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Blu-Ray : Highly Recommended
Ranking:
Sale Price: $26.99 Last Price: $ Buy now! 3rd Party 11.2 In Stock
Release Date: June 10th, 2014 Movie Release Year: 2012

Kill Zombie!

Overview -

A Russian Space station crashes in Amsterdam, releasing a deadly virus that turns everyday citizens into flesh-craving psychopaths. Aziz (Yahya Gaier), his brother Mo (Ouled Radi) and several strangers emerge from jail, oblivious to the mayhem until they team up with a local police officer (Gigi Ravelli). After receiving a desperate call for help, this unlikely band of heroes sets out on an insane rescue mission - and it's going to take a seriously crazy plan if they want to get out alive... 

OVERALL:
Highly Recommended
Rating Breakdown
STORY
VIDEO
AUDIO
SPECIAL FEATURES
Tech Specs & Release Details
Technical Specs:
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Video Resolution/Codec:
1080p MPEG-4 AVC
Length:
90
Aspect Ratio(s):
2.35:1
Audio Formats:
Dutch: Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles/Captions:
English
Special Features:
Trailer
Release Date:
June 10th, 2014

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

Ranking:

We've seen zombies in space, in the backwoods of America, in big metropolis cities, and even seen these undead monsters in the snowy mountains. But we've never seen them in the marijuana capitol of the world, Amsterdam. And like most fans of zombies, I'll take a look at any zombie film at least once. With this zombie film, 'Kill Zombie!', you can tell that by having the word "kill" and an exclamation point in the actual title, you can expect a fun and entertaining film, which is exactly what it is.

So many of these low budget horror zombie movies try to take themselves seriously with monotone colors, boring characters, and slow pacing. 'Kill Zombie!' is not that kind of movie. Writer/Directors Martijn Smits, Erwin van den Eshof, and Tijs van Marle seem to have fallen in love with Edgar Wright's 'Shaun of the Dead', and pretty much every other Edgar Wright film, because 'Kill Zombie!' is loaded with tons of references to his movies. In fact, 'Kill Zombie!' plays out a lot like 'Shaun of the Dead' with some 'Scott Pilgrim' mixed in for good measure. So if you're a fan of those two films, you'll definitely be entertained by this tiny budget Amsterdam zombie flick.

Aziz (Yahya Gaier) is our "Shaun" character who is an average schmo at an office job and has been courting the beautiful Tess (Nadia Poeschmann) for quite some time. Aziz's brother Mo is the "Ed" character and is just a mess of a man. The two brothers end up in jail overnight due to a fight at a party. During their night in jail, a space station that is infected with some sort of zombie virus crashes into Amsterdam, plaguing its citizens with a deadly viris that turns them into zombies with green blood. Luckily for Aziz, Mo, a few other prisoners, and a hot model cop named Kim (Gigi Ravelli), the zombie virus hasn't reached the jail structure, but they soon find out that life as they know it is turned upside down as they must band together to fight zombies and survive.

After they hear a distress call from a possible helpless Tess, the new ragtag group of survivors decides to rescue her and others. With quick cuts, fancy angles, and a 'Mortal Kombat' video game style fight, complete with graphics, this is one of those zombie movies where the zombies aren't all that scary. Sure, you run the risk of getting infected, but it's the type of zombie world where I personally would love to live in. Remember how fun it was to see Shaun run around with a cricket bat, knocking zombie's heads around in 'Shaun of the Dead'? It has that feel to it, and the characters here are completely happy being in this type of undead world.

It's quite amazing to see on this tiny budget, how many people they used for zombies in make up and the how decent the visual effects are. These filmmakers clearly know what they're doing, even if they basically just made the poor man's version of a couple of other better films. The actor's all have a great time on screen and give it their all, and they and the film are very aware of what type of movie 'Kill Zombie! is and wants to be. And that my friends, makes for a very entertaining zombie movie.

Video Review

Ranking:

'Kill Zombie!' comes with a great 1080p HD transfer presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio. I was surprised by how good this image looks, considering the low budget and apocalyptic scenario, but it all shines and pops off-screen. The detail is very sharp and vivid throughout. The green boils on the zombie's faces look intricate and you'll be able to make out every gross detail in those sores and wounds. Closeups reveal great makeup effects and individual hairs on the actor's faces.

Even with the CG effects that were done surprisingly well, the detail is very good with no softness. The colors pop off screen as well and are very well saturated. Even though the box art would lead you to believe that this film's color scheme would have dark and gray hues, it doesn't. The actor's costumes pop with great color throughout, much like 'Shaun of the Dead' did. Skin tones are always natural and black levels are deep and inky. There was some minor video noise, but it's nothing to write home about. This is a great video presentation. 

Audio Review

Ranking:

This release comes with a surprisingly incredible lossless DTS-HD 5.1 audio mix in its original Dutch language with English subtitles. I was not prepared for the sheer awesomeness of this audio track. It will shake the pillars of heaven and rattle your bones. This is a fully immersive audio track that puts your right in the middle of all the zombie action.

Dialogue is always crystal clear and easy to follow, with zero signs of any pops, cracks or hissing. The sound effects are robust, loud, and pour from the surrounds constantly. The ambient noises of gun fire, growls, and zombie crunches all sound great and realistic. There is also some amazing directionality throughout. The bass is strong but not forced, giving the low end of the mix top marks. The dynamic range is extremely wide and the LFE is excellent. This is one of the best audio tracks for a zombie film.

Special Features

Ranking:

Trailer (HD, 2 mins.) - Trailer for the film.

'Kill Zombie!' was a shocking surprise. I didn't expect much going into this zombie movie, but I had a great time with it, especially since there were tons of references to other films, specifically those of Edgar Wright. With a great video presentation and a demo worthy audio presentation, this zombie flick is worth owning. Unfortunately the only extra is a trailer for the film. It would have been great to see some fun behind the scenes bonus features and outtakes with this one. Besides that fact, 'Kill Zombie!' is highly recommended!