Zombieworld (2015) Review

Starring: Bill Oberst Jr. (wraparound), various actors

Director: Adam Myette O’Brien, Adriàn Cardona, Cameron McCulloch, David Muñoz, Jared Marshall, Jesse Baget (wraparound), Jonathan Brown, Luke Giudici, Paul Shrimpton, Peter Horn, Tomy Woodard, Vedran Marjanovic, and Zach Ramelan

Writer: Jesse Baget (wraparound), various writers

Running time: 100 minutes

Rated: Not rated (for extreme violence, language)

Reviewed by Michael Juvinall – Horror Society

 

Zombieworld is Available on DVD and Digital Download on February 24, 2015 from Image Entertainment and Dread Central!

Zombies have become a worldwide phenomenon over the last two decades, nearly to the point of oversaturation. The walking dead are by no means just an American commodity. In fact, there are zombie films by almost every nation imaginable, which is why Jesse Baget and his Ruthless Pictures banner, along with Dread Central have assembled a series of short zombie films from all over the world in the new horror anthology, Zombieworld.

Zombieworld is a collection of 13 short films which spotlight zombies of all types, sizes, and religions. Most of these films focus their attention on the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse and the struggles that survivors must face in their new horrifying worlds.

Dead Times starts off this collection of shorts with a first-person POV view of zombies on the rampage through the woods. In this short, we as a viewer get to see first-hand what it might feel like to be chased down and eaten by zombies only to be resurrected as one of the undead. This interesting short features a zombie Santa and a goliath zombie. This was an interesting short as we get to see zombies from a different perspective.

Fist of Jesus is next and is probably the best short of the collection. This short film has been making the rounds for a while now and it’s really nice to see it here so it can reach a much larger audience. FOJ is a wacky, over-the-top zombie tale of Jesus creating the first zombie and his and Judas’ fight to destroy them as they multiply like crazy. This hilarious and extremely comedic blood bath is worth the entire Zombieworld DVD alone.

How To Survive a Zombie Apocalypse is a funny how-to-guide split into three parts in the film on what you should do if the world goes to Hell and zombies walk the earth.

I Am Lonely features a man in the midst of the apocalypse as he holes up in his apartment with his best friend only to discover one day that his friend has died and he’s all alone. This film is a more comedic take on one man’s life as it goes to shit.

Dead Stop is what happens when a police officer rolls up on a panicked woman as he pulls her over at a gas station only to discover that she and her injured passenger have been bitten by zombies and the walking dead begin converging from all sides.

Home is a dramatic tale of one woman’s effort to survive a zombie apocalypse in a desolate area all alone, all the while hiding a tragic secret in her run down farmhouse. This film is a poignant story about love transcending even a zombie afterlife.

Dead Rush is another first person point-of-view narrative about three guys trying to escape from a horde of zombies. We witness again what it might look like to be attacked and eaten by zombies only to come back to life with a hunger for your friend’s human flesh.

Teleportal shows what happens when playing a zombie first person shooting video game becomes all too real. This film is an interesting and gory look at a zombie vid game coming to life for the player.

Certified tells the tale of a mail man delivering a certified letter to a house where a young girl with a vivid imagination tells an eerie tale to the mail man that sends him over the edge. Certified is a dark comedy short with exceptional acting from young Rebecca Spicher that makes it definitely worth watching.

Brutal Relax features a timid, quiet man being told by his doctor that he needs a vacation to relax and be calm without stress. The man chooses a sunny beach to relax, except a horde of waterlogged zombies rise from the sea to wreak havoc on the beachgoers and the man displays what happens when he becomes bothered and agitated. This is another very funny short with great over-the-top gore and zombie killing scenes that will make you laugh out loud.

Finally, ZNN is the wraparound story intertwined with all the shorts telling the story of network news anchor, Marvin Gloatt (Bill Oberst Jr.) reporting on the zombie’s taking over the world from his studio who not only has to report on the dreadful news happening around the world, he has his own problem to deal with.

Zombieworld is a fun mix of humorous and straight zombie tales, with more of an emphasis on the funny aspect of a zombie apocalypse. All the tales are entertaining but some are definitely better than others. The top three shorts were Fist of Jesus, Brutal Relax, and ZNN. The rest are good, just not up there with those three. The wraparound story is written and directed by Jesse Baget and stars his frequent collaborator, the great Bill Oberst Jr. with an awesome “bad” wig. Bill manages to make everything he’s in worth watching and never ceases to amaze me with his acting skills. In this one we get to see the comedic side of Oberst Jr. and he’s just as adept at comedy as he is drama.

All the shorts feature zombies in one form or another and have various degrees of zombie munching and gore, a few like Dead Stop, Certified, and I Am Lonely are lighter on the gore than the rest, but still feature good storytelling.

Producer and director Jesse Baget has culled some great shorts from all over the planet. If you’re a fan of zombies, then you will want to check Zombieworld out. Some could have been better but overall, they’re pretty good. In a world gone to the dead, there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide…the zombie apocalypse has arrived and there is only one thing on the menu – us!

3 out of 5 Pentagrams!

Watch the trailer for Zombieworld here,