This is a cheap, poor, unoriginal direct-to-DVD ultra-low budgeter that will satisfy only the most undemanding. If you liked the ugly, careless Italian zombie flicks from the early 1980s made by Claudio Fragasso and Bruno Mattei, this is a perfect match to that kind of dated, barely competent attempt at exploitation. It is not entirely without its saving graces: Ken Foree is as good as the silly, uninventive script and laughable dialogues allow; make-up efx are solid, but barely visibly because of the overuse of shaky-cam which spoils every action scene. Photography is dark, grainy and shaky, and the Tarzan-English spoken by the Serbian actors can be compared to the Engrish found in Miike's SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO. Solid potentials are largely wasted in this silly little flick.
50 Reviews
Serbs made a zombie movie ...at least they tried
stevagaleb4 March 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I rly don't know what to say...this movie is just plain terrible.Dialogues are just plain awful,there is to much shaky cam every action scene is like an earthquake and etc. I am thinking to say a few god words for this movie but i cant rly find any accept maybe for Vukota Brajovic who plays some armagedon dude who escaped from sanitarium and goes on zombie rampage :)Personaly only reason why i didn't left the cinema like bout 25 other ppl did in second half of the movie was because of him:) Anyway i gave this movie 5 only coz its first Serbian zombie movie ever! and respect for that guys but still movie sux and its not worthy of your time and money.
Pretty bad.
asmblur6 March 2010
First off, I like zombie movies and understand that they tend to be less-than perfect. Even so, this one is pretty bad. The acting is wooden and uninspired, the effects only so-so and the plot isn't very original at all.
The lighting is also quite bad.
I'm not sure what else to say about it except that the majority of the voters here must have been involved in the production because 5.9 is an unbelievably high number for this film. If you were involved in this film, please do not ever take part in any films in the future! And please refrain from voting up a stinker like this. Thank you.
The lighting is also quite bad.
I'm not sure what else to say about it except that the majority of the voters here must have been involved in the production because 5.9 is an unbelievably high number for this film. If you were involved in this film, please do not ever take part in any films in the future! And please refrain from voting up a stinker like this. Thank you.
Oh dear...
bertbert15 March 2010
Firstly the good news. Ken Foree is an absolute legend and it's great to see him returning to the zombie horror genre.
And now for the bad news, which is absolutely everything else. Having read some good reviews on this film, I decided to give it a go as I'm a big fan of zombie flicks even bad ones. It isn't often that I can't watch a film to the end (The Country Bears being the last one - I even made it through the Squeakquel) but at the half way mark I felt like eating my own head. Around two thirds of the way through I couldn't take any more and fast forwarded through the rest, stopping every so often to see if it improved. It didn't.
Allow me to list off some of the things that made this the worst movie I have ever seen.
1. The dubbing. At least I hope it was all dubbed. If these idiots really speak like this, they should all be shot.
2. The acting. OMG! Where did they get these muppets from? Everything was wrong and I do realise that zombie movies rarely get Oscar nominations. The body language was completely wooden - not one person (including Ken) managed to look like they really were in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. They looked like they were taking part in a primary school play and a bad one at that.
3. The plot. Seems like the same terrible primary school did the screen writing as well. If you were responsible for the script then you should be ashamed. Never, ever write anything again. I mean it. Put the pen down. Bite your fingers off. You'll be doing us all a favour.
If I can prevent one person from ever having to go through watching this drivel, then I can rest easy knowing my sacrifice wasn't in vain.
You've been warned...
And now for the bad news, which is absolutely everything else. Having read some good reviews on this film, I decided to give it a go as I'm a big fan of zombie flicks even bad ones. It isn't often that I can't watch a film to the end (The Country Bears being the last one - I even made it through the Squeakquel) but at the half way mark I felt like eating my own head. Around two thirds of the way through I couldn't take any more and fast forwarded through the rest, stopping every so often to see if it improved. It didn't.
Allow me to list off some of the things that made this the worst movie I have ever seen.
1. The dubbing. At least I hope it was all dubbed. If these idiots really speak like this, they should all be shot.
2. The acting. OMG! Where did they get these muppets from? Everything was wrong and I do realise that zombie movies rarely get Oscar nominations. The body language was completely wooden - not one person (including Ken) managed to look like they really were in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. They looked like they were taking part in a primary school play and a bad one at that.
3. The plot. Seems like the same terrible primary school did the screen writing as well. If you were responsible for the script then you should be ashamed. Never, ever write anything again. I mean it. Put the pen down. Bite your fingers off. You'll be doing us all a favour.
If I can prevent one person from ever having to go through watching this drivel, then I can rest easy knowing my sacrifice wasn't in vain.
You've been warned...
I used to work at the library now it's all gone...
amesmonde29 October 2011
InterPol agents join forces with a dangerous prisoner to fend off the zombie hordes.
Zone of the Dead is a zombie actioner produced in Serbia. Many low budget zombie films are still effective, however, Zone of Dead isn't one of them and is poorly put together.
