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Quote:

Zombies are the middle children of the otherworldly family. Vampires are the oldest brother who gets to have a room in the attic, all tripped out with a disco ball and shag carpet. Werewolves are the youngest, the babies, always getting pinched and told they're cute. With all that attention stolen away from the middle child zombie, no wonder she shuffles off grumbling, "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha."

- Kevin James Breaux

Thursday, March 15, 2018

Film Review: DAY OF THE DEAD: BLOODLINE (2017)



There is no sequel/reboot/remake more unwanted or unneeded than yet another version of director George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead (1985) but director Hector Hernandez Vicens has done just that with Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2017).  Zoe Parker (Sophie Skelton) is a doctor whose obsessive patient Max (Johnathon Schaech) tries to rape her just as the dead begin to rise.  She happens to escape but not before seeing Max killed.

Jump a little into the future and Zoe is now one of a small group of survivors holed up on a military compound where she’s trying to find a cure for the deadly zombie virus.   When one of the children at the complex gets deathly ill and it threatens the rest of the camp Zoe and a bunch of the soldiers venture into the ruins of the city for medicine.  Zoe and the soldiers get a big surprise when she discovers that Max is still alive…in a way.  Max is part human and part zombie and he may hold the key to the cure to the zombie virus if she and the soldiers can stay alive long enough as a vengeful Max will do whatever he can to possess Zoe even if it means turning all the survivors at the camp into his undead army.

The film pays homage to the Romero classic in terms of specific plot points but with the larger cast most of them become nothing more than cannon fodder in a film that’s filled with bad acting and an even worse script that is predictable with every zombie film way.  The film’s only saving grace is the better than expected production values as the film looks good and the make up effects are top notch.  There is no denying that Vicens set out to craft a good-looking film.

Schaech is in fine form as seems to be having a lot of fun as this film’s version of the “Bub” character from the original, only more sexually active.  The action sequences are also very well done but because the film relies on characters always making the dub decisions all the built up good will is gone to waste as I’m sure you’ll feel once you watch it.

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