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Released by: The Asylum Home Entertainment
Released on: 12/27/2011
Director: Nick Lyon
Cast: Ving Rhames, Taryn Manning, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Eddie Steeples
Year: 2011
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The Movie:
This won't take long.
A plague has taken over the earth and turned nearly the entire population into flesh-eating zombies. Three survivors are ambushed by some zombies, and two are saved by a group of armed survivors. They're on their way to Catalina, a rumored safe zone for survivors. They meet another group of people along the way, some archers, and they all press on to reach the shore to find a boat to get to the island. Hopefully they all make it. But you know they won't.
There you go. That's the story. Sounds familiar doesn't it? Well it should because it's been done before and in a far superior fashion than was this turd was done. Let's start with the story. So there's a plague that turns people into zombies and those bitten join the walking dead. Right, got it. So what happens next? Survivors find each other, fight zombies, and look for more survivors. Yep, ok, got that too. What else? They die here and there, and of course someone gets bitten and turns to a zombie and they have to kill their now-dead friend. Uh-huh, good. Ok so where's the plot piece that separates it from any other zombie dribble? How about something that makes this movie stand out above the sea of sewage that's floating around posing as zombie movies? Not there? Nope.
Then let's look at the characters. One is searching for her husband. One lost his wife to cancer before the plague and is sensitive. One is a joker. One is a militant bad-ass. Then there's one who can't cope with the horror around her, but will surely find her courage. That's about as much information as anyone needs apparently, because the stereotypical characters don't go much deeper than that. How about the acting then? Aside from Ving Rhames and maybe Taryn Manning, the acting is mid-rent and nothing memorable. Typical, cliché-ridden dialogue doesn't help things along either.
How about the special effects? Those must be pretty good then, surely. Surely not. The physical make-up, which looks mostly like masks on extras, is uninspired but gets the job done. The computer effects, however, is what really stinks up the screen. There are shots of the dead city where they have CG smoke coming off buildings that instead looks like the screen has dirt spots on it. CG fire looks like animated flames rather than real ones, and the blood spray looks like cartoon blood. Truly terrible. And the zombie wounds, like decapitations and the like, look so horrible that they're not only ineffective, but incredibly annoying. They're cheap about it too. There's a scene where a zombie gets shot in the head and the spray of blood suddenly disappears before the zombie is even off screen. One frame it's there, the next frame its totally gone. “Bah…good enough…print it. It's kids and stoners watching…â€
The only thing that this movie has to offer by way of anything of merit is the inclusion of zombie tigers. But even then, they look awful. Brought to you by SyFy, it's right up there with most all the other stink bombs the television network spews out. This one may appeal to the 12-year olds or the die-hard zombie fans that will watch anything with a flesh-eating corpse, but beyond that it would be insane to recommend this total waste of time.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Offering an AVC encoded 1080p high-definition image, 2012 Zombie Apocalypse looks…mixed. Some scenes look outstanding, with great detail and clarity, colors that really stand out, and black levels that should satisfy most people looking for that. Then other times, like when they show the city from a far, there seems to be a lot of digital noise. Those areas are scattered about and very noticeable, and if the movie was worth two shits maybe it would matter. The audio sounds excellent, using a 5.1 Surround Sound mix. Great subwoofer activity, rear channel action and string sound effects. It's a loud movie, but the balance is good. No issues were noticed. There's also a 2.0 channel stereo track to choose from.
Extras are slim and weak. There's a five minute “Making of†that doesn't amount to much and minute-long “gag reel†that isn't really too gaggy. Then there's some trailers for other movie titles from The Asylum.
The Final Word:
More zombie woes from a long string of awful zombie movies, this one doesn't even warrant mention of any scenes to even fast forward to. If zombie movies with no story and one action scene after another with crap effects is your idea of a good time, then have fun with this one.
