>but first i'm gonna go see UNDEAD

a couple quickies

http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_09.04.03/film/tiff.html

3/4
A meteor shower turns most of the folks in a remote Australian fishing village into the walking dead. A bloodbath ensues before six survivors make it into an underground bunker, unaware that the events on the surface are about to get wackier. Undead's copious gore, goofball schtick and Antipodean accents all recall Peter Jackson's classic Dead Alive. But the Spierig brothers' horror comedy has some twists of its own and a fine pair of heroes in beauty-queen Rene (Felicity Mason) and stoic action-man Marion (Mungo McKay), whose guns and ammo may not protect them from the zombie plague's real cause.

http://www.moviemarshal.com/rs-undead.html

7.5/10

When the words ‘Australian’, ‘low-budget’ and ‘genre pic’ are put into the same sentence, they are rarely, if ever, followed by the word ‘quality’. However if the Spierig brothers have any say in it, that could all be about to change. The talented young filmmakers have for under a $1 million dollars created Undead, a feature film that has generated incredible buzz around the globe and has gone into profit even before it’s theatrical release, a highly unusual occurrence.

Undead is set in a quiet fishing town where a meteor shower leaves an array of zombies looking for their next meal. Despite it’s homage to the likes of Evil Dead and influences from Peter Jackson to Robert Rodriguez, the most promising thing about this film is its originality. Central to the plot is Marion, an unlikely saviour with a mean triple-barreled shot gun and an even meaner Ned Kelly-like beard. Although he resembles Bruce Doull more than Bruce Willis, his action-star moves are unquestionable. Leading the band of fortunate (or is that unfortunate) survivors, Marion attempts to fend off the undead onslaught with the help of a feisty beauty pageant winner and two local cops, one mentally unbalanced and the other overly sympathetic. Having been aware for sometime that something bad was about to happen, Marion has prepared for the worst and holds the keys as to what the hell is going on.

While the film is more laughs than scares, the make-up and special effects are top-shelf and belie the miniscule monetary amount it took to produce them. With over 300 special effects (all completed on a laptop by the way), Undead is one of the first fully homegrown films to embrace films technological advances. This creativity and ingenuity however has not gone unnoticed. Undead has been sold to over 21 territories and the Spierigs have been signed to the prestigious William Morris creative agency, unheard of for first-time directors with little more than short films and commercials to their name. Their future plans include continuing to dabble in the sci-fi/horror/thriller genres but wish to expand to drama and comedy or as they say ‘any film that doesn’t involve us investing our own money’.

I was fortunate to be one of the few people who caught Undead at its sold-out screenings during the Melbourne International Film Festival. The atmosphere was electric in the theatre as the packed audience laughed and skwirmed throughout. If this is any indication of what Undead can expect when it is put out on limited release on Sept. 4th, then Australia may have it’s first horror hit in sometime. Hopefully this potential success will make film funding bodies look differently at the merits of genre pics than they have in the past and we can finally produce films that aren’t local comedies or high-art.

Ultimately Undead is a fun, inventive and enjoyable film that is world-class in nearly every aspect. While its humour is ultimately stronger than its horror, you should still get along and support some local talents that look to have big futures not only here, but on the world stage.