DVD Release
There’s no better friend to the hardcore horror fan like the region free DVD player. When most of the horror community was only just getting word about films like Undead and The Descent, there was an army of region free soldiers out there that had already had the pleasure of seeing these films. If you’re willing to pay a bit extra you can purchase some amazing films for your region free player.
Severed: Forest of the Dead is one of those films that have been floating outside of the United States and a region one DVD release so word on this film is pretty subdued. If you’re a fan of zombies and Ragers, you’re going to need to check this out now that it’s finally in the U.S.
Seems there’s some trouble a’ brewin’ in a small island logging camp owned by a mutli-million dollar corporation. There’s a group of tree hugging environmentalists headed up by Rita Hoffman (Sarah Lind). She’s considered quite the little trouble maker as well as an environmental terrorist known to spike trees.
Now, in case some of you have no idea what that means lemme break it down for you. Ya see, unstable extremists occasionally hammer spikes into tree trunks in the hopes that some lumberjack with a chainsaw will begin buzzing through the tree. When the chainsaw hits that spike the chainsaw will leap from the tree or the chain will break. Basically, the lumberjack may end up with a severed head or a missing arm.
Anyhow, the Forest Action Committee has decided to do their best to stop the deforestation by the corporation and the CEO of the corp decides to send his son, Tyler (Paul Campbell), to the island in order to find out why production and communication has ceased. Little does sonny boy realize that Daddy Dearest has been using this particular island to test their new growth hormone GX-1134.
Normally a growth hormone isn’t anything to be concerned about but this dangerous chemical has an adverse effect on a logger as he cuts into a tree and hits a spike. The sap from the tree mingles with his blood and before you know it he’s a full blown shambling, growling zombie.
Tyler quickly discovers what’s going on after arriving on the island as he joins up with a small band of loggers and environmentalists fighting to survive in the forest. The group decides to make a break for the bridge but, to their horror, find themselves barricaded in! The corporation has delivered orders to quarantine the entire area, Tyler and all.
There’s only one other option for the small group and that means having to fight their way to the back road. On their way through the forest though they’re fired upon by a helicopter and hustled away by mysterious men. Turns out, the men are loggers that have made a base camp of sorts that they’ve holed themselves up in. The helicopters are the corporations “strike breakers” hired to stop anybody from trying to leave the quarantine.
Things go from bad to worse though when the survivors realize they’re in a camp of men that have lost their humanity. Their daily activity consists of selecting one man from the camp and picking a random number of zombies which they then promptly “let in” to a wired cage. The man is given a gun and his job is to shoot them all dead or die trying while the other men in camp lay bets.
Sound familiar?
Obviously, this is the worst place possible for the only female in the forest and eventually Tyler and Rita know they must escape with their fellow survivors, Mack and Carter (JR Bourne of “Stargate SG-1”). Carter has his own plans though and he purposely opens the gates allowing the camp to fill with zombies as he slips out into the night.
Friends will fall. Traitors will fall. The camp is no more and the only option is to run for your life.
Severed: Forest of the Dead is quite good, surprisingly good actually. No doubt Severed: Forest of the Dead will draw comparisons to 28 Days Later, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead and that’s to be expected really. Some similarities were a bit hard to ignore. That certainly doesn’t mean Severed: Forest of the Dead doesn’t work on its own though.
This film is overflowing with severed limbs and spraying blood. It was gory without being “splatter”. It maintained a certain level of…respectability, if you will. It doesn’t lower itself to cheap peep show type FX work.
The acting was reasonable. I can’t say anybody stood out as outstanding but then again nobody stunk things up either.
Now, the zombies…were they zombies or ragers? I really can’t say. One thing I did laugh about though was a comment made in which Carter tells somebody to “remove the head from the body” in order to make sure they don’t “come back”. There’s only one problem with that…dozens of zombies had been “killed” before that with their heads intact and none “came back”. They just laid on the ground twitching and convulsing.
For you Romero fans out there that believe a film should have something to say, Severed: Forest of the Dead offers up some environmental sub-text while also showing viewers that the corporate greed mongers and loggers are human as well.
Bottom line, this is worth a watch but ultimately it felt completely uneventful. I probably won’t be adding this to my collection but I’m sure some of you zombie film collectors will find this a step up on most of the indie zombie fare out there.
