Zombie Wars

All American Pictures (2008)

R1 DVD

This film goes back a few years to a time when every director thought they could make a low-budget zombie film. By last year I was zombied out and this one slipped by. I didn’t miss that much. It’s a fairly formula zombie film that is saved from complete anonymity by having some original ideas.

The planet has, as usual, been infected by something that has turned most people into zombies. Most of these are the traditional shambling, speechless, arms-out-in-front-of-you zombies but some have evolved a little. They have a rudimentary intelligence and a hierarchy of sorts and have decided that growing their own food (humans) holds the key to the future. The surviving humans are reduced to small nomadic paramilitary groups.

One such group is in an area where the zombies have established a meat farm. One of their group is captured so they plot a rescue mission. While in captivity the “soldier” notices some oddities about the camp. The zombies have things that they could not possibly have made themselves (like soap) so they must be trading with humans nearby. He is rescued and passes his information on to his group’s leader. She decides the farm must be wiped out and calls on other groups like hers for help. Only one turns up. This is enough to burn the farm to the ground and free the zombies, and she finds that the local town and a number of other paramilitary groups are behind the trade with the zombies.

The group crashes a meeting between the leaders of the town and other paramilitary groups. The leader is horrified to learn that they all know what’s going on at the farm but have reached an understanding with the zombies that they can continue their disgusting meat farming as long as they leave the town alone. She shoots the leader and threatens retribution on the rest, thereby making this part of the world just a little bit safer for the living.

The story could have been so much better but it is left undeveloped. Instead there is the usual concentration on zombies killing and being killed. I have often wondered how long zombies would last in the face of a trained group with automatic weapons, but I saw that in Lost Platoon (coincidentally by the same producer). Zombies evolving intelligence and speech is a new idea that could have led to a better film, but once again it is not really developed. The film, in spite of these more interesting features, remains doggedly B grade. If you feel the need to watch a zombie film this one os OK, but I am disappointed that it could have been so much better.

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