Stefano Caprioli's score is good but it's unevenly placed over the film, at times distracting. The same can be said for the sound. The make up effects are well done and the setting adds atmosphere. There's a handful of sets ups with a little sword and gun play. Milan Todorovic and Vukota Brajovic's story is adequate. Directors Milan Konjevic and Milan Todorovic over use the shaky cam look and there's no getting away from Konjevic's sub-par screenplay.
Kristina Klebe as Agent Mina Milius lights up the screen and of course there's Ken Foree but they can't save that poor script which is badly delivered by the majority of rest of the cast.
It faults are to distracting for you to sit back and enjoy it as much as it may deserve. All the ingredients are there but someone wasn't watching the cooking times. True DTV hell.
Zone of the Dead is a zombie actioner produced in Serbia. Many low budget zombie films are still effective, however, Zone of Dead isn't one of them and is poorly put together.
Stefano Caprioli's score is good but it's unevenly placed over the film, at times distracting. The same can be said for the sound. The make up effects are well done and the setting adds atmosphere. There's a handful of sets ups with a little sword and gun play. Milan Todorovic and Vukota Brajovic's story is adequate. Directors Milan Konjevic and Milan Todorovic over use the shaky cam look and there's no getting away from Konjevic's sub-par screenplay.
Kristina Klebe as Agent Mina Milius lights up the screen and of course there's Ken Foree but they can't save that poor script which is badly delivered by the majority of rest of the cast.
It faults are to distracting for you to sit back and enjoy it as much as it may deserve. All the ingredients are there but someone wasn't watching the cooking times. True DTV hell.
Worst film I've ever almost seen
dabby14 March 2010
I'm not sure if this even counts as a review, but I'm a hardcore zombie flick fan. If its been made and it has zombies in it, chances are I own it. So I've come across my fair share of low budget movies and cheesy acting in my time, but absolutely nothing compares to this film.
Straight up, I couldn't sit through the whole film. The acting is so wooden, and the dialogue is so forced, that watching it seems like you're indulging children putting on a once-rehearsed play. Apparently it was translated from Serbian by a brain-damaged hamster. The average guy on the street could give a better performance than almost every single member of the cast, with a few "yeah okay" exceptions.
If you're a fan of zombie movies, don't rent or buy this piece of crap. It scores nil on all draws. I give it ten severed thumbs down.
Straight up, I couldn't sit through the whole film. The acting is so wooden, and the dialogue is so forced, that watching it seems like you're indulging children putting on a once-rehearsed play. Apparently it was translated from Serbian by a brain-damaged hamster. The average guy on the street could give a better performance than almost every single member of the cast, with a few "yeah okay" exceptions.
If you're a fan of zombie movies, don't rent or buy this piece of crap. It scores nil on all draws. I give it ten severed thumbs down.
simply put... crap
hello-519-1667382 November 2012
OK, I get it: zombie movies don't need great acting, or a good story or decent camera work to be watchable or entertaining. But what we have here is some of the worst examples of all of the above. Really terrible doesn't even describe it, because it still leaves open the possibility of this movie being truly bad, yet somehow fun. However, "Zone of the Dead" is as much fun as a visit to the dentist. A drunken dentist, that is.
I wish it had one redeemable quality worth mentioning. Even Foree is awful in this one, not to mention the rest of the wooden protagonists. Don't waste your time.
I wish it had one redeemable quality worth mentioning. Even Foree is awful in this one, not to mention the rest of the wooden protagonists. Don't waste your time.
Hell is going to overflow, and the dead will rise... forever
paul_haakonsen14 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Well, this movie have good intentions and manages to deliver a fairly decent entertainment value.
As a zombie genre fan, I had to see this movie, and I am not disappointed that I did. It was adequately put together, though it had some faults.
The good things in the movie was the atmosphere, that worked quite well, both in the nighttime and the daytime scenes. Sort of had somewhat of a Resident Evil game atmosphere feeling to it.
And also Ken Foree, being the zombie movie icon that he is. And the "in your face" obvious references to his previous work. That line he fired off about zombies finding a way into a mall, that was just classic. You got to love humor like that.
The make-up and wardrobe of the zombies was quite nice, though I think glazed over milky white lenses would have been better, as it would have added that special zombie depth to the living dead in the movie.
And of course, a Serbian zombie movie! Wow, who would have seen that coming? And they actually make it work quite well. Just goes to prove that you don't need Hollywood to participate to make something good.
... Now for the bad things in the movie. Well for starters there was a lot of mistakes, where you stop and go "what the...."! For starters, some zombies walk stiffly (like they should, with rigor mortis setting in), while others do the really weird electric boogie-like quivering while walking (those made me laugh so hard, and kind of hard to take a quivering zombie actor serious). And also, as a zombie you are dead, then why did we see vapor coming out from the zombies as the actors/actresses breathed? That one wasn't fully thought through.
It was a good effort to have the entire movie in English, but with the Serbian accent and different levels of English skills, it made for a mixed experience. Had they kept the movie in Serbian it would have been more believable. And while we are on the language part, what was up with that strange mutated form of British accent on that presidential secretary lady?
Keeping it in the audio department. The groaning sounds of the zombies sounded like growling lions, that was just too stupid. That made it hard to get into it.
And in the police station, the girl says there is no power and they need to find a generator, but oddly enough the lights in the ceiling in several places is working?
