When I first told some of my friend and collogues that I just got a zombie film in the mail called Dawn of the Living Dead, all their reactions were the same. “Are you f&*king kidding me? Who has the balls to name their film that?” Well obviously that was not the real title of this film, but the fact of the matter is that it’s being marketed it that way. The real title of this move was called Curse of the Maya. But hey it’s got zombies in it so why not go with a more Romero title.
The film takes place in the desert of California where a young couple inherits abandoned property and decide to make it there dream home come true. Little do they know that the place is cursed land, and the place where the home is was once a Mayan burial ground where ritual killings took place. What happens next is kind of unexpected. You guessed it; zombies arrive and all hell breaks loose as the couple fights to save their new found land from a masses of zombies, wanting to eat them.
I don’t know where to really go with this film, I honestly felt that the script took us on more of a wild goose chase in the beginning, nothing was really even established, and the character development was very poor. We really don’t get to know our two leads until about a half hour into the film, where we’re bought into some more back story and a sex scene before we get anymore zombie action. Of which where the film gets very similar to that of Night of the Living Dead. Folks it’s really nothing we all haven’t seen before. The dialogue is pretty decent in this script, however we are told over and over again about the story about the Mayan dead and so forth, and then toward the end we’re thrown for a wild plot twist.
Surprisingly enough the acting is the strong point of this entire production. I mean their not great over the top performances but the actors are not half bad. The cast is full of a few know faces and some not so known. I found it funny that the director cast himself in the lead. It’s all good though, because he’s actually a better actor than he is director. The two known faces in the film are that of Martin Sheen’s brother Joe Estevez and Todd Bridges from different strokes who’s appearance in the film is kind of odd. However the overall acting is not half bad, and I give the cast a lot of credit.
Where my problem really lies with this film is in it’s production value. Not only was this film poorly directed, but the photography was terrible. You know who I honestly felt bad for was editor Christopher Roth who tried his best to put somewhat of a film together with the poor quality of shots he had to work with. He pulled it off, but there where a lot of jump shots and quick cuts which took away from the overall feel of the film. The film also had a very grainy grind house look to it. However if this film was meant to be made in the likes of a film that would of appeared during the era of the grind house picture, I would of though differently. However this movie was made in 2004, and why spend the time and money putting a film together which at the time was not a popular look in horror cinema.
The overall special effects were so-so. The make-up effects where alright, but some of the zombie make-up looked a bit over done. The zombie baby was pretty cool, and was the high point in the effects and I also appreciated how real the blood looked in the film. What really got me though was the poor looking CGI which, I’m really not sure why the film had these odd looking computer generated lights show up on the screen that was supposed to represent the sun or moon or whatever going on in the sky. Maybe I missed something there, but I didn’t get why the film cut to these odd images.
It’s oblivious that I really did not car for this film. I felt it was made very poorly and that it took ideas from the zombie sub-genre that we’ve all seen before. The acting was not half bad, but overall I felt the film failed on many levels. I think maybe the only people that might enjoy this film are those who are into grind house films of the past, where it was more about the fell of being a grind house film, and not the filmmaking.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
