"Undead" is a zombie film from Down Under from The Spierig Brothers. It's great fun and the closest thing to a summer popcorn movie you're likely to get from a zombie film. In the film  a shower of meteors bombard a small town and an alien infection turns the citizens into flesh eating zombies. A small group of locals band together to fight their way out only to find that aliens have surrounded the town and have been abducting people. Sound like they threw everything in including the kitchen sink? Well they did and in doing so made a really cool movie.

 

    "Undead" really does have it all. The effects are top notch and this goes way beyond the average zombie film. The meteors look great as do the aliens. The gore is really good although there could have been more. The zombies look great and The Spierig Brothers do some very clever and original things with their zombies. The first zombie encounter is priceless! Even more impressive is the fact the Spierigs did almost all of the FX on their home computers! I don't want to mention too many things because I don't want to dull the experience for first timers. The Spierigs obviously love the zombie genre. There are crystal clear nods to "Night of The Living Dead", "Dawn of the Dead", Peter Jackson's early work as well as films Like "Jaws" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".

 

    The film does get confusing and the story goes all over the place with characters wandering in and out of the film with no discernible purpose but hey in "Undead" it doesn't matter. Yes it does keep the film from being "Great!!" as does the pretty bad acting in parts. Also the film tends to repeat itself toward the end but this seems clearly due to budget restraints (The film was funded entirely by friends and family). It's still a really fun way to spend 2 hours! I look forward to the Spierig's next movie "Daybreakers" which is set for a 2006 release. This time they tackle Vampires and I can't wait to see what they do with a real budget and actual actors instead of their friends and family. A great first effort all in all and a welcome addition to the zombie genre.