A Dead Genesis Zone and the Vomit Bag: A Movie Review

Director/writer: Reese Eveneshen.

Cast: Emily Alatalo, Lionel Boodlal and Colin Paradine.

If there is ever a movie that requires viewers to keep a bottle of Advil nearby, Dead Genesis is it. The problem is with all the headache inducing camera-shaking going on. Has anyone in the production team heard of a tripod?

Shaky-cam is a style that some movie and television shows can pull off only when it adds to the drama. Sometimes, the jarring movement is soft and natural, and other times, it is like standing still while an earthquake is happening. But when such a movie is done with no thought towards keeping the camera steady at all, sometimes a vomit bag is required!

But when the principal cinematographer was replaced after a day, based on the triva written for this film on the IMDB, writer/director Reese Eveneshen was very bold to continue on and take on the job himself. Points are earned for him wanting to finish what he has started. But in where it goes, the look really required post-processing the footage with a video editing program with a de-shaking filter and re-matting the film's edges.

Or this movie can be listened to with the television turned off. The story is worth paying attention to even though the plot sounds all too familiar. The war on terror is a theme that has been visited often ever since 9/11 and George Bush ingrained it into the public's consciousness. But with a new decade, how many people still care?

That fear and worry is still on the minds of some people, and this film's tale is about those who cannot put it behind them. This film is a character study more than anything else. At least Eveneshen is being bold again by reminding viewers that it is time to move on, as Jillian (Emily Alatalo) eventually learns to do.

The story is primarily centered about her learning about what the Dead Heads, a team of zombie hunters, does in the documentary that she’s trying to make. She has her camcorder and the cameraman is not too far behind. This team is roaming a wilderness to kill strays. Had this movie been set within a city, a more powerful sociological statement could have been made. When this team is isolated, they are only serving themselves than the society they are supposed to represent.

The zombies that are found in a forest are not threatening by any means and the logic of why go kill them may get understood by trophy hunters compared to anything else. In what this film tries to present, all that is offered has the mark of missing the target. As the title of the movie implies, the only people being hunted here are each other as the zombie virus overtakes them.

Overall: 4 out of 10.

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Posted in: 2011 release,directing zombies,flesh eaters