So this might not have been the best film for me to start off 2018 with. Good thing is that quality wise it can only get better from here on out. I hope. Because this Day Of The Dead remake left me feeling dead inside.
I knew before the title of the film came up that this was trash. There is a lengthy set up of 12 min before the title comes up where we are introduced to Zoe, the main lead played by british actress Sophie Skelton. She is supposed to be a doctor or doctor in training like those scrubs people. Only difference is, here it’s funny. She gets creeped out by a dude who comes in regularly to give blood. His blood has some high number of t-cells or something. Higher than anyone has seen. He could be a Jedi ? But he freaks out “our hero” with some #metoo shit. Zoe´s friend ( or co-worker ) saves the day by telling the creep to GTFO.
CUT TO : A party at the hospital, where the staff have kegs of beer on ice at the morgue. I KID YOU NOT. And you can guess what happens from there. Of course someone has to go to the morgue. That’s where the beer kegs are. Duh . And of course zombies start coming out of woodwork, effectively ruining the Hospital Party.
There was a scene outside where all hell’s breaking loose. Our hero Zoe is looking around at the mayhem, and decides to start running. As she runs down the street her blouse opens up (somehow) and we get some tit jiggling, which does little else than confirm that the director is a creep as well. That shit never happens!! Title comes up : Day Of The Dead : Blood Line, and at this point I was struggling to find reasons to keep watching.
From here the story jumps to the familiar setup of a small group of military personnel and survivalists dwelling in an underground bunker as they seek to find a cure in a world overrun by zombies. Hurrah! We are told that this is now 5 years removed from the first outbreak. But nothing we see really supports that. An example is when a group of soldiers and our hero Zoe go on a medicine run. Zoe and her “boyfriend” talk to each other as if they just met for the first time. The soldiers in another car act similarly . And when a car breaks down they all act like this is the first time they have been on a run. Or have acted like soldiers. There is a lot of screaming and panicking from the outset which just seems so out of place if this is a team of soldiers with 5 years of experience in this zombie world. Hey geniuses, how about everyone stops screaming so we don´t attract these undead things (says no one).
Some positive mentions: The zombie make up looks great. The creeper from the beginning comes back into play. Apparently his “superblood” lets him retain some of his memories even after he is turned into a zombie. Specifically his creepy #metoo attitude towards Zoe. That idea was kind of alright, and in a better film they might have executed the story a bit better.
But the acting, the script, and overall execution of the film is just so lackluster, it’s hard to recommend this film to anyone. If anyone wants to watch Day of the Dead, then go find the 1985 original. This remake is one for the trash bin.
Full disclosure, I never finished the film. I watched for 1 hour before tapping out.
Final verdict
1 out 6
