Zombies in film: Day Zero

"What can you do when everyone around you is dead, except die yourself."

Film: Day Zero

Directed by Mathew and Marshall Khalil

Written by Mathew and Marshall Khalil

Produced by Night Terror Films, Cathullu Productions, Atomic Zombie

Story: I will try to avoid spoilers but this is a pretty typical zombie story. A family goes about its everyday life until zombies invade. Then a group of survivors is forced to spend a night barricaded in a house. The cast includes a cowardly protagonist, his infected sister, a teenage girl, her foreign father, a woman from down the street and a scientist. You can see how things are going to go. Not much original here but why break a formula that works right? Two notable parts of the plot are throughout the film we see a mysterious character known only as the Chief and Todd (the protagonist) is forced to make some decisions on who lives and who dies, always choosing himself or his sister even though she is clearly a lost cause.

Zombies: The zombies from this film are pretty close to how the undead function. They are slow, uncoordinated, brain dead and persistent. The film does have inconsistencies in this area though, some zombies will slam their body against a door fruitlessly while others will ring the doorbell and patiently wait for the victim to open up, then the zombie will hide the body… perhaps this zombie in particular was simply one of the various serial killers and maniacs who will take advantage of the outbreak to fulfill their own desires. The zombies also infect other people by releasing an airborne gas which seems to instantly turn both living and dead while the traditional bite takes the regular time to kill and infect (ranging from a few hours to kill and minutes to reanimate, to up to a couple days to kill and hours to reanimate. All depending on the fortitude of the person infected.)

Survival Lessons:
1 - Never shake a bum to get him to wake up. He may be a sleeping bum in which case prodding in ever increasing pressure will suffice OR he may be a zombie about to turn in which case prodding will eventually reveal this and not leave you in an immediate grapple with the undead creature.
2 - Your best friend is no longer your best friend when a seven foot cannibal is trying to eat you.
3 - Swearing at zombies does not slow them down or even hurt their feelings.
4 - Killing yourself by any means that do not destroy your brain only ensure you will rise again and become a danger to others.
5 - Do not be sentimental and protect infected loved ones. It will bite you in the ass.
6 - Look out behind you.
7 - Try to get an important bio-scientist into your survival party. It will make you a priority should the military ever get its sh*t together.

Warnings: This movie has a lot of foul language. There is also a disturbing scene with a baby. You've been warned!

Until next time, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate,
Mike D.