Reel Zombies - Mike Masters

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

directed by David J. Francis, Mike Masters
Canada 2008

The unsuccessful filmmakers behind ZOMBIE NIGHT (2003) and AWAKENING: ZOMBIE NIGHT 2 (2996), Mike Masters and David J. Francis team up again in the midst of a real zombie outbreak - which has been going on long enough for the government to ban zombie media - to make the ultimate zombie film (presuming that the demand for zombie flicks will be high in the aftermath). They discover that their former editor has been cutting together zombie footage for the government propaganda broadcasts hammering home the point that this is a winnable war and decide they can film posing as an army film unit. The zombie invasion isn't the epic threat anticipated from the movies with people able to go about something resembling their normal lives, so making a film with real zombie extras does not seem like a bad idea to them. They set about rounding up a cast and crew (including surviving members from their previous films), hiring what they hope will be a more professional DP, a mortician as a special make-up effects artist (to make them look more human before killing them on camera), and even a zombie wrangler. Shooting with real zombies is dangerous enough, but Mike's disregard for human life (moments of silence for the fallen and making sure to include "in memory of" credits) and David's mania for improvisation and tossing out the script creates even more dangerous situations where cast and crew are just as likely to get accidentally shot as they are to be eaten alive. Troma Films' Lloyd Kaufman (THE TOXIC AVENGER) makes a cameo appearance.

Eric Cotenas

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Theatrical Release: 4 October 2008 (USA)

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DVD Review: Synapse Films - Region 0 - NTSC

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Synapse Films Region 0 - NTSC
Runtime	1:29:06
Video	1.78:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.67 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo
Subtitles	none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Synapse Films Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1.78:1 Edition Details: • Audio Commentary by directors Mike Masters and David J. Francis, and producer Stephen Papadimitriou • Deleted Scenes and Outtakes (16:9; 42:41) • Trailer (16:9; 2:33) DVD Release Date: 11 February 2014 Amaray Chapters 12

Comments

Synapse Film's dual-layer disc looks uneven as is appropriate with its mix of real archival behind the scenes video from the filmmakers' earlier zombie films and the shaky-cam documentary film footage (including some smeary bits in a couple dark interiors like the strip club). Likewise, the Dolby Digital 2.0 track seems to faithfully represent the original sound which is clear enough during scripted bits and allows some shouting and screaming to clip levels.

Extras include an audio commentary by writer/co-director Mike Masters and director David J. Francis and producer Stephen Papadimitriou (all of whom acted in the film as well) who start off filling us in on the background of the ZOMBIE NIGHT films and their decision to do this one as a mock-documentary. There are some humorous anecdotes about the shoot and the cast (the most exhibitionist of which is now apparently a pastor), as well as the ways in which they tried to add twists on the overplayed zombie film genre.

A forty-minute selection of deleted scenes segmented into over forty separate chapters. The shot numbers of some scenes reveal that the assemblage of the film itself might have been just as fragmented as the film-within-a-film (leading one to question just how much the filmmakers are like the versions of themselves they play in the film). There are some scenes that introduce characters better than in the film as well as more of the first production meeting scene that probably should have been kept in the film (at least in part). The only other extra is a trailer for the feature.

- Eric Cotenas

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