State of Emergency Review

Movie: State of Emergency
By: Chev Chellios
Date: January 24, 2013

10 Bullits, 6 Zombies do the math...

Zombies zombies zombies, its all about zombies lately, zombies in games, books and of course movies. Well this one is also about zombies, undead, living dead or like they call them in another movie ( A Cadaver Christmas ) Cadavers, which I found original. But back to this independent little flick, is it capable of doing anything, for example did it surprise me, was it original or did it even entertain me, well, read on to find out…..

h4>The Beginning:

Turner Clay's second director effort, after the movie interception, (not to be confused with inception) is an action movie from 2009 which in that time wasn't received very well. This time not an action, but a zombie horror movie. With a budget of only 1.000.000 US Dollars, my expectations were not high. But on the other hand there are zombie movies I think were pretty decent with a budget around the same amount (REC for example had a budget of 1.500.000 US Dollars). All I want to say that it is possible, to make cheap but decent zombie movies. And being a zombie movie enthusiast, I hoped this one would deliver the veggies.

The Story:

Well the story is straightforward, man wakes up zombies walking around ( I think this is a smart move, instead of going for the crazed running zombies) and loses a beloved one, hides somewhere and tries to find refuge. Then they find out that the cause of all this mayhem, lies within an explosion at a chemical plant nearby. I know what you're thinking, its fairly unoriginal I know, but still they managed to keep my attention ( to this day I still don't know how). The cast was decent and in some cases passable, they tried with what the script had to offer and it wasn't much. With a few side stories, flashbacks and action scenes ( there weren't many ) they tried. Jay Haden who plays the lead, and Tory White did a decent job.

That's the story, let talk about the execution, I have to admit the look of the movie is pretty good. Nice imagery and clear picture quality the director seems to have prioritized this, I also think its filmed in HD but I don't know for sure. A good choice was to make the movie as minimalistic as possible. A lot of empty streets, large warehouses etc. this gives the viewer a better idea of the situation the survivors are in. The Sound design was good but I think they recycled a lot of sounds for example the screams of the zombies, which were well designed sounded a lot alike. But overall good job. dangerous toxins into the atmosphere, turning the town's residents into flesh-eating zombies. Those people unaffected by the chemicals are helpless against the threat. A small group of survivors bands together and attempts to hide from the creatures until help arrives.

The special effects is something, I have to give props for, the special and practical effects were very well done. Although there weren't that many action scenes, they did a good job with the blood and the blood drenched eyes, also the headshots ( some were made with CGI ) were executed well. There wasn't a lot of gore, but this just isn't that kind of movie, and I didn't even miss it. I thought one of the better scenes was in the beginning, were the male lead finds out that his shelter has been breached and searches for the intruder in the dark, pretty tense atmosphere, so good work on that scene. Its about atmosphere rather than the shock factor.

The Final verdict:

In the end this movie just doesn't cut it, it didn't have enough surprises or other elements of surprise. I felt it missed something, it felt empty. So it didn't surprise me, it didn't shock me, it wasn't original, but it did entertain me, in a strange weird way. I certainly would not recommend this to every one, its for those who want to judge for them selves if this independent zombie flick is worth the effort in its minimalistic way. So if you have 90 minutes to spare check this one out, if not, stay away.