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Reel Zombies - Reviewed by Geoff Bough
Reel
Zombies from Mike Masters and David J. Francis of Primal Films in Ontario,
Canada is honestly one of my favorite films of the year and provides an
explosive dose of hilarity to the zombie subgenre. Having been commercially
unsuccessful with their previous films Zombie Night I and II, Mike Masters
has a vision of crafting his epic zombie masterpiece. The thing is…after
an actual zombie outbreak, the team has some adversity and a whole heap
of stupidity to overcome to pull off the production.
The film is a comedic-documentary (I don’t like using the term ‘mockumentary’) on the hilarious tribulations of a rag-tag team of inept cast and crew of film makers that really have no idea what the hell they’re doing. Their idea is just to make another zombie film banking on the fact that once normalcy returns and the zombie outbreak blows over, they will cash-in on now outlawed zombie products.
Though this time around, they will be using actual zombies and will have to cast the film from what few survivors are left, the whole time being followed by friend and impromptu documentarian Andy Fruman. They bring most of the crew back together and cast the film in a hilarious scene which also includes a bit with Troma Films’ Lloyd Kaufman who auditions for a part in the film. Everything is documented, from script meetings, interviews with cast and crew and more.
Realizing that even the greatest of master film works overcame adversity, the crew marches forward with the production, often arguing over what their film is ultimately about and the dangerous conditions they face every day of the shoot.
Having to work with real zombie’s poses quite the security threat as on-set zombie wranglers struggle with their subjects and often lose a crew member to an unwieldy zombie. Soon the cast members are put in harms way and the production takes a turn for the worse. The film-makers devotion to the project and to the memory of those lost during the production drives them to finish the film at all costs, even if that means more dangerous conditions as the amount of actual zombie’s increases.
At the end of the shoot, will they have their new zombie masterpiece and finally be recognized by Hollywood or will the production and lives ultimately be lost with only Fruman’s doc to tell the tale?
Reel Zombies is an incredibly funny film that cleverly pokes fun at the trials that often plague low-budget horror films. With Reel Zombies, Mike Masters, David J Francis and Primal Films have definitely crafted a film that will garner them some much deserved recognition.
We had the pleasure of screening the film at our 2nd annual Revenant
Film Fest in October here in Seattle and Reel Zombies took 1st place and
was awarded Best Feature Film as voted by our audience. The film is currently
touring the festival circuit and has picked up quite a few awards along
the way.