Sunday 24 February 2013

Ultimate Zombie Feast DVD

It has been ages since I last did a film review. To be honest, my book, DVD and film reviews are not as popular as my figure or scenery reviews. No matter, they are a part of my blog and I have no intention of dropping them. This particular DVD, Ultimate Zombie Feast, warrants a mention because it is something different and ought to appeal to zombie lovers everywhere.
This is a rarity amongst DVDs - an anthology of short films. It comprises 16 films on two discs, ranging in length from 5 minutes to 64 minutes. As with all anthologies, some stories are better than others. There are a couple of stinkers but most of the films are good and a couple of them are outstanding. Here's a rundown of all 16 films along with my individual ratings.

DISC ONE
Zombeer (Netherlands 12 min) A very silly film about a brewery worker who falls into a vat of beer and turns into a flesh-eating zombie. Utter pants! 2/10
Zombies and Cigarettes (Spain 17 min) Set in a Spanish shopping mall this wasn't too bad but it loses marks for the ridiculous way that the zombie threat is vanquished. 5/10
Plague (UK 17 min) A very atmospheric and moody film about an Eastern bloc refugee who comes to England to find a better life just as the zombie apocalypse starts. Bleak and dark in tone. 8/10
Bitten (UK 6 min) A harrowing look at a woman's final minutes as an infected human before she turns into a zombie. 6/10
Arise (USA 18 min) A factory worker who predicts the zombie apocalypse tries to save his girlfriend and her daughter. It is full of over the top gore that made me smile. 7/10
Not Even Death (USA 5 min) A loving husband keeps his zombie wife chained up in his cellar. You can see how it's going to end a mile away. 6/10
Fear of the Living Dead (USA 16 min) A young woman is one of the few survivors of the apocalypse due to the fact that she is immune to zombie bites. She reluctantly teams up with a young man she finds holed up in his house. The ending is a total shock. My favourite film of this anthology. 10/10
Kidz (Canada 9 min) A very amateurish and cheap looking film about three children who have to learn to survive when their parents are killed at the start of a zombie outbreak. It won me over with its smart script and sting in the tail ending. The last line of the film had me laughing out loud. 7/10
The Book of Zombie (USA 64 min) Far and away the longest film in this set. The setting is a small town in Utah where a horde of zombie Mormons (yes, really!) go on the rampage. A small group of survivors take refuge in a bar. The special effects were very well done with a lot of gory deaths (human and zombie). Again, it has a good ending, although the story is ludicrous. 6/10

DISC TWO
Zombie Harvest (UK 11 min) Who'd have thought that a cow could be zombified when a zombie accidentally shoves his head up the cow's arse? You have to laugh! 6/10
The Skin of Your Teeth (USA 14 min) Four friends (three male and one female) are holed up in a farm in the middle of nowhere. It all goes horribly wrong when they are attacked by a horde of zombies who move faster than an Olympic sprinter. A very bleak story. I really do not like zombie sprinters but I did like this film. 8/10
Zomblies (UK 47 min) A terrific story set in the South West of England. A large wall has been erected to keep Devon and Cornwall quarantined from the rest of the UK. A squad of six elite soldiers are sent inside to gather intelligence on a new breed of zombie that have evolved - Ragers. This was full of action and very tense and gripping. Despite having yet more fast moving zombies, I enjoyed this film immensely. 9/10
It Came From the West (Denmark 16 min) A quirky film that uses puppets to tell its story. Set in the Wild West, this was very much played for laughs. I wasn't that impressed with it.  5/10
Paris by Night of the Living Dead (France 12 min) Absolutely full of action and humour. A bride and groom kick zombie butt whilst blowing up many famous Parisian landmarks. Although it is in French and doesn't come with subtitles, the action speaks for itself. Besides which, there is hardly any dialogue in it. I liked how it set up a sequel for Tokyo by Night of the Living Dead. 8/10
Savages (India 39 min) The biggest turkey of them all! Four friends enter a toxic waste dump, ignoring the signs to keep out and "bad things" happen to them. Badly acted, badly dubbed and unbelievably slow and boring. I'm still not sure why it was included as I'd hardly call it a zombie movie. 1/10
Dead Hungry (UK 10 min)  A charming and sweet film, told from a zombie's point view, as he tries to find love and brains. It works because you do feel sorry for him. 7/10

As you can see from my marks there are more good films than bad. I am very glad that this anthology has been put together, as many of these short films would have passed me by and that would have been a real shame. This is one DVD that all zombie fans should own. Overall, I'll give it a 7/10 rating.

18 comments:

  1. Wow this sounds great mate, I'll have to get hold of this one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well worth a view, Simon. I got my copy from Amazon.co.UK.

      Delete
  2. Sounds like an interesting one to check out!
    I'll have to keep my eye out for it

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for this I caught up on Zomblies via 'you tube' a couple of months ago but forgot to tell everyone. I'll look out for the others, well the good ones anyway.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Zomblies was certainly one of the better films on show. It just never let up from start to finish and was a rollercoaster of a journey.

      Delete
  4. I may have to hunt this down! Thanks for the review Bryan, this definitely looks interesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you like zombie films you're sure to find something on this DVD that you'll like... and hopefully, more than one.

      Delete
  5. You're right about it being a rarity, I've never come across it,
    Thanks for the review Bryan.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I liked the madness and variation of movies, I think I've seen some of the short ones on a blog I visit?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You probably have seen some of them before, Fran. I saw a few of them on Mikko's blog, "Dawn of the Lead."

      Delete
  7. Sounds fun. I'll have to try and track it down on the cheap.

    Brian

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have to agree with your feelings towards the fleet of foot "ragers". The horror is there is sooo many of them and only so much, er little, ammo. I picked up "The Zombie Diaries" and "Diaries of the Dead" during deployment. ( no kids, so daddy could indulge) In one segment of the films, the survivors were "safe" in a fortified structure. Then they realized a fellow survivor with heart problems was missing!
    We don't need olympic sprinters for zombies, just good stories. ;)
    I've seen some of these on youtube, nice to know there is a dvd collection.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To me, what makes slow-moving zombies so frightening is the fact that they are so relentless. That is their greatest strength. As for zombie sprinters I take heart from a comment made by George Romero when asked what he thought of them? He replied that if a zombie tried to run it would snap its ankles! Besides which I view fast zombies not as zombies but as Rage victims. They are infected humans as was stated at the beginning of "28 Days Later."

      Delete