The dreadful "hey, let's make our very own zombie movie" epidemic spreads itself much faster than any actual apocalyptic zombie virus ever could. If you're a young and aspiring, but largely untalented director nowadays, all you have to do is write down the five page scenario of a zombie flick and set aside $10 for some lousy digital gross-out effects! And yet for some reason, I always get tricked into watching yet another one, and I'm sure many fellow true genre fanatics with me. In case of "Cannon Fodder" I thought it would be worth a look because it's made in Israel and links back to the current armed conflicts over there, but it predictably turned out to be the same nonsense in a different language. The supposedly retired (figures...) Special Forces commander Doran is sent on a mission, along with three highly trained soldiers, to hostile Lebanon territories in order to capture and bring back the dangerous #3 Hezbollah leader. It rapidly turns out to be a suicide mission, as their target is a scientist who developed a virus that turns innocent people into flesh-craving zombies. "Cannon Fodder" seriously lacks originality and blatantly steals numerous elements from George A. Romero's "Day of the Dead" and several other classic genre milestones. The main characters, Commander Doran and his Special Ops Team, are walking-talking stereotypes and the fact they speak Hebrew doesn't change a thing about this. Writer/director Eitan Gafny doesn't bother to create a brooding, unsettling atmosphere and seemingly doesn't want us to have sympathy for any of the characters (including the totally innocent Lebanese population). The extreme gore and excessive bloodshed is painful to watch as a genuine horror fan, since it's all computer-generated garbage that didn't require any cinematic craftsmanship. I will – once again – make a note to myself NOT to watch anymore zombie flicks.
Review of Cannon Fodder
