Undead

Dir. Peter & Michael Spierig, 2003, Australia , 104 mins

Cast: Felicity Mason, Mungo Mackay, Rob Jenkins, Lisa Cunningham, Dirk Hunter

Splatter horror has enjoyed a major revival in recent times, mainly as a way for young filmmakers to prove their chops and hone their burgeoning skills. It was really a young Texan named Tobe Hooper who made a name for himself (which he subsequently had difficulty living up to) back in '73 with his debut horror masterwork The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, that set an inspirational chain reaction in motion, that has repercussions even today. A few years after Hooper had made his mark, a young filmmaker named Sam Raimi managed to secure funding from a group of local businessmen to make the legendary video-nasty-to-be The Evil Dead (re-titled by producer-friend Irvin Shapiro, who advised a change from the film's original name 'The Book of the Dead' because the word 'books' - would "scare off the kids")

The slick, dynamic direction of Raimi, heavily influenced by The Three Stooges style of slapstick violence (or splat-stick) was in stark contrast to Hooper's raw and disturbing vision of horror yet the sense of sadism and eye for scares was definitely similar. The Godfather of horror, George A Romero, directed the first installment of his Dead zombie trilogy back in 1968 subsequently inspiring countless horror filmmakers (including Hooper and Raimi) and being a direct influence on the current trend of zombie and 'cabin siege' low budget horror films that seem to be creeping out into the mainstream. From Eli Roth's Cabin Fever, Edgar Wright's loving Romero tribute: Shaun of the Dead and Neil Marshall's Dog Soldiers to the extremes of Peter Jackson's simply unmatchable gore-fest Brain Dead and Zak Snyder's quite excellent (but not particularly faithful) remake of Dawn of the Dead. The one lesson that has been passed on since Romero's first feature has been that horror can be effectively achieved with a limited budget and resources, it's commercially viable and it's something that can work not matter how raw the production values (The Blair Witch Project being a good example), the only requirement is a well-written script, an engaging idea or (at least) a decent story.

2005 sees the release of Undead - an Australian-made zombie horror-comedy, written and directed by twin brothers Michael and Peter Spierig. In keeping with the baton passed on by the horror masters of old - it's a low-budget home made effort, self-funded by the filmmakers and relying solely on ingenuity and zeal to bring it to the silver screen.

The story begins in the sleepy Queensland town of Berkeley . An uneventful place, where nothing much out of the ordinary happens, until one day, a meteor shower rains down on the town, infecting the occupants with an alien virus that turns them all into flesh eating zombies.

Local beauty contest winner Rene (Mason) is dissatisfied with her life in small, narrow minded Berkeley, and having decided to leave is on her way out of the town as the meteors hit. She takes shelter in a lonely farmhouse belonging to Marion (Mackay) a local weirdo with a gun fetish, who when not constructing an elaborate bomb shelter in his basement, mainly keeps to himself. Several more panicky locals use the farmhouse as shelter and soon the small group are relying on each other for their survival as they fend off the flesh eating maniacs that are struggling to get inside.

As a low budget horror, Undead is wonderfully inventive visually and should be commended for its creativity and sense of fun. As a story, it's unique enough to maintain interest and there's a even a substantial sci-fi oriented twist that sets it apart from most films of its ilk. Performance wise, the film does trip up in many spots; some of the acting is downright dreadful, with clunky lines that may read well on the page but are just awful when delivered by the relatively inexperienced cast. However it's easily forgiven when the amusing 'splat-stick' kicks in and the film begins to rely less on its dull sequences of character exposition, such as a half-arsed sub-plot about the rivalry between beauty contestants Rene and Sallyanne (Cunningham). Although as the film utilises the action to push the story and relies more and more on zombie vs shotgun standoffs, guts, gore and adrenalised action - it grabs the audiences attention and ultimately excels.

The effects sequences, of which there are quite a few, were accomplished over many months of post-production on the Spierig brothers' home computers. The result is impressive, showing that reasonably high production values are now within the grasp of the zero budgeted film.

Cast-wise, as the town beauty Rene, Mason delivers an effective performance. A notable mention should be made of Hunter as the panicking, crazed local cop Harrison. His amusing, frenetic addition to the pool of cast members is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise cliched and dull set-up, that labours from scene to scene in order to manouvre the characters into the farmhouse so the real story can begin.

Once the story kicks off, the film gathers momentum and tears along at a great pace, revelling in its severed limbs and arterial spray. If you're expecting an M. Night Shyamalan style exercise in dread laden atmosphere, look elsewhere. But for fans of frenzied, energetic and raw low-budget horror, Undead will reward.

Jarrod Walker