Moral-Flexibility.Net

“Deadline” (2002) directed by Jonathan Kray.
(Proposed Title: “Going Dutch never used to involve so much gore.”)
Starring Cas Jansen, Anjali Taneja, Willem Emo, Dorus van der Meer, Dirk Beemster, and Floris Bakker.
Zombie Film Rating:

Teaser: Jenny Visser of Channel 19 news has stumbled onto the story of a lifetime. An explosion at the local Beta Chemical facility has exposed the mosquito population to an experimental substance. A neighboring software development firm is among the first of those exposed to the mutant mosquitos and Jenny is right there to document the carnage, undoubtedly a journalistic coup, should she survive.

A truly refreshing effort at low-budget zombie cinema. This short is unquestionably one of the best efforts I have yet seen from zombie movie makers regardless of the budget involved.

Plot Summary: The movie opens with a news broadcast providing two important plot points. The first is that this area is in it’s fifth year of infestation by a particularly aggressive breed of mosquito (”Culex Culivea“), and the second is that the local Beta Chemicals facility has suffered an explosion, the extent of the damage and impact on the local population are, as yet, unknown.

We’re introduced to the reporter Jenny Visser, at the site of the industrial accident. Once finished her report she, and her crew (Cameraman Ed and sound guy Jack) stroll around the corner and discover the front doors to PowerSoft smashed and ajar. Curiosity overcoming common sense they enter, and proceed immediately to the second floor where they discover the offices in total disarray. Just as Jenny begins reporting their findings, a badly injured employee makes his presence known and relates to the news crew just what has been going on.

Mike, it seems, was the supervisor for the development team creating Final Flesh II. It was crunch time at PowerSoft, with two days left before the game was to be finished, and a month before distribution was to begin. Mike’s team had been sequestered in the office for a considerable amount of time, and the pressure had been building. They were entirely oblivious as to the accident over at Beta Chemical, and when Fred decided to go downstairs for coffee, joined by Peter and Richard, he hardly noticed the mosquito bite he received.

When the three employees (representing half the development team) failed to return, Mike stormed downstairs to reassert his authority. Finding Fred standing over the dead body of one employee, and strangling the other to death, Mike took one look into Freds pale yellow eyes and demonstrated a suprising amount of common sense.

He ran upstairs and locked the door. Naturally Frank doesn’t believe Mike, and as he leaves the office to assist Zombie-Fred he is dragged bodily through the door, leaving Mike and Sas locked inside the office.

This would probably be ok, except that Sas has just been bitten by an infected mosquito, and before Mike can figure out what to do next, he is attacked by Sas. Suffering a number of bites in the scuffle, Mike claims the first zombie kill of the film by smashing her skull with a computer monitor. Shortly thereafter the Channel 19 News team wandered in.

Of course while Mike has been relating this story Jack the sound guy has wandered off looking for some water and has been summarily consumed by the zombies lurking downstairs. To keep things interesting a security guard has also arrived, found the front doors smashed and leapt to the conclussion that something may not be “A-OK” at PowerSoft. He claims the second zombie kill moments later, drawing the news crew downstairs in response to his gunfire.

Jenny and Ed arrive in time to see the security guard fall victim to the zombies, and catatonic Ed is sent to the big editing booth in the sky by Zombie Mike seconds later. Jenny begins a retreat from the zombies, and despite a short lived effort at killing Zombie Mike with several blows from a fire extinguisher, is eaten before she can escape.

The outbreak, presumably, continues to spread.

Critique: This film is nicely done, and puts paid to any theories that “low-budget” must automatically equal “crap”. At 23 minutes the film seems to end before it’s begun, but is well paced, well acted (as near as we can tell that is, only the subtitles are in english), and the effects entirely adequate. A rare treat, this short raises the bar for those that are looking to make their own zombie movies. Far from filming your friends running around soaked in fake blood, this movie delivers where so many others have fallen miserably short.

The Final Word: An absolute must have. Fortunately you can download the entire short for free from the Twisted Pictures Website.

Comments RSS