THE BATTERY

Bearded Ben (writer-director Jeremy Gardner) and clean-cut pal Mickey (Adam Cronheim) travel nomadically across a barren New England. Armed with just a baseball bat and a pistol, they're searching for life and a means to survive in the wake of an unexplained zombie apocalypse.

Both former baseball stars, they've taken to camping out in the woods in the belief that there will be less undead to fight off there. Ben appears to be enjoying living on his toes, rising to the challenge of being self-sufficient by fishing for food and often taking the mantle when it comes to wiping out any zombies they happen to encounter. His "don't worry about it" philosophy matches his casual, unkempt appearance.

Mickey, on the other hand, can't bear this new way of life. He detaches himself from the action often by zoning out with his CD Walkman, immersing himself in the laidback sounds of folk like Wise Blood and We Are Jeneric. He's given to reminiscing over the girl he used to date, and taking nostalgic souvenirs of the old world whenever they loot empty houses for provisions.

Although the pair clash personality-wise from the off, theirs is a natural, convincing and ultimately likeable partnership that sees them share intimate moments of teeth-brushing and baseball practice (both pointless exercises when you think about it) as much as they do bicker.

When the pair of them commandeer a car, they find a pair of transistor radios inside it. While playing around with them, they're startled when another couple - Annie (Alana O'Brien) and Frank (Larry Fessenden) - appear on the airwaves, discussing everyday matters such as birthday plans and preparing to watch 80s cult classic TREMORS on DVD. Mickey desperately tries to interact with them but Frank tells them under no uncertain terms that they're not welcome and need not try to find them. Ben doesn't seem remotely bothered.

Their plight continues episodically but their relationship strains even further now that Mickey knows there is life out there. He becomes obsessed with finding this secretive community of thriving survivors. But they soon discover that they are no less hostile than the zombies ///

Largely a two-header, THE BATTERY ("we're a team, a battery" insists Ben at one point) is a good mash-up of indie road movie, buddy film, comedy (Ben's karaoke stint while taking temporary possession of his mate's headphones); Mickey wanking in front of a big-titted zombie) and claustrophobic horror.

The lead characters are easy to warm to, and it's their need to overcome their differing personalities and work together that forms the heart of the film. The comedy comes largely from Ben's bigger-than-life character but is well-balanced against a dark, prolonged final third which is all the more effective thanks to the preceding 70 minutes of playful subversions of popular zombie film tropes.

Performances are excellent, editing is tight and camerawork is often much more attractive than a low budget zombie flick has any right to be.

If you want gripes, a major one for me would be how the film is often padded out with bonding montages set to limp indie-folk music. One or two of these passages would've been fine; five or six is just excessive.

Still, this is shoestring budget stuff from a relatively new filmmaker and as such it shows great promise. It's already won several awards, including Best Film at Dead By Dawn.

THE BATTERY is presented here in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. A bright, vibrant and warm picture, it's also sharp and detailed without trace of any unwelcome digital enhancements. Blacks are solid; there's no noise to comment upon. Some exterior scenes do look a little blown out at times, but that's down to the HD photography rather than any flaws in the transfer.

English 2.0 audio plays back without quibble.

Metrodome's UK DVD opens to a static main menu page. From there, a similarly static scene selection menu allows access to the film via 12 chapters.

In keeping with other recent genre releases from Metrodome, there are no bonus features on offer. Unless you count the three trailers that the disc is defaulted to open with: BLACK ROCK, PRINCE AVALANCHE and UPSTREAM COLOUR.

THE BATTERY is a good little film with appealing characters and a different approach to the zombie apocalypse theme. It's not entirely original and it is padded with those aforementioned montage/music sequences, but other than that it offers pretty solid entertainment.

Review by Stuart Willis