Review of Dead Men Walking (2005) by Marco M — 13 Jan 2010

I really don't like this movie. I can't in all fairness judge it too harshly because it isn't a big budget zombie flick, but that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve criticism. For starters, this movie has a very interesting premise. A diseased inmate is transferred into a maximum security prison, and infects this prison with a zombie virus. Good premise, half-assed execution.

For one thing, the way the viruse comes to be is never explained. That's usually the way it works in zombie movies, but here, they hint at it, and try to explain it, but they never do completely. They claim it's a top-secret bio-expirement gone wrong. That would work, but why in the hell was this expiriment being conducted in a house and not a lab? Why would an obviously sick criminal, with an obviously terrible disease, be transferred into a maximum security prison without being treated? It just doesn't make sense.

I'm not gonna rip on the acting too much. I mean, it's a budget movie, I wasn't expecting anything. It could have been better, but I could deal with it. The camera work however, really needed some improvement. All the action scenes look like they're being recorded on an expensive home camera, and the video quality constantly changes from passable, to awful. The gore effects were decent, but they recycled a bunch of the same effects for the bitings, mutilations, headshots, and disembowelments throughout the film. Plus, there's a really random titty shot that serves no purpose in the film. It ranks as low as the zombie hookers from Resident Evil: Apocalypse.

There's really not much else to say about this movie. It isn't horrible, but I will never watch it again. It's pretty boring, and it won't keep your interest for the duration of it's length. It was a good idea, but good ideas mean nothing executed improperly. Watch it if you want to see a low-grade zombie flick.