The Horror Show
Re-Kill
by Valerie Milev
A few years ago there was a strange six-minute trailer I came across on YouTube for a film called Re-Killl. After my first view of the trailer I tried googling and much to my dismay couldn’t really come up with much about this movie. Even when I checked the IMDb page for the film the release dates seemed to keep changing and so I settled on the fact that the six minutes was about as much of Re-Kill as I was going to get and I moved on, forgetting about the post-apocalyptic trailer altogether.
It wasn’t until recently that the title Re-Kill resurfaced in my “recommended for you” section but this time, the trailer was different. It was of a higher quality, seemed better put together, and actually convinced me that this was a real film that I’d actually get to see. I took to Google again and discovered that Re-Kill had been stuck in post-production hell for all this time and it all somehow had something to do with the old annual film festival 8 Films to Die For from After Dark Horrorfest. The festival over the years I suppose was lost in obscurity but I remember sitting through almost the whole thing in 2007. Unfortunately the majority of the films contained bad acting, poorly written story, or uninteresting characters with the exception of Tooth And Nail which had a pretty bad ass cast if I do say so myself. After that though I never did pay much attention to their films and perhaps not many others did.
So when I finally got around to getting my hands on Re-Kill I wasn’t really sure what I was in for aside from yet another zombie film in the saturated genre. I was pleasantly surprised when the film began, and once you get into it, you realize that it’s a well-executed “mockumentary”.
The television show, R-Division, Frontline, is post-apocalyptic America’s #1 Reality show. Each week, viewers get an inside look as the R-Division takes to the streets, infiltrating hot zones of leftover “Re-Ans” in order to keep America outbreak-free. This latest episode of the show proves to be “extra special” though as a secret is discovered and R-Division must beat the clock if they’re to stop a second outbreak from overtaking the country, and possibly ending the world.
Basically the movie, in its entirety, is an extended episode of this action-packed television show on the Outbreak Network. One might call it “found footage” but I wouldn’t say that’s the case as each episode is aired live and delivered to the television sets of every American. There are even commercials! I think the commercials were some of my favorite bits of the film as the advertisements are geared toward survivors of the zombie outbreak. You get everything from companies trying to sell condos inside of secure communities to blatant messages of “please have sex and help repopulate the world” accompanied by attractive men and women rolling around in a bed and smiling.
Not only is Re-Kill funny, but it’s got an air of originality to it that I greatly appreciated. Sure, everything’s pretty much been done before in the zombie genre, but the same could be said for slashers, home-invasion, revenge-porn, vampires, etc. The zombies in this film are the kind that I like, the super-fast, barely escapable ones. The kind of zombies that make you say “please let there never be a zombie apocalypse in real life because there’s no fucking way any of us are making it out of this.”
Sure, some of the effects leave a bit to be desired, but I think overall the quality of the film is acceptable and the acting doesn’t disappoint. A personal favorite of mine, Roger Cross (Continuum, Dark Matter, The Strain), takes on the role of Sarge, and as usual he’s awesome, so that made me happy.
Overall I think this film is a great addition to any zombie lover’s collection, I know I’m happy that I’ve got it in mine. Even if you don’t enjoy the undead, I think the style of the film coupled with the gore and action will satisfy most horror lovers. For me, Re-Kill is one of those movies that surprises you because it really is great.
Stevie Kopas, HMS
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