Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
Stars GiGi Erneta, Joe Thackery, Jason Harper, Stephen Lee, Audrey Davis, Oliver Luke,
Mohammed Ahmed, Lucy Glockzin, Andrea VanEpps, Robert Works, Kelly Floyd, Robby Allen | Written by David Talbot
UK Certification 15 | UK RRP £15.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 90 minutes | Directed by Damon Crump
You'd think that the artwork for a zombie movie would be telling enough of its undead content rather than it needing an “of the Dead” title like so many have these days, but that's exactly what this independent film from the States, originally known as Risen, a title that I think is actually a perfectly suited one in the first place, has been landed with. It matters little, however, as Armageddon of the Dead proves not to be 90 minutes of fun blood and guts horror, but a near excruciating watch brimming with unacceptable performances, shoddy camerawork and zero zombinuity. That's zombie continuity to you. Something that's very important in a slice of the sub-genre.
In Armageddon of the Dead, a train carrying an unidentified chemical crashes, killing many of those on board. Only they don't stay dead for long. As the corpses rise from their slabs in the morgue and bite bite bite, the infection spreads across the town and soon enough those still alive are up the creek without a paddle as their surroundings are crawling with the undead flesh-eaters. This is indeed the case for our focus bunch of characters, a married couple and their brother/brother-in-law, as they are ran out of the family home by the zombie uprising. When they discover that their baby daughter is missing from the grandparents' house, they end up flocking to one of the various safehouses that have been set up for survivors, along with two Arab-American gas station attendants who they saved from certain gory death. The bulk of the film takes place at the refuge in a way that's extremely reminiscent of Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's The Mist, and deals with, supposedly, the psychology of those still alive as the living dead scrum against the windows, trying to break in and claim their meals.
The writer may as well have put armageddon on paper as the script stinks. It's downright terrible. The entire film itself is beyond awful sans the final 15 minutes, where it suddenly and quite unexpectedly takes a dramatic turn for the best and actually delivers somewhat of a touchingly enjoyable conclusion. Another positive is the use of the obviously low budget. It's an indie film and it does indeed look cheap as chips, but there is a well devised sense of scale to the viral outbreak. Sure, Armageddon of the Dead it very much isn't, but since that wasn't the original title in the first place, it doesn't matter. Still, it's a far cry from a good movie. The undead simply don't look too dead, instead just seeming like people who accidentally fell into a vat of red paint. And the aforementioned zombinuity? Some of them sprint perfectly naturally, some of them do the classic zombie shuffle, and some of them sort of jog with their arms flailing about. I don't know about you, but when a film depicts a horizon of hobbling zombies, I don't really expect to see a couple suddenly burst out from the crowd, dashing like Usain Bolt. Do you?
EXTRAS None.