This short film written and directed by Faye Hoerauf and Jessica Baxter is currently doing the rounds at various festivals and even picking up the odd award and good review to boot.
The film centres on a group of film geeks who have their movie watching interrupted by a band of ghoulish zombies. The geeks take to the streets to rid the world of the zombie population.
Firstly I will start by saying that I was truly surprised by how good the production looked. The girls sure got bang for their buck and used what little resources they had to their every advantage.
The film moves at a frantic pace, which is kind of ironic for a film about shuffling corpses, but throws movie references (including a hilarious NOTLD one) at you left, right and centre. The cast of characters are so adept at playing geeks that you assume they actually are, and they also manage to do it without being stereotypical.
Like George A. Romero, the ladies behind this have something to say about the reality TV craze and media manipulation which they poke fun at via their own unique visual gags, which include a literal publicity machine that can cause scandals to occur at will amongst other popular newsworthy stories. Whilst they are at it, they even poke fun at the media and film industries with a hilarious sequence that perfectly demonstrates the great lengths that P.A. s are expected to go to, and I can honestly say that in my experience they aren’t exaggerating.
The girls further argue their point by demonstrating the things people will do for fame and money, but using it as possible reasons as to how zombies can get into people’s homes. There is also a comment on the brainwashing aspect of religion that sees some Mormons become braindead zombies.
The film’s nice aesthetics are complimented by a great soundtrack, and I can honestly say that the film showcases a new way of killing zombies with a playstation control pad that I haven’t seen before.
OVERALL SUMMARY
In all, the film was a pleasant surprise, but the biggest compliment I can pay the girls is to state that I never knew female geeks could be so cool. The ladies manage to prove that they can cut the mustard in a ‘mans world’ and I for one can’t wait for their first feature.
