Found footage and zombies are two things that are not going to disappear from the horror genre any time soon. They are both way over done these days, but filmmakers still insist on trying their hand at them. Some succeed with original ideas and some just fall flat. For some reason, I had high expectations for Sergio Myers’ film, The Zombinator, but unfortunately, it found its way onto the ‘fall flat’ side of the spectrum.
Joanna is a fashion designer who has hired a film crew to make a documentary. While the cameras follow her around, they happen to catch an outbreak of crazed undead hordes who have attacked Joanna and her friends at a party. The few survivors of the attack are momentarily saved by an ex-soldier who happens to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger from The Terminator films. Can this zombinator protect the group of friends from the undead masses or is it already too late?
It may sound strange to say, but I actually enjoyed this film more when it was presented as a fashion documentary. The characters seemed like real people just going about their natural daily lives. Once the horror part of it all kicked in, things went downhill.
Generally the found footage style of filming lends itself very well to the overall quality of a project. In the case of The Zombinator, however, found footage wasn’t enough to hide the bad acting, goofy characters, and terrible CGI.
Not everything about this film was bad though. While I didn’t necessarily like the movie overall, I think the idea of a government-induced zombie outbreak is a cool idea. If executed differently, with a higher budget, or a better cast of actors, this could have really been a pretty good movie. In addition to the clever plotline, I did also enjoy the practical effects. The use of the post-production computer effects wasn’t pulled off well at all, but all of the blood splatter and zombie make-up were pretty impressive for a low-budget film of this nature.
If you are a fan of found footage films or anything having to do with zombies, be sure to pick up a copy of The Zombinator today and let me know what you think… am I way off the mark? Or am I dead on?
I give this film 1.5 zebras out of 5.
It has Patrick Kilpatrick, for that reason alone I could check it