WAR OF THE DEAD

On the DAY OF THE DEAD Blu Ray from Arrow Video, Joe "choke on ‘em" Pilato jovially expressed his bewilderment at a certain debate that was raging on a Horror convention panel in the USA a few years back. While the American general public were considering political zeitgeist of "Free Healthcare", Horror enthusiasts were deliberating over whether Zombies should be allowed to run or simply left to shuffle along in the traditional manner! It’s not a new phenomenon as Lenzi’s NIGHTMARE CITY proves and with Zombie flicks, I am always up for an infusion of originality anyway.

WAR OF THE DEAD is a new horror flick set back World War Two concerned with a paradoxical rigor mortis ridden, yet athletic breed of Nazi zombies! Bold enough to break so many taboos the movie had to be a winner… didn’t it?

The film starts intriguingly enough with a written intro setting the scene. Basically, in 1939 Nazi Germany, in their infinite wisdom, thought it would be a good idea to conduct a few "ANTI DEATH" experiments on captured Russian soldiers along the Russian Finland border. A couple of years later Adolf apparently got bored of this. He ditched the experiments and ordered the destruction of the evidence.

Its now 1941 and a small elite unit of American soldiers are deployed to Finland assist some Finnish soldiers in destroying a Russian bunker.

The dynamic regiment go about their assignment with verve, but there is one absurd problem. As the Russian soldier they inadvertently rescue puts it, "We shoot – they not dying!" Well there is a reason for that folks. It transpires that a mysterious Nazi experiment, involving peculiar transfusions, has backfired somewhat. Taking Hitler’s "Superman" ethos to the next level, these laboratory tests have succeeded in producing a strain of creatures that simply refuse to die!

Of course being 1941, the crew don’t call them zombies. They refer to them as "Supercreeps", the "Undead" and, most creatively, "Those fucks!" They DO, however, work out, somewhat rapidly, that you can get "infected" via a bite from one of these fiends along with the age old " you gotta shoot ‘em in the head" in order to stop them.

The usual modus operandi is in operation. A member of the group sustains a neck nibble and we wait with baited breath for him to ‘change’. Then some petty internal squabbling among the soldiers transpires, regarding whether or not they should allow the new prisoner (and his newly unchained lass) to join them. The solitary female, although seemingly fit and healthy, is deemed an encumbrance for some reason (and they have the nerve to accuse Fulci of misogyny!). The dilemma of having to add the ‘Ruski’ and ‘Ruskette’, to their freedom fighting group is played out over much blood shed and bullet fire. It sounds like a chunk of crimson coloured brain friendly fun, but I struggled to maintain any genuine interest. Here’s why… The main problem for me was how the action was manufactured. There was a distinct blend of slow motion set pieces consisting of bodies flying through the air mixed with frenzied camerawork that effectively camouflaged any real onscreen violence.

I have sometimes extolled a movie on these very pages for NOT relying on the "gore score" but still having the capacity to gratify the viewer as a quality horror movie (check this months review for THE SQUAD for the perfect example). But this is Zombies and Nazi’s for goodness sake!! This is the bastard offspring of Hitler and Romero! I want the movie to be SO drenched in blood and guts that the DVD literally slithers out of your fingers before you can place the blighter in the open tray!

But the extent of the gore is limited to, censor friendly, CGI garbage resulting in a very marketable 15 certificate. Even if the ‘graphics’ depicted a few bodies being ripped apart I would have been more accepting. Post impact scatterings of blood from bullet wounds (which accounted for the majority of the killings) should be reserved for an XBOX if you ask me. I recall one brief shot of a cranium being blown apart (CGI obviously!) but that was it.

The biting of necks and arms etc was pretty lame at best. It drained any inclination I had to care for the dull characters. In fact, the most beguiling part of the players was their ‘American’ accents, which came across like a mishmash of Australian and Irish. Interesting!

When asked about THE HILLS HAVE EYES remake, Michael Berryman stated after enduring the first half hour or so, "This is not a movie - this is a computer game" and the same could be said of this effort in my opinion. In fact I was beginning to hanker for a "Game Over" of sorts when a Sarah Connor flavoured "On your feet solider… this aint over" line of dialogue was reeled out against a thumping composition, eerily similar to the famous "Terminator" theme.

Contrary to that bold statement thankfully the movie WAS then over. The fact the climax to this ‘yawn of the dead’ picture made little sense didn’t bother me. It was finished, that was good enough!

The Extras consist of a "Making of…" segment which was more of a gesture then anything of real substance.

I guess the last thoughts have to go to the vigorously energetic living dead themselves. Maybe "running zombies" should be limited to the growing trend of these so called "Zombie walks". After a light breakfast, you could drape yourself in rags, latex and red paint before sprinting around a shopping centre and still be outside Wetherspoon’s before opening time!

Review by Marc Lissenburg