Eaters

Uwe Boll just put his name on it but he has nothing to do about the making of this film so unless you're stupid enough to be fooled by the name like Romeu Rosa did in his/her review you shouldn't judge by this. Remember even Coppola, Scorsese, Lucas or Spielberg put their names on terrible things too. Just see it as a typical Italian zombie movie, the kind the Italians did in the 70s or the 80s. The ones that were hated at the time but are now loved because they just have names like Fulci or Argento on it. Don't react like Pavlov dogs when you see a name or go by the cult of personality of the "politique des auteurs". Just watch it and judge by yourself. See it as a fun Z movie. Z as in zombie.

Two military/paramilitary guys who work with/for some scientist go out in the country to look for zombies for the scientist. In flashbacks we learn that the wife who is now a zombie used to be a scientist herself working on some project to improve humanity. While they are out there, they run into neo-Nazis for no good reason. These neo Nazis spend their time on some suicidal contest where a couple of them have to face a horde of zombies and the survivor wins. They also have a little Hitler stashed somewhere. While it looks like all youth has been extinguished our heroes rescue a teenage girl who will be the hope of humanity, if she survives her run-in with little Hitler. Our guys also discover truths about the science project and meet the main scientist who know is working for a scientist gone crazy.

Eaters is gory and the effects are very good because they are different than the typical shiny latex used in US special effects. These are cruder which makes them more suited for a zombie movie. Despite the low budget, the movie has a decent look but it's your usual post-apocalyptic colorless look. Our two main characters aren't particularly likable though. There's not much of a main character. The story overall though is interesting and different.

It's sad that things have come to this. Italy was a country responsible for the gory glory days of Lucio Fulci films like ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS and THE BEYOND, where the living dead could be guaranteed to look terrifying and chew copious gouts of blood from their victims in the process. These days the country is reduced to making the likes of EATERS, a shot-on-video piece of zombie trash indistinguishable from a hundred others made in the UK and USA.

The proud declaration of "A Uwe Boll Production" at the film's opening is a warning that this will be terrible and it truly is: there's no real script, just various characters doing evil stuff in a post-apocalyptic zombie world. Yet again the film-making style is to bleach away the colour leaving things looking gloomy and dull. The dialogue consists of various unlikeable characters bickering and shooting zombies, while some evil guys are doing experiments and there are even Nazis thrown into the mix. None of it sticks.

Other than some mild gore effects and not-bad make-up, EATERS is an entire waste of time as a zombie film. You'd be much better off watching decent, recent movies in this genre, like THE HORDE, REC, or WORLD WAR Z; at least they're doing something different, unlike EATERS.

I first saw this in 2011 on a dvd which I own.

Revisited it recently on a fast forward mode.

There is nothing new in this film but that is ok. What is bothering is that the movie is plain boring.

There is a guy who is shown doing push ups.

Man, those push ups looks so fake.

The makers thot that they will create something unique n in that process they made talkative zombies n zombies who are armed.

Generous with a 2 cos it's not directed by Boll but only financed by him.

The poster of the dvd cover is the only saving grace.

Well, seeing the condition of recent Italian movies or movies directed by Italian filmmakers, I really feel sorry for em.

One could certainly argue that the modern zombie films owe a great deal to the Italians. They created a time tested formula that worked. Plus they were never ones to skimp on the gore, and I deeply appreciate that. That being said, there are problems with this formula. Namely, that it's old.

Eaters sticks quite well to the old Italian model, with it's clearly defined protagonists and antagonists, steady introduction of new characters, and healthy dose of violence. All of that works pretty well, but as this way of doing things is - perhaps a little too - time tested it feels a lot like you've seen it a million times. Maybe you have, but that doesn't really mean the movie's no good. It certainly has it's faults, but all in all I found it pretty enjoyable. The characters are well developed, the actors do a good job, and the practical special effects are surprisingly good for a film that feels like it was a little light on budget.