The Horror Show
A Plague So Pleasant
by Benjamin Roberds, Jordan Reyes
A Plague So Pleasant is a few years older, coming out in 2013, but I hadn’t really heard much buzz about it. It wasn’t until this past week when, browsing Amazon, I found it available to stream.
The plot synopsis piqued my interest immediately. The post-apocalyptic genre is my favorite and so anything new and fun as opposed to your typical run of the mill survivor story is definitely going to get a watch from me. Now, before I dive in, just a warning that there will be some mild spoilers ahead, so if you’d rather watch the film before reading the review, now’s your chance to stop reading.
Basically, our main character Clay (David Chandler), lives in a world overrun by zombies, but the problem isn’t with zombies savagely attacking and destroying the human race, it’s the fact that they’re a protected species. During the initial outbreak, humans discovered that if you simply stopped killing the zombies, the zombies would stop eating the humans. Due to this discovery, zombies roam the streets in pesky hordes that impede everyday life and frustrate most humans to no end. Real problems arise for Clay, though, when he discovers that his sister Mia (Eva Boehnke) can’t let go of her undead boyfriend who’s being kept on a zombie reservation.
Clay, angry and concerned that his sister can’t move on, makes the horrible choice to find Mia’s zombie love and shoot him in the head. This is when all hell breaks loose and the zombies, now reactivated and hungry for human flesh, start to attack every living thing in sight.
This is when the film should have gotten exciting, especially since they’re vicious runner zombies, but unfortunately, it continued at its slow burn pace right up until the very end. Instead of adding dialogue and revisiting the Mia storyline and how Clay’s actions have impacted not only their relationship, but the lives of the people in town, we’re treated to Clay being chased by zombies for a half an hour with little to no action aside from the constant running.
I would have loved more character development and a hell of a lot more dialogue. With a runtime of only 76 minutes, most of the film was spent building up to just Clay running around and injuring himself. I did enjoy the scene with the blind zombie and the ending was fair, but again the storyline kind of just disappeared.
It’s a low budget film with practical effects that are executed nicely and I enjoyed the black and white choice to depict the hum-drum life of a post-zombie outbreak world. When the zombies begin their assault on the humans, color returns to the world, and I found that I was reminded a bit of the film Pleasantville, which makes me wonder if that’s why the plague is so… pleasant. I think this is the first film writer/director Benjamin Roberds has done, and I applaud him for the effort. Like I said earlier, the plot is original and fun, I only wish he would have dug a little deeper. Perhaps Roberds will take a swing at a book or a comic in the world he’s created. I, for one, would definitely be interested.
If you’re a zombie fan and love indie films, check out A Plague So Pleasant for sure. It’s a nice addition to the genre and stands out amongst the dozens upon dozens of low budget zombie flicks out there.
Stevie Kopas, HMS
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