OMG! This is a Zombie World Tour post!
Outside
Whaddaya know!? I’ve gone on a Zombie World Tour to a new country. And I might do it again next week. Christmas has come early.
Kinda like it does for Francis’s family as they’re hiding from the zombie apocalypse. We first see this Filipino family as they escape the city in a van that has seen better days. The father drives his traumatized wife and sons through massive fields of sugar cane in their gore encrusted car until arriving at a huge house that was once grand but is now wasted, dirty, and rusty. Dad goes in first because he has their one weapon, ye olde crowbar, and checks the house. It’s his boyhood home, and they’re safe out in the middle of nowhere. Or are they?
Normally I’m a fan of the first days part of the zombie apocalypse when everything is chaotic and ballistic. This movie starts slowly, mostly, and then slows down some more, mostly. The further in it got, though, the more mesmerized I became. There’s a lot that works well, like great art direction and music and pacing through a great script. At one point early in the film I wrote, “If the Ringu witch had a Walking Dead baby.” I was referring to some imagery that a horror fan will recognize. There were several moments like that throughout the film, that plays on ancient tropes without hitting you over the head with it. They were subtle and engaging and very effective. I think this film has ruined me for cinematic “nods” because it shows how things can be borrowed without being obvious and owning it in a good way.
The director Carlo Ledesma is not a stranger to psychological thriller horror, and gets a lot out of a little in this one. There is a very small cast, with most of the heavy lifting done by the family members. Sets are extremely limited and there are no huge pyrotechnics. Yes, these are all cost saving things, but I didn’t even think about it till beginning to write this review because the film is so well shot it felt like there was a lot more of everything. A person could make the case that the movie is a psychological thriller instead of a zombie film, but that is a perennial strength of zombie fiction. It’s a frame for explorations of other things. It’s never really about the zombies, which an astounding number of people never understand.
One of my immediate reactions was that this film would be in the running for some acting Oscars, if it wasn’t a foreign film, and zombies. Sid Lucero is dad Francis, who had issues before the apocalypse. Beauty Gonzalez is mom Iris, who had issues different from the dad. The boys, played by Marco Masa and Aiden Tyler Patdu are some of the best kid actors I’ve seen. The story puts all of them through a lot, and it was really easy to get lost in the family drama.
Even the zombies were well done and a little different than the others. They sorta speak, move fast for the most part, and are appropriately dangerous. The makeup is really great and they provide an unexpected pathos a couple of times.
But…you knew that was coming…they tended to be situationally dangerous. That’s one of my zombie pet peeves. They’ll bite you in a second, unless the story needs them to not bite you. One might think that would raise the stakes and make things scarier, but all I see is the filmmakers masking some undead inconvenience. Also, the dad sweats SO much I swear I could smell his flop sweat across the room. He was more gross than the zombies. Ewww.
This is a fine movie all on its own, but adding in zombies is a huge bonus to me. I very much enjoyed seeing this and I hope you give it a try. It has shot right into my top tier group of zombie films because it’s just that good.
Available on: Netflix
LINKS:
CFR: In Addition
Oh WOW! A Zombie World Tour post!!! This is so cool. I was so excited to see that.
I have not yet watched this. Maybe Cranky will come over for some Chinese delivery and a viewing. 🙂
I also like movies that are good and stand on their own due to acting, directing, and writing, not special effects. I think I will like this.
Cranky wrote: “If the Ringu witch had a Walking Dead baby.” Ok. That is a movie I want to see.
Cranky!! What do you want to eat?
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