Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (2014)

 

 

 

(out of 5)

 

 

Wyrmwood:  Road of the Dead (2014)

directed by:  Kiah Roache-Turner

starring:  Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradey, Leon Burchill, Keith Agius, Berynn Schwerdt, Luke McKenzie, Damian Dyke, Catherine Terracini, Meganne West, Yure Covich, Beth Aubrey, Sheridan Harbridge                       

format:  Blu-Ray - Personal Collection

 

 

The Movie:  Well first off I'm ashamed of myself for NOT contributing to this film during the crowd funding campaign.  This is the first movie I have seen now that I did not contribute to and am angry I did not.  Wow what a good and original action zombie film.  I really hated having to pause the movie for whatever reason while I was watching.  But at the same time that tells me how much I'm loving it because normally I just dip out real quick and leave the movie running.  Yeah not this one.  In fact I found myself rewinding scenes to catch a second look because some of the time things just seemed to BANG happen real quick.  So yeah I guess you can say I enjoyed this one.  And being that it's got fast moving zombies in it that's kind of big here because 90% of the fast moving zombie stuff out there I'm just not a big fan.  Takes the eeriness out of the whole zombie thing for me when they are sprinting around like cheetahs. 

The Script:  Totally rock solid for me.  Funny but not too funny.  Burned out on the whole zombedy thing a little.  But this is right up there with Shaun of the Dead only better because this story is highly original for a zombie movie.  For one the zombies are used as a source of fuel.  I won't go into much else there but I have to mention this because of the sheer awesomeness of this idea.  Really had me smiling from ear to ear.  The dialogue as well was witty and natural.  Not one of these movies where anyone of the characters has prepared speeches of philosophy that just don't sound believable at all.  Mad Max is mentioned everywhere with this movie.  I see the possible influence I have never spoken to the director here so I won't say it for sure but I don't know I didn't think about Mad Max while watching it.  Then again I haven't seen it in many years so maybe so.  Or maybe since Mad Max:  Fury Road was just in theatres it's thrown on to help sell the movie.  Either way the movie was original in my eyes. 

 

The Acting:  Spot on in every character.  Bianca Bradley wowed me big time.  Tough as nails, spot on mannerisms and eye movements etc while gagged in a laboratory.  She really knew her part well.  Our male character Jay also really showed us his range going from a loving family man, to suicidal, to absolute bad ass.  Then we have Leon Burchill the comic relief of the film.  This man was hilarious and a perfect addition to the cast I must say.  Berynn Schwerdt played the creepy evil doctor in this and man what an intense performance of nastiness he brought to the table.  Everyone of them though really deserves credit I saw no problems with any character small or large. 

 

The Shots:  Lots of crazy angled shots which I personally love.  Plus the whole atmosphere of the movie was gritty and dark.   It was as if I could feel the heat in some of the scenes.  Hard to explain but the cinematography was superb.  I think my favorite scene shots were when our group sets out to grab a truck from outside their building.  Watched that scene three times total.

 

The Gore:  Splashed all over the place with great special fx both cgi and practical.  Definitely a few scenes of digital blood but there was too much of a mixture here for me to complain about that.  Really cool cgi vapors coming from the zombies mouths.  Something else I loved that set it a bit apart from other zombie movies. 

The Rating:  Yep.  5 Hand Prints.  Really no reason to mess around here this movie deserves every good word said about it and anyone who hates on it deserves time with the Doctor.