...Anyway, despite these flaws in the movie, it actually made for a good watching experience. I liked the movie and think it is quite good for a semi-low budget movie. With the constant action in the movie and the heaps of zombies (and cool zombie make-up) you look past these mistakes and just laugh at them. This movie took me by surprise.
If you like zombie movies, make sure to watch this one.
As a zombie genre fan, I had to see this movie, and I am not disappointed that I did. It was adequately put together, though it had some faults.
The good things in the movie was the atmosphere, that worked quite well, both in the nighttime and the daytime scenes. Sort of had somewhat of a Resident Evil game atmosphere feeling to it.
And also Ken Foree, being the zombie movie icon that he is. And the "in your face" obvious references to his previous work. That line he fired off about zombies finding a way into a mall, that was just classic. You got to love humor like that.
The make-up and wardrobe of the zombies was quite nice, though I think glazed over milky white lenses would have been better, as it would have added that special zombie depth to the living dead in the movie.
And of course, a Serbian zombie movie! Wow, who would have seen that coming? And they actually make it work quite well. Just goes to prove that you don't need Hollywood to participate to make something good.
... Now for the bad things in the movie. Well for starters there was a lot of mistakes, where you stop and go "what the...."! For starters, some zombies walk stiffly (like they should, with rigor mortis setting in), while others do the really weird electric boogie-like quivering while walking (those made me laugh so hard, and kind of hard to take a quivering zombie actor serious). And also, as a zombie you are dead, then why did we see vapor coming out from the zombies as the actors/actresses breathed? That one wasn't fully thought through.
It was a good effort to have the entire movie in English, but with the Serbian accent and different levels of English skills, it made for a mixed experience. Had they kept the movie in Serbian it would have been more believable. And while we are on the language part, what was up with that strange mutated form of British accent on that presidential secretary lady?
Keeping it in the audio department. The groaning sounds of the zombies sounded like growling lions, that was just too stupid. That made it hard to get into it.
And in the police station, the girl says there is no power and they need to find a generator, but oddly enough the lights in the ceiling in several places is working?
...Anyway, despite these flaws in the movie, it actually made for a good watching experience. I liked the movie and think it is quite good for a semi-low budget movie. With the constant action in the movie and the heaps of zombies (and cool zombie make-up) you look past these mistakes and just laugh at them. This movie took me by surprise.
If you like zombie movies, make sure to watch this one.
Things to do before watching Borats die to zombies
daniStakset30 December 2011
1. Read the reviews. Compare them. 95% of the reviews are saying that this is the worst zombie film ever. But then there is that 5% that says they loved the film. Comclusion? 5% worked on it.
2. Check the "X out of X users found this review helpful" You'll notice that all of the reviews saying this movie sucks has gotten a lot of thumbs down. Strange, considering the fact that MOST of the reviews ARE saying this Zone of the Dead thing sucks. Conclusion? People who worked on it and other Serbians are actually disliking IMDb reviews in order to make the film look not-as-bad as everyone claims.
This film is the worst zombie related thing i've ever seen. I saw it in the bargain bin for 20SEK (thats about 2) but refused to buy it and downloaded it instead since i knew that those 2 would be better spent on cancer than this film.
Is Ken trolling us? Did he wanna provoke some reaction by doing this? Returning to the zombie genre as a part of the worst zombie film ever? The script sucks. It's sooo wooden, and so is the acting. But what's funny is the way they speak English, i was cracking up because it's literally like watching Borat die to zombies.
And like another reviewer said, tripods are CHEAP. Even the cheapest tripod would do a better job for this film than the shaky camera man who obviously has Parkinsons.
ZotD has 4/10 on IMDb, it should have about 2. And i hope these people never make a film again.
2. Check the "X out of X users found this review helpful" You'll notice that all of the reviews saying this movie sucks has gotten a lot of thumbs down. Strange, considering the fact that MOST of the reviews ARE saying this Zone of the Dead thing sucks. Conclusion? People who worked on it and other Serbians are actually disliking IMDb reviews in order to make the film look not-as-bad as everyone claims.
This film is the worst zombie related thing i've ever seen. I saw it in the bargain bin for 20SEK (thats about 2) but refused to buy it and downloaded it instead since i knew that those 2 would be better spent on cancer than this film.
Is Ken trolling us? Did he wanna provoke some reaction by doing this? Returning to the zombie genre as a part of the worst zombie film ever? The script sucks. It's sooo wooden, and so is the acting. But what's funny is the way they speak English, i was cracking up because it's literally like watching Borat die to zombies.
And like another reviewer said, tripods are CHEAP. Even the cheapest tripod would do a better job for this film than the shaky camera man who obviously has Parkinsons.
ZotD has 4/10 on IMDb, it should have about 2. And i hope these people never make a film again.
Not good, just not good
dmstokes7323 April 2011
The Serbian English in this makes the whole thing clumsy with the plot and dialog getting slowed down and stilted. There may have been a half decent movie in here but you just can't plow through the stilted language.
The American actors are B Grade and the Serbian actors are forcing their English. The Serbian setting is atmospheric but not enough to redeem the failure of the direction.
