deadwrtr
08-Aug-2006, 02:03 PM
but a darned good movie nonetheless. SEVERED: Forest of the Dead is a film by Carl Bessai and Screen Media Films. Here's a synopsis:
A group of young environmental activists become infected ravenous unstoppable zombies when a forestry company's genetic experimentation goes disastrously wrong. Sheer terror can't pump enough adrenaline through these bodies to help them out of this remote forest in this gruesome tale of horror. Severed stands heads (and other body parts) above the rest!
Okay, the description doesn't do this smart little film justice. I was a little wary of the claims this film (especially since the narrative doesn't make a whole lot of sense.) The film stars Paul Campbell, who, some of you may remember, played Billy in Battlestar Galactica (the new episodes) a wide eyed, naive young lad, son of the man who owns the logging company. What he finds when he arrives at the site is horrifying. Once the film starts moving, it doesn't stop.
Now, I had a hard time trying to figure out whether these creatures were zombies or not. They seemed to follow after Danny Boyle's zombies from "28 Days Later" what with the nearly instant transformation from human to drooling, jaundice skinned flesh craving ghouls, yet they shambled, quite convincingly, much like Romero's walking dead.
The makeup was excellent, plenty of blood and gore, as well as death by chainsaw, axe and club, ala Evil Dead. There were so many comparisons to other movies, I don't know where to start. Resident Evil, Evil Dead, Romero's movies, Friday the 13th. There was a small segment that seemed to stretch on forever that smacked of Apocalypse Now, culminating in a familiar scene that will be instantly recognizable to everyone (Miguel, anyone?).
Zombies? You'll have to decide. Headshots took them down, but so did shots to the torso. They had a singlemindedness when it came to eating, just as Romero's dead, yet I don't think they were dead, necessarily. It's too easy to get caught up in the semantics, so just try to enjoy the film for what it is.
There were several spots where I actually jumped, and that doesn't happen often. I cheered as I watched the silly environmentalists who chained themselves to tree's shout for help as the dead/infected advanced.
This film has it's problems, but it's an excellent attempt at zombie horror. The remote locale, the shambling pseudo corpses, the sense of hopelessness all add up to an excellent ride.
A group of young environmental activists become infected ravenous unstoppable zombies when a forestry company's genetic experimentation goes disastrously wrong. Sheer terror can't pump enough adrenaline through these bodies to help them out of this remote forest in this gruesome tale of horror. Severed stands heads (and other body parts) above the rest!
Okay, the description doesn't do this smart little film justice. I was a little wary of the claims this film (especially since the narrative doesn't make a whole lot of sense.) The film stars Paul Campbell, who, some of you may remember, played Billy in Battlestar Galactica (the new episodes) a wide eyed, naive young lad, son of the man who owns the logging company. What he finds when he arrives at the site is horrifying. Once the film starts moving, it doesn't stop.
Now, I had a hard time trying to figure out whether these creatures were zombies or not. They seemed to follow after Danny Boyle's zombies from "28 Days Later" what with the nearly instant transformation from human to drooling, jaundice skinned flesh craving ghouls, yet they shambled, quite convincingly, much like Romero's walking dead.
The makeup was excellent, plenty of blood and gore, as well as death by chainsaw, axe and club, ala Evil Dead. There were so many comparisons to other movies, I don't know where to start. Resident Evil, Evil Dead, Romero's movies, Friday the 13th. There was a small segment that seemed to stretch on forever that smacked of Apocalypse Now, culminating in a familiar scene that will be instantly recognizable to everyone (Miguel, anyone?).
Zombies? You'll have to decide. Headshots took them down, but so did shots to the torso. They had a singlemindedness when it came to eating, just as Romero's dead, yet I don't think they were dead, necessarily. It's too easy to get caught up in the semantics, so just try to enjoy the film for what it is.
There were several spots where I actually jumped, and that doesn't happen often. I cheered as I watched the silly environmentalists who chained themselves to tree's shout for help as the dead/infected advanced.
This film has it's problems, but it's an excellent attempt at zombie horror. The remote locale, the shambling pseudo corpses, the sense of hopelessness all add up to an excellent ride.