Director – Rob Ceus (Dismembered, Slime)
Starring – Steven Daemers (The Salesman, DVD), Manoush (Necronos, Seed 2), and Nele De Mol (Angst, The Other Place)
Release Date – 2020
Rating – 3.5/5
When I was growing up I was a huge zombie fan. Romero’s Dead series was a staple in my home with Night of the Living Dead playing almost daily. That love never changed. When I was in high school my friends and I would watch no budget zombie flicks like Meat Market and Zombie Planet. That was something that followed me through college but once The Walking Dead aired on AMC I became sick of the influx of clones that it spawned. I avoided the sub-genre to the best of my ability but the last year or so has saw the emergence of zombie movies not trying to cash in on the craze but pay their respects to the sub-genre.
A few days ago director Billy Pon (Circus of the Dead) made a post on Facebook asking reviewers to contact director Rob Ceus. Ceus had completed his film Zombies from Sector 9 and was looking for reviewers to take a crack at it. The poster (pictured above) sold me on the movie and I had to see it. Thanks Rob for allowing me the opportunity to check it out.
**Spoiler Alert**The film follows horror bum Bookwalker (Daemers) who finds himself in the center of a zombie outbreak. Armed with weapons he finds lying around, he sets out to find his son and ex-wife through the horde of the undead and raiders that are littering the country side.**Spoiler Alert**
My high school and college years was filled with no budget zombie movies. I love slashers but I will always have a soft spot for no budget zombie flicks. I was always looking for movies on eBay and Amazon where I ended up with a decent collection from Brain Damage, Midnight Films, and even a few from West Virginia like Catholic Ghoulgirls and They Walk. Zombies from Sector 9 reminded me so much of these films from that time. It was so much fun but extremely rough around the edges.
The acting in this one left much to be desired. The cast is really into their roles but the dialogue is forced and it doesn’t feel genuine. With that being said, I really liked Steven Daemers approach to his role. He tried his best to be an 80s action hero and I really enjoyed that approach to the film.
The story for this one starts out with a Troma feel. We get an origin story of how it begins that is very reminiscent of Nuke ‘Em High before moving forward into your traditional zombie movie. I really enjoyed the pacing and how the film began and ended. The dialogue is a little clunky at times but not enough to distract you from the rest of the movie.
Finally, the film has several zombie kills. We get some solid practical and make-up effects that works for the kills. The zombies look a little goofy at times but I honestly liked it. It added some unintentional humor to a few of the slower scenes. Overall, Zombies from Sector 9 took me back to a Pre-Walking Dead world when zombie movies had bite. Back to when zombies were part of horror and not associated with dramas or soap operas. I thoroughly enjoyed what Ceus gave viewers. This is a zombie movie for zombie fans and I can’t wait for the indie horror community to check this one out.
