A viral outbreak has sent
the world plummeting into chaos and triggered the uprising of “walkers;” yet
another version of our fan favorite flesh-eating zombies. Two survivors, calling
themselves Elvis and Tweeter, sail off into the ocean, winding up on a remote
island where they encounter a survivalist community run in near-military
fashion by over zealous human patriot Kurt Conrad. The food supply is scarce as
the island was once used for nuclear weapons testing; any natural food is
automatically poisoned, so to maintain adequate supplies, Kurt only allows survivors
capable of contributing significantly to the community to stay with them. No
one really knows what happens to those that don’t qualify except Kurt.
What sold me on Dead Season was the island atmosphere.
It harkened back to Lucio Fulci’s genre-defining Zombie series which is forever
a fun watch. There is good character development between Elvis and Tweeter –
they’re not always on the same page but reality forces them to work together,
which also applies to their relationship with Kurt and his followers; however
moments that could have been used to build some blood curdling tension seem
wasted and we’re thrust right into the frenzy instead of beaten and dragged
into it, but the movie does provide some nice action sequences. The acting is
standard. The minimalist zombie makeup also brings back memories of Fulci’s
series with their smooth faces and mixing slow stalking, rotting flesh walkers
with fast paced, running, jumping predators.
Some reviews for Dead Season have touted it as being a
new take on the zombie genre. There’s nothing new about it. Just because the
zombies are the subplot and the turmoil in the community is the main story
doesn’t make Dead Season any more new
and fresh than the other 75 zombie movies that came out last week. It could
easily be a spinoff of The Walking Dead.
Dead Season is mildly entertaining; not
as thought-provoking as other folks might have you believe, but time did not
feel wasted watching it.
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