Describing a new movie these days with the words "zombie", "low budget" and "original" in the same sentence may seem like an enigma. But crawling out from the undergrowth of the Emerald Isle (I know, I know I am still recovering from the debacle that was SHROOMS but bare with me!) is a new movie that gleaned rave reviews on the festival circuit
PORTRAIT OF A ZOMBIE is an absorbing piece of filmmaking that was written, produced, edited, cast AND directed by an Irishman named Bing Bailey. It strives to blend a documentary styled spoof along with a more conventional horror movie narrative. The result I found to be rather impressive...
It starts by tracking down husband and father Danny Murphy (Rory Mullen) who, when reluctantly speaking of a previously shot documentary at his family home, suggests it literally ended in disaster. This opening grants the movie the opportunity to flit back and forth from the aforementioned programme, which itself was concerned with the plight of Billy Murphy – the Zombie Boy!
The original film crew on location at the Murphy family abode is fronted by an American director (Todd Fletcher). He claims to ‘love and respect’ the Irish spirit - the fact they "speak English... Sorta" helps also! Along with the Danny there is his wife Lizzie and their two other children, Darren (Paul O’Bryan) and Louise (Sonya O’Donahue). Individually, they give an intriguing insight into just what it’s like having a Zombie as a family member.
Rather more complicated though is Aoife (Diane Jennings), Billy’s pregnant girlfriend. It’s a complex situation that has riled the local community not to mention the Catholic Church. But when the native gangsters feel they can’t compete with the limb chomping exploits of Billy, the situation threatens to spiral out of control.
As the fly on the wall footage unfurls, we steadily crawl toward the shocking revelatory destiny of the project. In other words, sit comfortably and watch as things go positively "Arse ways!"
Now this may all seem rather middling. But I couldn’t help feel such was the style and panache of the movie, combining humour delivered with a dead pan straight face along with some grotesque horror, something fairly unique was crafted.
Basically, it’s the sort of thing you could walk in on halfway through and get reeled into in an instant. The reason for this is heavily due to the brilliantly realistic way it mimics ‘proper’ documentaries complete with ‘holier than thou’ members of Joe Public eager to seize their 15 minutes of fame in front of the camera.
A range of characters are ‘interviewed’. The concept of ‘Zombie rights’ is discussed along with a Catholic priest, who toils with the concept of Zombie marriage. His concern of using the "...this is my body.." line at mass if a zombie was present was killer! On top of that, he seemed rather perplexed at the notion that Jesus himself was a zombie of sorts...
Then we had the Irish Vegetarian Society who got all flummoxed when pushed on the notion that if Zombies only eat meat eaters anyway, surely they were helping the veggie’s cause?
With so many comedy horrors, especially the zombie orientated ones, I tend the find the jokes are merely slapstick with blood and guts. PoaZ is a far more superior beast. Nowhere to be seen are campy high jinks. The humour is intelligent and almost arid in its dryness.
But it’s not just a cunningly played out parody we have here. There is some very nasty horror as well. I don’t want to reveal too much about the plot obviously but there is a fair amount of devouring done by Billy and his flesh munching cohorts. The special effects veer well away from CGI, which is always a welcome facet, as pallid faces gorge on red slimy slithers of meat from their unfortunate victims.
There was one particularly malevolent scene that demonstrated Bailey’s skill at being able to craft a truly hideous sequence without the need of lashings of gore. The distant depiction of a mother lay strewn on the pavement as a fiend gorges on the unsighted contents of her pushchair was a shocking image that needed no explanation! It proved that although the movie was a venture in humorous send up, it was still laced with a very dark vibe throughout.
I watched the movie on my laptop with headphones and was impressed with how much attention had been paid to the audio. The echoed undead groans were harrowing and the almost atonal synth score was competently applied.
The alternate directorial styles of blending a mock documentary with real time story telling proved a highly watchable balance. It helped the 86 minute runtime flyby while not forgetting to deliver a bleakly satisfactory conclusion.
At the time of writing, offers are still being considered regarding UK distribution for Baileys’ brainchild. Regardless of that, PORTRAIT OF A ZOMBIE tickled and surprised me. It also had me anticipating what Bing Bailey may conjure with his future brush strokes...
Review by Marc Lissenburg
| Released by One Eyed Films |
| Rated 18 |