Severed, 2005

 

Lumberjacks must band together with environmental activists to protect themselves from the undead… Killed by toxic tree sap...

I said, “KILLED BY TOXIC TREE SAP!” Yup. Looking for all new outbreak origins, all right!

A remote Island in the Canadian wilderness is where Severed, (also known as ‘Severed: Forest of The Dead’), is set. This is where the lumber workers meet with the protesters. Unbeknownst to all involved, the timber company is experimenting with a genetically enhanced fungus that provides “old growth in trees in 1/4 of the time.”

Sadly, it also turns people into zombies. (But there’s always side-effects, right?)

Also unbeknownst, at least to the lumberjacks, is that certain more aggressive ecological demonstrators have ‘spiked’ some trees. This creates a dangerous chainsaw-related situation for a tree worker, as well as one where the genetically fungal tree sap can enter a workers bloodstream.

Whoop! There it is! Cross-Kingdom contamination! Things aim for a certain creek for all involved parties from this point onwards.

The environmentalists and the loggers then meet, greet, and get eat, until they put aside idealogical differences and work things out.

Fortunately, for us, the viewers, the dynamic between the two sides is not too preachy and does not seem to be pushing any agendas. But the power struggle once inside the fortified logging camp is very reminiscent of the military/scientists dynamic from G.A. Romero’s gravely under-rated ‘Day of the Dead.’ That is to say, delicate at best.

The scenery is fantastic! The Canadian Forest provides not only a lush and exotic setting that is beautiful to see, but also an isolation that promises desperation for those out in it. 

Points also for the undead. The zombies here ALMOST follow all of the

 Rules of Romero! They do growl and snarl and seem generally displeased with most things, but they are otherwise dead. They also eat the flesh of the living, and also spread the Zombism through bites/bodily fluids, and they don’t run. 

There are a bunch of scares and a truckload of tension, for sure, to the film’s credit. But the camerawork!!! I mean, I get that a shaky camera is meant to instill some urgency into the audience, but this is vomit-inducing! Cool down, Mr. Cameraman. We’re already on board!

Okay! Let’s throw this log the ZMR fire! 

The all-knowing, wise, and dispassionate Zombie Movie Rubric rated ‘Severed’ at a fairly decent 2.33 out of a possible 4.0. his equates to better than average, an enjoyable z-flick, and worth your time to watch!

YouTube Trailer is here: SEVERED: FOREST OF THE DEAD 

P.S. This could be the very worst time EVER to chain yourself to a tree in the name of environmental activism!

Deadlocked, (2020)

 

A small, eclectic group of people, (including a cop and his perp in custody, a runaway, an aspiring actor, and a mechanical engineer,) all board the same elevator car just as strange things begin happening in the building.

And then, their elevator gets stuck.

Nothing new or groundbreaking here. Simply another zombie outbreak movie. But there is some good news! The undead in Deadlocked adhere fairly closely to the Rules of Romero: they are dead, stopped only by a brain hit, Zombism transference is through bodily fluids, the dead eat living flesh, and of course, slow and shambolic! Thank you for some canon. Oh sure, they are angry and growl, but this is forgivable if only due to the cool, herky-jerky, spasmodic manner in the dead walked. 

And the not so good? Well, the zombies aren’t the only thing moving slowly. The story crawls. What should be exciting moments are drawn out by flashbacks, (or even hallucinations!) rendering the film's flow, well, just boring.

But then again, the entire story is 1. Stuck in elevator, 2. Zombie Outbreak, 3. Escape elevator & Zombies… Now stretch it out to a feature film length. I guess some slower scenes are necessary... I just wish they didn't break up the action with them!

Nothing too original, fairly good undead, (despite a few inconsistencies in their behavior,) decent enough acting and clearly a bag of nickels-budget affair, so kudos for achieving what was done here. However, but with the entire cast being ’20 to 30 something-year-old, fit & good-looking, white people,’ I was certain this was a Canadian film school project. Maybe I am being overly analytical.

But my Zombie Movie Rubric is more objective than I, so, I ran Deadlocked through its gauntlet and got a bit of a surprise. Deadlocked earned itself a ZMR score of a solid 1.8 out of a possible 4 stars. This translates to a ‘just enough to scratch that Undead itch’ type of film.

YouTube Trailer, here: DEADLOCKED