I Survived a Zombie Holocaust (2014)

Excellent, a Must See

Dreadfully Boring

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

During the filming of a zombie film, a "zombie holocaust" actually happens. It is time for the runner Wesley (Harley Neville) and the cook (Jocelyn Christian) to step up.The film had the expected confusion between real and fake zombies. It is a spoof of zombie films while being one. The film is cheesy with some great lines. Unfortunately the comedy and film was all over the place going from laugh out loud funny to humorous to boring. They needed to cut out about 10-20 minutes.Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity (Reanin Johannink)

I really enjoyed this film, as a New Zealander it was great to see something that didn't try too hard to be 'Kiwi', it was just a good story that could have been set anywhere but happened to be set in New Zealand. I enjoyed the clichéd characters and the meta jokes and didn't feel like they were too on the nose.You can see that this is a low budget film but I think the creators did a good job of hiding their "budgetary restrictions" so for the most part you wouldn't notice. The gore is good and the effects seem to have been done practically for the most part, which means no CGI!Well worth a watch

On his first day as a lowly runner on a zombie film, aspiring film-maker Wesley (Harley Neville) meets the girl of his dreams, pretty cook Susan (Jocelyn Christian), but also finds himself fighting for survival against real zombies who have invaded the set.From its broad characters, absurd humour, and outrageous gore, right down to its awkward nerd-turned-hero who falls for a nice 'girl-next-door' in the midst of a zombie epidemic, it seems pretty clear to me that the makers of New Zealand splatter comedy I Survived A Zombie Holocaust set out to emulate Peter Jackson's Brain Dead (Wesley couldn't be more like Lionel if he tried). And for much of the time, they get it right: the gruesome effects are suitably messy, the crazy and sometimes delightfully crass comedy mostly hits the mark, and the cast do well in creating some memorably fun characters.Unfortunately, where the film does suffer is in its pacing: things take an awful long while to get going, and at 104 minutes, 'I Survived…' is far too long to sustain the central joke. Some judicious editing to trim away all of the fat, and this film could have been great rather than just good. As it stands, it is still the second best low-budget Kiwi zombie film I have seen, but with only the disappointing Black Sheep as the other contender (I've yet to see Last Of The Living), I suppose that could be considered faint praise.6.5 out of 10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

I thought of much harsher summary lines, but that would not be fair. Not that those who liked the movie will actually care, if they see only a "5" rating-wise from me. It's actually a shame, because this movie had potential. There could've been a really good movie here. A movie that does not try to be funny, but actually is funny.Having said that, there are still things that work (not the main actor though). It is nice that they close the movie the way they started it, sort of, but neither one actually works. It must have read great on page, didn't translate as good on screen. Having a door joke repeated, which didn't work the first time, isn't good either. Stock characters (muscle guy with no brain, blonde Hottie with no brain - and also a lot of zombies with no brain, but they have an excuse) add to the pile of "funny for a second, but let's move on, shall we".The actors try their best and while this is as predictable as it gets, there are a few funny moments in between, that show that potential I was talking about earlier. I can't be too mad about a movie, that is sort of trying to be funny, even though it fails most of the time