The sub-plot with about obsession with duty is a steaming pile of counter productive
This is not an original or even exciting production. The girls are pretty and the zombies ugly but apart from that it has very little to redeem it. Give this one a miss.
The American actors are B Grade and the Serbian actors are forcing their English. The Serbian setting is atmospheric but not enough to redeem the failure of the direction.
The sub-plot with about obsession with duty is a steaming pile of counter productive
This is not an original or even exciting production. The girls are pretty and the zombies ugly but apart from that it has very little to redeem it. Give this one a miss.
Yeah worth a miss if you find this in the bargain bin
ghostuk15 August 2011
Well what can I really say about this film that I haven't summed up with the vote, this film was awful, a real shame, I found this in the bargain bin at Asda and now I know why.
I was originally excited to see Ken Foree return to a zombie movie role, but that excitement soon wore off, the acting from everyone involved in this movie including Ken was just wooden and without real emotion, there is no sense that they are trapped in a "Zone of the dead" The special effects are terrible, almost seeming that the budget was so tight after waisting most of it on beer for the zombie extra's, I think that the makeup effects make the "long dead zombies" look like white faced clowns with bust noses.
I managed to watch to the end of this movie for the simple fact that I was hoping that it would get better and that I hadn't just waisted my £3, sadly this was not the case. Please, whoever funded this movie never give the people responsible for this movie funding again, ever, and please heed the warning that if I was left in a room with only this movie to watch again or to peel of my own skin that I would gladly start peeling.
I was originally excited to see Ken Foree return to a zombie movie role, but that excitement soon wore off, the acting from everyone involved in this movie including Ken was just wooden and without real emotion, there is no sense that they are trapped in a "Zone of the dead" The special effects are terrible, almost seeming that the budget was so tight after waisting most of it on beer for the zombie extra's, I think that the makeup effects make the "long dead zombies" look like white faced clowns with bust noses.
I managed to watch to the end of this movie for the simple fact that I was hoping that it would get better and that I hadn't just waisted my £3, sadly this was not the case. Please, whoever funded this movie never give the people responsible for this movie funding again, ever, and please heed the warning that if I was left in a room with only this movie to watch again or to peel of my own skin that I would gladly start peeling.
Refreshing Zombie Movie, Great Fun
paddystarrs3 March 2010
i got around to watching this movie yesterday, and to be honest had little expectations for it. i am glad to say my forebodings were without merit and i enjoyed this movie from start to finish. after the first 10 minutes it is obvious this movie was made on a low budget and the viewer has to see it for what it is, a low budget movie. that been said, with the resources available this is a little gem of a movie for all zombie/horror movie fans. this movie took elements of all zombie movies gone before and gelled them together quite well. the slow and fast zombie mix was a refreshing twist which worked well and showed an almost pecking order between the undead! i wont spoil this movie by giving away the plot too much but i will say with a bit more money behind him this director could give Romero a run for his money!!
This Was Awful...I Had A Lot of Fun!
hinesgtrservice13 March 2010
This little film was able to capture something that many, many horror films haven't been able to capture since the late 80s/early 90s - it's so bad, it's good.
Nowadays in the horror genre, many aspiring young filmmakers make a conscious effort to make their film "so bad, it's good", but fail miserably. This film achieves this because it's genuine. The same reason so many campy horror films of the 80s were able to achieve this, they 1.) didn't take the film too seriously, and 2.) made a real effort to do their best without trying to make it so bad, it's good.
There are some just frightfully terrible scenes that will have you rolling, there's a fair amount of violence, the acting is atrocious, the script was just amazingly horrid. Put these together with a desire to make a decent "B" zombie film and you get magic.
It made me a bit nostalgic actually. If you're an old-school horror fanatic, you'll definitely find some entertainment value in this. Don't let your kids and teenagers watch terrible, pompous remakes of old Romero classics, let them see what we saw all those years ago - a genuine attempt to make a compelling zombie film that fails terribly due to a lack of money and talent in every category.
Seriously, this movie gets a 7/10 simply because it did what movies are initially intended to do - entertain.
Nowadays in the horror genre, many aspiring young filmmakers make a conscious effort to make their film "so bad, it's good", but fail miserably. This film achieves this because it's genuine. The same reason so many campy horror films of the 80s were able to achieve this, they 1.) didn't take the film too seriously, and 2.) made a real effort to do their best without trying to make it so bad, it's good.
There are some just frightfully terrible scenes that will have you rolling, there's a fair amount of violence, the acting is atrocious, the script was just amazingly horrid. Put these together with a desire to make a decent "B" zombie film and you get magic.
It made me a bit nostalgic actually. If you're an old-school horror fanatic, you'll definitely find some entertainment value in this. Don't let your kids and teenagers watch terrible, pompous remakes of old Romero classics, let them see what we saw all those years ago - a genuine attempt to make a compelling zombie film that fails terribly due to a lack of money and talent in every category.
Seriously, this movie gets a 7/10 simply because it did what movies are initially intended to do - entertain.
I'm bored to death, and I prefer that than finish the movie.
jayync31 July 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I'm home alone, out of things to do. Movie as a great way to pass time. Seeing I'm very limited on option, I've decided to NOT watch the movie and twiddle my thumb than torture myself with this piece of abomination.
