DVD Artwork
A mysterious plague has crippled the globe, the dead won’t stay dead and the living are dwindling in numbers as each night passes. When a group of rag-tag survivors come across an abandoned marina – they decide it’s the perfect place to barricade themselves from the zombie hordes and plan an escape using one of the boats capsized on land. Unfortunately for them, they not only have to deal with the marauding zombies festering around them but now a gang of psychos who know about their plan and decide it’s something they would rather have then their makeshift safe haven. Time is running out as the sun sets and the dead start to walk, will anyone make it out alive or more importantly – human?
This film is actually a sequel to 2003’s disasterpiece – Zombie Night and after seeing that, I thought that anything else to come from the cast and crew would be just as bad if not worse. I’m happy to report, I was wrong. This sequel surpasses the original in just about every way which in most cases would make it a step up from a $5 shot on video escapade in someone’s back yard but thankfully this one looks and feels like it had a hell of a lot more than $5 and they used every cent of that to get their vision on the screen. The acting is above average for the most part with some stale dialogue, the makeup is very well done, the atmosphere is laid on thick, and surprisingly – you actually spend enough time getting to know the characters to give a shit when they go down. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this film and thankfully it’s not a sequel you need to watch that requires you to see the first film beforehand.
Awakening is a surprisingly good little zombie film, it definitely has low budget roots but is shot and acted well enough for most people to ignore and watch them film without any prejudices. It’s not perfect by any means however, there is some really awful dialogue from time to time, and the whole zombies only coming out at night thing will leave a lot of people groaning in their seats but other than that – this has the look and feel of a higher budget zombie opus and isn’t afraid to take chances. My only real gripes are the dialogue in some parts is just terrible and most of it sounds like it was dubbed, other than that though; it really is a solid film. Check this one out if you get the chance, it’s low budget and gritty enough to please genre fans but also has good enough acting and cinematography to please those who aren’t typically into this type of film. Oh yeah, don’t forget to stick around after the film’s credits for a nice little surprise.
