mere moments before being chewed up, which is commendable in my book. Amidst the plethora of zombie fodder jobbers, we are also introduced to several stalwarts, including Dave (Danny Ticknovich), who has to shoot his zombie wife and child, Keith (Steve Curtis), a third rate Colin Salmon, and Derek (Dwayne Moniz), a crazed, David Koresh-like nihilist who actually seems, to scholars of Max Brook's The Zombie Survival Guide at least, to have the best ideas about combating the relentless hordes of rotting corpses.
As the film progresses the band of survivors fragments predictably and fractious bickering turns to all out conflict, as Dave and Derek dismiss the zombie peril and concentrate on their own insular power struggle; it's all very familiar stuff. Again, credit to director David J Francis though; as well as occasionally contriving a relatively decent atmosphere, he also enriches the piece with an undercurrent of subtle, tongue in cheek style humour in the direction by leaving in the odd fluffed line or a missed cue, which nicely compliments the varying moments of questionable continuity throughout.
In closing, I can't, in all sincerity, give this movie a high rating as it's simply too flawed both technically and artistically (yes, zombie movies can be art, in my world at least); still, if you're the type who likes to keep their finger on the undead pulse, you could do a hell of a lot worse...Hood of the Living Dead anyone?
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