I can understand low budget, could determine the popularity of the movie. But I've watched quite a few VERY low budget movies, and I've actually bear to watch to the end, enjoyed it even. But this movie is so bad, it's so terribad that I couldn't find a hip enough term to describe how horrible this is.
The acting. Honestly, are the actors not chosen before filming? It's as if they were just picked off off the streets and brought them into casting. Their facial expression is totally wrong, out of place, their body language is absolutely...Well, the actors are "derping" almost through out the entire film. Yes, you do need professional training to be some great quality actors/actress. But you do not need such to be good enough to impress, for example*****Minor Spoiler****: the stance on holding a firearm. The protagonist is a 20year CIA agent, yet he does not know how to hold a pistol and flashlight together.
The camera. It shakes so very often on purpose it literally gave me a headache. I do not know what it is trying to achieve by filming the movie on a roller coaster, heck! To exaggerate, even filming on roller coaster is better than this.
The dialog. It is just so horrible that I mentally wanted to rip my hair off. I believe the cast are well over age of 25, yet their dialog sounded more dull, stupid, untrained than a 13years old.
All in all, I know the definition of like and dislike is pure personal opinion. And I myself can accept a large varieties of opinions quite well. But honest to God, I could not comprehend how any sane human being can rate this movie past 4 stars; And 4 stars is a very generous score for this abomination.
Save yourself some time, some bandwidth, some money, some pain. Just go search for a better zombie title.
I can understand low budget, could determine the popularity of the movie. But I've watched quite a few VERY low budget movies, and I've actually bear to watch to the end, enjoyed it even. But this movie is so bad, it's so terribad that I couldn't find a hip enough term to describe how horrible this is.
The acting. Honestly, are the actors not chosen before filming? It's as if they were just picked off off the streets and brought them into casting. Their facial expression is totally wrong, out of place, their body language is absolutely...Well, the actors are "derping" almost through out the entire film. Yes, you do need professional training to be some great quality actors/actress. But you do not need such to be good enough to impress, for example*****Minor Spoiler****: the stance on holding a firearm. The protagonist is a 20year CIA agent, yet he does not know how to hold a pistol and flashlight together.
The camera. It shakes so very often on purpose it literally gave me a headache. I do not know what it is trying to achieve by filming the movie on a roller coaster, heck! To exaggerate, even filming on roller coaster is better than this.
The dialog. It is just so horrible that I mentally wanted to rip my hair off. I believe the cast are well over age of 25, yet their dialog sounded more dull, stupid, untrained than a 13years old.
All in all, I know the definition of like and dislike is pure personal opinion. And I myself can accept a large varieties of opinions quite well. But honest to God, I could not comprehend how any sane human being can rate this movie past 4 stars; And 4 stars is a very generous score for this abomination.
Save yourself some time, some bandwidth, some money, some pain. Just go search for a better zombie title.
Ugh!
jjdosha30 December 2010
This movie is a waste of your time. The acting was horrible; the effects were bad (even with the proper lighting) and the plot just lacked and lacked and lacked....and i enjoy a decent zombie flick from time to time; but this was terrible. A few little peaks of mechanical effects, but that is all!! I've seen worse, but not much worse. This movie is overcome by characters who are not only uninteresting and annoying, but appear to be movie extras on an audition tape. I felt the storyline could have been reworked, but everything begged replacement - from the actors to the special effects. This film would favor better as a spoof than a horror flick.
Crap dipped in crap
brian-tipton6 March 2010
Oh Ken Foree, how I long to see you and Tony Todd team up for a buddy zombie actioner. This kind of tripe is beneath you. From the terrible dialog to the ridiculous metalcore soundtrack, this Eastern European production is almost unwatchable. Any actor involved in this should re- consider a different career, maybe the culinary arts. I'm imagining the script in my head, don't ask me why, and it probably reads better than it plays on screen. I'd easily put this on the lower end of all zombie movies. Even though English is spoken through the whole movie, it seems like a bad dub. Here's a line of the dialog "Call me Dragon", "nice to meet you Mr. Dragon", "No, just Dragon, haaaahaaha". Seriously.
It has Ken Foree in it, that's something at least
adamscastlevania29 April 2015
(8%) After the first ten minutes or so this is a bit of a trial to watch, then the zombies show up and it gets a little better, and when Dawn of the dead legend Ken Foree makes an appearance you start to wonder if this could be something worth investing interest into. Well sadly this isn't worth ten minutes of anyone's time; never mind 90, as this clearly made by annoying zombie movie fans is a huge waste of effort mainly because it's just so lacking in ideas. You really cannot get away with making typical zombie films any more without there being something new or interesting added into the mix to keep things fresh. This has nothing new to offer whatsoever, it's not very well made, the writing is awful, and it has a cheap feel throughout. My advice: stick with the original Night/Dawn/Day of the dead.
Starring Ken Foree and lots of people whose surnames end in 'vic'.
BA_Harrison25 May 2014
Someone thought they were being oh-so clever when they cast Dawn of the Dead star Ken Foree in this zombie film and then had him reference his role in the Romero classic, when in reality this is one of the most embarrassingly trite things to do in a modern zombie film (along with calling a character Savini, which they also do here!).
