Virus Undead (2008)

An infection transmitted by diseased birds is causing corpses to reanimate in search of human flesh. As the army of the undead grows, a medical student and his friends find themselves surrounded by zombies, with nowhere to run.

Directors:

Wolf Wolff, Ohmuthi (co-director)

Writer:

Wolf Jahnke

Stars:

Philipp Danne, Birthe Wolter, Anna Breuer

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Philipp Danne	...	Robert Hansen
Birthe Wolter	...	Marlene Vogt
Anna Breuer	...	Vanessa Lux
Nikolas Jürgens	...	Eugen Friedrich (as Nikolas Juergens)
Marvin Gronen	...	Patrick Schubert
Ski	...	Bollmann
Axel Strothmann	...	Polizist Lehmann
Joost Siedhoff	...	Prof. Bergen
Mark Dimant	...	Murat, nicht Ali
Thomas Heubeck	...	Heber
Helmut Rühl	...	Dr. Wesemann (as Helmut Ruehl)
Veit Wolf Baumhoff	...	Kleiner Junge im Lkw
Damir Skako	...	Junger Mann im Lkw
Alex Attimonelli	...	Untoter mit Sichel im Schädel
Niels Kurvin	...	Bauer

Storyline

An infection transmitted by diseased birds is causing corpses to reanimate in search of human flesh. As the army of the undead grows, a medical student and his friends find themselves surrounded by zombies, with nowhere to run.

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Plot Keywords:

experiment gone wrong | sex | female nudity | flesh eating zombie | burning a dead body | 

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for horror violence/gore, language and some sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Offical Site

Country:

Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

June 2008 (China)

Also Known As:

Beast Within

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Legendary Units, Virus Undead

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min (original)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

References Jerry Maguire (1996)

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Soundtracks

A Pearl
Performed by Lacrimas Profundere
Lyrics by Christopher Schmid
Music by Oliver Nikolas Schmid
Published by Edition Halbe Miete/Universal Music Publishing
(P)2008 Napalm Records Handels GmbH

User Reviews

Disappointing

I just watched Virus Undead and I have to admit I'm disappointed.

First off, I was stunned that somebody on this production had the really stupid idea to have German actors speak English. While the guys certainly aren't bad with the language, some of them still have a pretty strong German accent, making the whole ordeal somewhat of a joke to me.

On top of that, the movie tries way too hard to have your typical US hillbilly scenery and character clichés, which are already a vast exaggeration when set in the middle of nowhere in the US, but just don't work at all in a town in the middle of Germany. You have the default unfriendly "town sheriff", complete with sunglasses and donuts, the commonly known town ruffian, including tons of tattoos, a goatee, leather clothing and a pea-sized brain and they even have a "restaurant" in the middle of the woods making sausage out of any dead animal they can find. Those two things made me wonder why the writers were too afraid to actually try something fresh and simply go with the "set in Germany" thing and pull through with it. Instead, they chose to take the generic "hillbilly town" cliché and move it over here. Kind of idiotic. Just like the hillbilly town in horror flicks is a big exaggeration of clichés about American towns in the middle of nowhere, an exaggeration of clichés about small German towns would have been far more entertaining and would have worked a lot better. Basically, this movie tries very hard to be an American B-movie set in Germany played by German actors, which was what I found very disappointing.

The story covers the basics of "virus causing zombies", but doesn't go any further than a rough outline and the characters are walking clichés with some odd moments here and there. I agree with NeilCassidy, though, that the movie at least looks professional.

Overall it has some mildly entertaining moments and is well done on the technical side of things, but to me the story and setting were pretty much atrocious. I've seen a lot worse films, but this one stands out for almost intentionally ruining any potential it might have had.