Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
Stars Ken Foree, Kristina Klebe, Emilio Roso, Miodrag Krstovic, Vukota Brajovic | Written by Milan Konjevic
UK certification 18 | UK RRP £12.99 | Runtime 89 minutes | Directed by Milan Konjevic & Milan Todorovic
Apocalypse of the Dead, also known as Zone of the Dead, is a blood-soaked display of zombie action that's full of wasted potential. Starring the original Dawn of the Dead's Ken Foree, the Serbian film features the odd fun moment or two, only for them to be briskly shoved into the background in favour of mind-bogglingly horrible dubbing, bad performances, and scenes that are unnecessarily heavy on the dialogue front.
When chemical fumes are released into the air in Serbia's most toxic city, its population begins to mutate and die, only to return as the living dead, running amok in a bloodthirsty search for human flesh. Meanwhile, Foree's character, an Interpol agent, leads his colleagues as they to escort a prisoner to an airport for a transfer to London. At least they attempt to, as the carnage and chaos of the undead's destruction runs the team off their route and has them fighting for survival.
The film has an international cast, lead by American Foree and containing, as you would expect, Serbs, as well as a light smattering of Englishmen, it seemed. This presented a major problem when it came to editing the film. From reading the actors' lips, they're all speaking English, but God knows how broken it was half the time as there is the truly abysmal dubbing that I mentioned above. The worst character dubbed is 'Armageddon', a skinhead weapons expert who believes that the zombie uprising is God's way of punishing humanity for its atrocities, like cutting down forests and pollution. He has a booming Serb's interpretation of an American accent, and it's laughably wooden. The dialogue about punishment for global warming, etc, came off as social commentary by the film-makers, something that's somewhat of a fad in zombie films since George A. Romero's legendary Night of the Living Dead, back in 1968. I'm all for having deep meanings and metaphors that reflect the factual world in horror, it gives the films more of a purpose, but the inclusion of an attempted commentary in Apocalypse of the Dead just comes off as if it's there for no reason nor purpose.
You could have a game with a friend when watching this film where you count the number of Dawn of the Dead references. Not only is there Foree, but there's a mention of a “Savini” character who we never see, but is obviously there as an homage to Tom Savini, the legendary special effects artist who worked extensively with Romero in Dawn and Day of the Dead. Also listen out for a blatant reference to the shopping mall from Dawn. There's probably more in there, too!
If you're looking for a movie that truly is a zombie apocalypse, don't get this. What strikes me about the two titles for the film, Apocalypse and Zone of the Dead, is that they're both completely different. The alternate title indicates a more isolated zombie outbreak rather than a full-scale disaster, but okay. The flick's fun, pretty gory, and has got some great undead make-up for its obvious low budget, but it fails to leave an impression, merely floating in a bloody sea of other disappointing zombie movies.
EXTRAS None.