In fact, there is absolutely nothing innovative or clever about this sorry affair that trots out all the expected zombie movie clichés—which might not have been quite so bad if the film hadn't been performed by a bunch of untalented Serbians struggling with the English language and directed by a pair of horror rookies who clearly think that an excess of shaky cam makes a zombie attack more scary (and who also have their undead roaring like wild animals just to be sure) .
Some reasonable make-up/gore effects prevent the film from being a complete waste of time, and a few unintentional laughs can be had from an out-of-shape Foree as he attempts to outrun the undead (even the slow ones—this film features zombies of all speeds) and struggles to squeeze his gut through the window of a railway carriage.
3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for the blood 'n' guts.
In fact, there is absolutely nothing innovative or clever about this sorry affair that trots out all the expected zombie movie clichés—which might not have been quite so bad if the film hadn't been performed by a bunch of untalented Serbians struggling with the English language and directed by a pair of horror rookies who clearly think that an excess of shaky cam makes a zombie attack more scary (and who also have their undead roaring like wild animals just to be sure) .
Some reasonable make-up/gore effects prevent the film from being a complete waste of time, and a few unintentional laughs can be had from an out-of-shape Foree as he attempts to outrun the undead (even the slow ones—this film features zombies of all speeds) and struggles to squeeze his gut through the window of a railway carriage.
3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for the blood 'n' guts.
Could have been better
panosdial17 January 2013
This one is another zombie flick from a non-Hollywood production. In the passed years we have seen so many movies based on the contamination-turns- men-to-zombies from around the world (even Thailand). To be honest, this particular movie could have been much better 'cause the atmosphere is good and creepy, the zombies are greatly done and the action is OK. But all this package is ruined by the poor (to non-existent) performance of the actors/actresses and the bad -not to say crap- lines. BUT -yes there is a BUT here- if you're a fan of those bloodthirsty creatures called zombies, walkers etc and you love to see shooting, chopping and all the relevant stuff these movies produce and provide, you can gather some friends, make some popcorn, watch it and then, turn off your DVD and just forget about it.
Lacked anything that stood out
smallpaul_248 March 2010
I bought this film expecting it to be an enjoyable film but did not have high expectations (as I hadn't heard much about it). What I got was something that I did not expect, an all round poor film. There were several points that stuck out: No matter what budget a film has It should not be out of sync, several scenes were poorly edited.
During a film a major character should not just be introduced with no back story, whilst he quotes strange and probably considered "epic" lines.
An awful script was behind this film, It lacked any back story to the characters and just jumped back and forth. The script was probably not helped by the poor acting.
Awful directing and poor lighting throughout.
Overall this film was a huge let down, even on it's limited budget i'd still expect more and hope that at least the film would flow together. I'm a huge fan of Horror films, including those not that well known but this should not have been made....
During a film a major character should not just be introduced with no back story, whilst he quotes strange and probably considered "epic" lines.
An awful script was behind this film, It lacked any back story to the characters and just jumped back and forth. The script was probably not helped by the poor acting.
Awful directing and poor lighting throughout.
Overall this film was a huge let down, even on it's limited budget i'd still expect more and hope that at least the film would flow together. I'm a huge fan of Horror films, including those not that well known but this should not have been made....
A lot of parts did not make sense
kham_phet22 March 2010
Warning: Spoilers
This movie could have been good, I wouldn't have been great though.
It is a low budget film, had some good moments but a lot of parts just didn't make any sense.
there's a lot of parts where, the 'super decorated' Mr. Know-it-All ex-military ex-CIA guy, seems like he does not know anything. Then there's a part where he is yelling at a male prisoner, and then when his female com rad tries to yell at the prisoner, he gets all mad at the girl.
The film attempts to link the (real) Chernobyl nuclear accident with zombies....which i assume is their attempt to make this film worthy. which in my opinion, was a silly attempt.
in the beginning, a dude with a bio-suit and chemical gas mask, turns into a zombie...but an old man with a gas mask doesn't...hrm.....a guy kills a zombie by throwing the zombie to the ground, that's all...hrmmmm.... then there's a really weird scene with a female just spasming out from anxiety and simply approaches the zombies, just out of the blue and made no sense. and then there's an attempted funny wanna-be-stunt by the male prisoner, where he does an Asian style John Woo or Chow Yun Fat diving style with gun in hand, that did even have to be done. I mean, it didn't even make sense why he was flying thru the air and diving, because the zombies where kinda far away. and most scenes with diving and guns in hand, are usually done with gun battles and used as a quick out of the corner surprise attack...this dude, didn't have to do a surprise attack hahahahahaha....just funny...and I'm guessing they must have even did high fives after shooting that scene...I actually laughed at the stunt and asking myself why?....at the end, one of the girls simply just disappears...shes like not in the film anymore hahahahaha...she gets saved by some trigger happy wanna-be Rambo dude, with hundreds of zombies around...he saves her from two zombies, and there's hundreds left around her...and then...bammmmmm...where did she go?? did she quit because of lack of funding and her salary wasn't paid? hehehe some reporter dude, decides hes will become heartless and drive off yelling he wont help anyone..but in an earlier scene he is helping other people...again, hrmmmm.....
the acting is bad if not awful, all of the actors. a lot of nonsense scenes, wasted film and filming time...like scenes that just took too long and nonsense talking. odd positioning of actor/actress...
