Undead Year: 2003 Director: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig Written by: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig Threat: Infection/Undead Weapon of Choice: Shotgun Based upon: none IMDb page:

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Rish Outfield's reviews
We've not reviewed a lot of Australian horror films. I'm not really aware of that many. Undead is probably one of the better ones, and it certainly was ambitious.
A small town is besieged by a meteor shower that seems to have the unusual side effect of reanimating the dead, turning them into murderous zombie flesh-eaters. A rapidly-shrinking group of survivors tries to board themselves into a farmhouse to keep away from the attackers, but soon finds that even more strangeness is going on . . . in the form of extraterrestrial invaders.
My Irish friend was a big supporter of this film, really excited about it and constantly quoting the character who says, "In my day, we respected our elders. We didn't eat them!" I miss my Irish friend.*
This was a very unusual flick, even for the zombie subgenre. The special effects were amazing, really top-notch (especially for a non-Hollywood production). The gore was cool. The premise was very interesting. Ultimately, though, I didn't enjoy the movie all that much. Partly because I didn't care about the characters, but mostly because I saw a great deal of stuff going on, but was unsatisfied by most of it.
Undead throws so many horror movie cliches up in rapid succession that, at least for a while, it becomes something wholly original. Unfortunately, there's way too much being thrown up in the air, and when things start to come down, it all falls apart. I was baffled by the film. At one point, we reached the part in the story where everything was about to be explained, and then it wasn't. The whole situation, middle, flashbacks, and ending only became clear when tyranist and I talked about it afterward. And even then, what we agreed on was that certain things will never become clear. Stuff like that frustrates me. I know there are some who would say movies are cool when there are unanswered questions, gaps that the viewer needs to fill in himself. There are those who say it's a lot scarier when there's no motive. I mean, did Norman Bates have a motive? Did we ever find out why Hannibal Lecter liked to eat people?
But I'm not one of those guys.
*Eaten by underage cannibal islanders, ironically enough.
Posted: January 24, 2006

The tyranist's thoughts
I like zombie movies. For the most part I like Australian horror movies (the most notable exception being Howling 3 that film was execrable). So what isn't there to like about an Australian zombie movie?
For about three quarters of this movie, I was enjoying it even if I was a little confused. The zombies were vicious and unrelenting, the situation dire, the actors were convincing, and the dialogue mostly witty. Then the movie took a flying leap off the deep end. I was no longer confused, but my respect for the movie plummeted. I understood what the film was doing and suddenly, I didn't care for it. All of the things that had gone before and had pleased me were suddenly sidelined by the massive plot twist that the movie leans a little too heavily on. It was like I had been dropped in an M. Night Shyamalan movie without being warned and I didn't like it.
Don't get me wrong, I like M. Night Shyamalan movies. I just want to know that's what I'm getting when I start the movie.
Anyway, there's some stuff here worth seeing and some that isn't worth it. By the time it ended, I sort of didn't care. If you like zombie movies, it may be one to see. If you are a fan of Australian horror, that could be another reason to see it. I really don't care what you do. Posted:

Total Skulls: 26

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?