SEVERED: Forest of the Dead
SEVERED: FOREST OF THE DEAD (2004, Canada)
Just saw Severed and thought it was a pretty good zombie movie, despite its heavy-handed, tree-hugging hippy message. An evil logging company creates a fungus to speed up tree growth but the fungus turns humans into flesh-eating zombies. Loggers and scummy hippies are forced to band together to survive.
Essentially, this is a clone of 28 Days Later and the Dawn of the Dead remake. It's written and shot to look like them, with shaky camerawork and fast zombies. The gore is plentiful and good, as is the zombie makeup. The plot, characters, and script are all two-dimensional and utterly forgettable--it feels a lot like a Resident Evil game only without the stupid puzzles. I was wishing most of the characters would hurry up and get eaten as soon as I saw them.
What makes the film unique are the hauntingly beautiful wilderness locations; the misty Canadian forest and logging camps lend an eerie, isolated atmosphere that serve the film well. The filmmakers really did a fantastic job at bringing their locations to life--especially the aerial shots. The (non)ending may frustrate some viewers, but it didn't bother me. It seemed fitting (and set it up for a sequel). Bear in mind that many zombie movies end ambiguously like that, with characters left to an uncertain fate, and you can thank the original Dawn of the Dead for that:
Peter: "How much fuel we got?"
Fran: "Not much."
Peter: "Okay."
(cue helicopter flying off into the sunset)
What I'm saying is you could do a LOT worse than Severed if you're looking to get your zombie movie fix. I give it three out of five stars--a good rental for a rainy night.
Just saw Severed and thought it was a pretty good zombie movie, despite its heavy-handed, tree-hugging hippy message. An evil logging company creates a fungus to speed up tree growth but the fungus turns humans into flesh-eating zombies. Loggers and scummy hippies are forced to band together to survive.
Essentially, this is a clone of 28 Days Later and the Dawn of the Dead remake. It's written and shot to look like them, with shaky camerawork and fast zombies. The gore is plentiful and good, as is the zombie makeup. The plot, characters, and script are all two-dimensional and utterly forgettable--it feels a lot like a Resident Evil game only without the stupid puzzles. I was wishing most of the characters would hurry up and get eaten as soon as I saw them.
What makes the film unique are the hauntingly beautiful wilderness locations; the misty Canadian forest and logging camps lend an eerie, isolated atmosphere that serve the film well. The filmmakers really did a fantastic job at bringing their locations to life--especially the aerial shots. The (non)ending may frustrate some viewers, but it didn't bother me. It seemed fitting (and set it up for a sequel). Bear in mind that many zombie movies end ambiguously like that, with characters left to an uncertain fate, and you can thank the original Dawn of the Dead for that:
Peter: "How much fuel we got?"
Fran: "Not much."
Peter: "Okay."
(cue helicopter flying off into the sunset)
What I'm saying is you could do a LOT worse than Severed if you're looking to get your zombie movie fix. I give it three out of five stars--a good rental for a rainy night.
posted by Todd Tjersland at 3:45 AM
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