Im guessing the script wasn't solid so they made stuff up as they filmed this movie....which is why there was literally multiple, mountains and oceans of errors in this movie....
just weird man...weird...you would think that professionals would remember certain things....guess not....
if you decide to watch this...you can literally fast forward thru 95% of it....so, question is, why even watch this?
It is a low budget film, had some good moments but a lot of parts just didn't make any sense.
there's a lot of parts where, the 'super decorated' Mr. Know-it-All ex-military ex-CIA guy, seems like he does not know anything. Then there's a part where he is yelling at a male prisoner, and then when his female com rad tries to yell at the prisoner, he gets all mad at the girl.
The film attempts to link the (real) Chernobyl nuclear accident with zombies....which i assume is their attempt to make this film worthy. which in my opinion, was a silly attempt.
in the beginning, a dude with a bio-suit and chemical gas mask, turns into a zombie...but an old man with a gas mask doesn't...hrm.....a guy kills a zombie by throwing the zombie to the ground, that's all...hrmmmm.... then there's a really weird scene with a female just spasming out from anxiety and simply approaches the zombies, just out of the blue and made no sense. and then there's an attempted funny wanna-be-stunt by the male prisoner, where he does an Asian style John Woo or Chow Yun Fat diving style with gun in hand, that did even have to be done. I mean, it didn't even make sense why he was flying thru the air and diving, because the zombies where kinda far away. and most scenes with diving and guns in hand, are usually done with gun battles and used as a quick out of the corner surprise attack...this dude, didn't have to do a surprise attack hahahahahaha....just funny...and I'm guessing they must have even did high fives after shooting that scene...I actually laughed at the stunt and asking myself why?....at the end, one of the girls simply just disappears...shes like not in the film anymore hahahahaha...she gets saved by some trigger happy wanna-be Rambo dude, with hundreds of zombies around...he saves her from two zombies, and there's hundreds left around her...and then...bammmmmm...where did she go?? did she quit because of lack of funding and her salary wasn't paid? hehehe some reporter dude, decides hes will become heartless and drive off yelling he wont help anyone..but in an earlier scene he is helping other people...again, hrmmmm.....
the acting is bad if not awful, all of the actors. a lot of nonsense scenes, wasted film and filming time...like scenes that just took too long and nonsense talking. odd positioning of actor/actress...
Im guessing the script wasn't solid so they made stuff up as they filmed this movie....which is why there was literally multiple, mountains and oceans of errors in this movie....
just weird man...weird...you would think that professionals would remember certain things....guess not....
if you decide to watch this...you can literally fast forward thru 95% of it....so, question is, why even watch this?
Old school zombie action!
dima-127 March 2009
Zone of the Dead is the first zombie actioner produced in Serbia. It belongs to a growing Serbian genre scene that has quite a few surprises up its sleeve and since 2002 produced some fine films like slasher TT Sindrom by Dejan Zecevic and youth oriented creature feature Sheitan's Warrior by Stevan Filipovic. Unlike typical European genre fare outside of Italian film industry, this feature is very orthodox in its approach to the genre substance. Maybe because Italians were involved as co-producers. The plot is very Carpenteresque and pits a group of police officers escorting a prisoner against the zombie infestation caused by an ecological disaster.
Zone of the Dead doesn't try to expand and bend the genre territory, it opts to be exploitation in the Italian sense and reminds of Italian exploitation films from the early 80s with Fred Williamson in charge. Only this time, Ken Foree, the sole zombie film icon, is in charge and headlines this production. It is refreshing to see such deadpan zombie concept, especially when genrebending projects like World War Z and Zombieland start piling up. This film is trying to play the zombie threat straight and to spice it up with gunfights and action and I guess audience of Resident Evil-series will find it useful to fill the gap between installments of that movie franchise.
The set-up echoes Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 and the zombie action is along the lines of Lamberto Bava's Demons. It is very uncommon for Serbian cinema that the violence and zombie mayhem are handled quite well, and Zone of the Dead delivers the goods on the level of contemporary B-movie fare. Special kudos go to Miroslav Lakobrija, this film's makeup wiz who did a great job with all kinds of bloodletting and zombie prosthetics.
Ken Foree is quite solid in his first leading role in over 30 years and Kristina Klebe uses her opportunity to expand on the 'scream queen' reputation gained in Rob Z|zombie's Halloween remake. Up until now, a relative unknown Emilio Roso, who was cast as The Prisoner, creates a fine variation on Napoleon Wilson.
Directors Milan Konjevic and Milan Todorovic with their Serbian crew bring a lot of energy to the proceedings. Even though this film was made on a moderate budget it still delivers shootouts, chases, hordes of zombies, crashing cars and full on human vs zombies battle climax. Zombies in the film are both the slow ones invented by Romero and fast ones championed by Snyder so it is obvious the authors of the first Serbian zombie film wanted to cram all of the zombie traditions into one film. The only zombies missing are those who rose form the grave.
