Gangsters, Guns and Zombies review
(2012, UK)
A bank robbery gone bad has six criminals fleeing with their loot to a safe house amidst a zombie uprising, but when they finally make it they discover the cops waiting. Switch to the backup plan, a secondary safe house near the coast.
Running out of petro and deep within the countryside, the gang try to steal a car from a seemingly empty house but get a surprise when a shotgun toting grandma nix their plans. It’s a standoff between Nana, her granddaughter Cassie (Cassandra Orhan) and the bank robbers until the zombies intercede. Seeing they there not too bad of a lot, Nana (Jennie Lathan) allows them to stay the night, but ring leader Tony, played by Huggy Leaver (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, EastEnders), has other ideas.
This zombie film is supposed to have been a comedy horror, but I found neither humor nor anything horrifying about it. Although the cast turns in some fine performances, you don’t become invested in any character, and the script is weak in dialog and predictable in plot. The zombies never seemed menacing and it felt like I was watching misdirected actors playing zombies with fake blood smeared on their faces. I realize this is a low budget film, but I’ve seen better makeup effects with less of a budget.
This 2012 film has been released in the UK and gets a North American DVD release date of December 11.
Now for the ratings…
Zombie Content: 4 – Fast moving zombies with below average makeup effects and you never get a sense they are a true threat.
Entertainment Value: 4 – Not really any gore, you don’t connect with the characters, and the film is neither humorous, suspenseful or terrifying.
Defense and Tactics: 4 – Pistols, shotgun and a lot of bare knuckle punching to the face.
Overall Rating: 12 out of 30 – Not worth the purchase and only watchable if you have 88 minutes of time you don’t care about.
Gangsters, Guns and Zombies
Directed by Matt Mitchell
Written by Matt Mitchell and Taliesyn Mitchell
Cast: Vincent Jerome, Huggy Leaver, Fabrizio Santino
Run Time: 88 minutes
DVD Release Date: DVD, December 11, 2012
