Army of the Damned (2013)

The first must-see film of the year.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

If this movie just didn't try to force humor into it. The director could have created a creepy atmosphere instead it just went to "silly". The humor was not funny, say in such movies or shows as Shaun of the Dead (purposeful comedy/horror), Scream (send up of great slasher movies with well timed comedic lines), or even Supernatural (serious horror topic and legends blended with one liners and banter). The gore in this movie was an excellent throw back to the special effects gore of the 70's and 80's. That was a plus. Sully Erna acted way better than I expected, another plus. He even should attempt further serious roles in the future with better scripts. I also enjoyed the soundtrack which included Godsmack as well as Sully Erna with Staind guitarist Mike Mushok. Outside of those elements this movie is a pass unless you want to watch it as a Godsmack/Sully Erna fan. Otherwise plenty of other good gory horror films out there.

...of misleading blurb writers, deceptive marketeers, and worst of all the legions of inept filmmakers that give rise to them via festering corpses of stillborn cinema. How Tony "Candyman" Todd got suckered into this benighted mess is beyond me; did he really read the script or was he just doing a favor for a drinking buddy? Easy paycheck, that's for sure. Neophyte lead Sully "Godsmack" Erna doesn't outright embarrass himself, but he's still stuck in a train wreck. This film will never be lovingly referred to by an acronym, let's put it that way. Whatever edge it might have been aiming for got sanded away by mediocre direction, editing, and camera-work, along with much of the acting, and of course the script.Damn these armies of incompetents!I note with interest that the child actor isn't even listed in the IMDb credits despite being clearly mentioned on screen. Were her producer parents that embarrassed?

I will watch this movie again. I got everything I expected. Ever since Sully Erna posted on Facebook about this movie I knew it was going to be somewhere on the cheesy comedic side of an 80s horror/action combo. I wasn't disappointed. People will probably complain that the camera work is shoddy or the script was s**t, but you can't expect that from Indie films. That is what this movie is an "Indie Horror/Action" flick. Let's be honest the bar is not set very high in any of those genres. There may be a total of 10-15 Indie films that could actually score higher than a 7/10 in all categories of criticism. Even less for Horror, and those that are great like "Cabin in the Woods" end up being comedies. The Action bar was set by Schwarzenegger and Stallone, not much to live up to, but that is why there are so many "great" action films now. And on a personal level I love movies that are on both ends of a standard spectrum, Middle Ground movies are forgettable. But give me a movie like this or "The Cobra" or "Mortal Kombat", and I'll get drunk and thoroughly enjoy myself. This is all just to give some context to how I'm reviewing this film.It was a little upsetting to see Tony Todd (IMDb him, you will recognize him from something) get top billing but only have a short amount of screen time. But as far as the Main character goes, Sully didn't do too shabby of a job considering this was his first acting appearance on the big screen and most likely had no acting lessons. If you pay attention to who his character is supposed to be, he seems to fit that character for most of his lines. The rest of the bad lines can be attributed to Indie Horror writing/directing. He very well could do something bigger. The camera work had less to complain about than Transformers 2. To cut to the chase though, any fans of Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, and possibly Supernatural will enjoy this movie the way I did. (5 shots of whiskey prior to beginning doesn't hurt either!)

I rated "Army of the Damned" 5 Stars for a variety of reasons. I love horror movies but not with as much gore as this movie. The more it progressed the bloodier it got. If you love guts & gore, you'll like this movie. I thought the camera work was great; for a lower budget movie I was impressed. My primary reason for watching this movie was to check out the acting skills of Sully Erna, the frontman of the band Godsmack, in his first lead role. In his role as Bridge, he proved his talent as an actor. He played the role very well for a first-timer, with just the right combination of sexy likable hometown boy and bad-ass cop rolled into one. Some of his lines intended as "comic relief" were actually funny, instead of cheesy, as they often turn out in horror films like this. I hope to see Erna in higher budget films with better scripts in the future, to give him a better chance to show off his acting skills. He is hot and sex sells!