Zone of the Dead is a must for the genre fans, not just as a curio since it was made in Serbia, but also as a much needed shot of VHS era Italo influence exploitation that you may need in these ironic genrebending times. It is currently in Serbian cinemas. It is also about to hit Spanish and Italian cinemas in May while other territories will certainly get a DVD release in no time.
Zone of the Dead doesn't try to expand and bend the genre territory, it opts to be exploitation in the Italian sense and reminds of Italian exploitation films from the early 80s with Fred Williamson in charge. Only this time, Ken Foree, the sole zombie film icon, is in charge and headlines this production. It is refreshing to see such deadpan zombie concept, especially when genrebending projects like World War Z and Zombieland start piling up. This film is trying to play the zombie threat straight and to spice it up with gunfights and action and I guess audience of Resident Evil-series will find it useful to fill the gap between installments of that movie franchise.
The set-up echoes Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 and the zombie action is along the lines of Lamberto Bava's Demons. It is very uncommon for Serbian cinema that the violence and zombie mayhem are handled quite well, and Zone of the Dead delivers the goods on the level of contemporary B-movie fare. Special kudos go to Miroslav Lakobrija, this film's makeup wiz who did a great job with all kinds of bloodletting and zombie prosthetics.
Ken Foree is quite solid in his first leading role in over 30 years and Kristina Klebe uses her opportunity to expand on the 'scream queen' reputation gained in Rob Z|zombie's Halloween remake. Up until now, a relative unknown Emilio Roso, who was cast as The Prisoner, creates a fine variation on Napoleon Wilson.
Directors Milan Konjevic and Milan Todorovic with their Serbian crew bring a lot of energy to the proceedings. Even though this film was made on a moderate budget it still delivers shootouts, chases, hordes of zombies, crashing cars and full on human vs zombies battle climax. Zombies in the film are both the slow ones invented by Romero and fast ones championed by Snyder so it is obvious the authors of the first Serbian zombie film wanted to cram all of the zombie traditions into one film. The only zombies missing are those who rose form the grave.
Zone of the Dead is a must for the genre fans, not just as a curio since it was made in Serbia, but also as a much needed shot of VHS era Italo influence exploitation that you may need in these ironic genrebending times. It is currently in Serbian cinemas. It is also about to hit Spanish and Italian cinemas in May while other territories will certainly get a DVD release in no time.
Old School Zombie Cool
harliquinz10 March 2010
Definitely a throw back to the "old school" of zombie film making. The acting, direction and dialogue are rather wooden and stilted for the most part as with Romeros classics but that said it does give this film the look and feel of the originals and thus makes it an entertaining way to spend your viewing afternoon. There are some rather irritating moments when the main protagonists whilst running from hordes of pursuing zombies still find time to stop mid flight to engage in some rather meaningless and throwaway conversation and one liners but not enough to spoil the movie. This movie, although low budget and with flaws does on the whole entertain albeit in a predictable fashion with few surprises. If you like the old school feel, this movie is worth a look and will satisfy your blood lust, if you prefer the more high end, special effect type of movie, it's probably not for you.
Dreadful
Kahless6718 December 2010
I am generally a major fan of Zombie flicks as theses tend to be one of my favourite within the horror genre. However Zone of the Dead a.k.a Apocalypse of the Dead in my opinion has to be rated as one of the WORST EVER ZOMBIE FLICKS I have ever seen. At one stage i actually could not even tell whether the film was dubbed or was just bad acting. However it may have improved during the whole film but i could not tell you as i only watched about 25mins or so before i gave it up watching it before i started to fall asleep... In my opinion i would personally say to you watch Terrestial TV rather than watch this film as you would have better entertainment, unless you need something to help you sleep at night then this is the perfect flick for you...
white rabid clown with mask
masapi28 October 2010
There are so many other problems with this film. While making a zombie film shouldn't demand a huge budget, this film demonstrates that you need mostly a BRAIN rather than budget. Even the cheapest and silliest spaghetti-zombie is more interesting and entertaining... and they have been done 20 years ago. Even the shaky videocam Blair Witch is deeper than this flick. Here a new list of problems:
1. Character roles: stereotyped and oh so boring.
2. Acting: embarrassing.
3. Script and dialogues: terrible.
4. The plot: pointless and unoriginal.
5: the horror: which part exactly is meant to be frightening?
6: Photography and aesthetics: grey grey grey.
7: Zombies: rabid outcasts led by a white masked pierrot
8: Srating/ending titles: is it meant to be a sort of live action video game?
9: Music: was there any?
Better go see "VIRUS / Hell of the Living Dead" by Bruno Mattei.
1. Character roles: stereotyped and oh so boring.
2. Acting: embarrassing.
3. Script and dialogues: terrible.
4. The plot: pointless and unoriginal.
5: the horror: which part exactly is meant to be frightening?
6: Photography and aesthetics: grey grey grey.
7: Zombies: rabid outcasts led by a white masked pierrot
8: Srating/ending titles: is it meant to be a sort of live action video game?
9: Music: was there any?
Better go see "VIRUS / Hell of the Living Dead" by Bruno Mattei.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
