Movie: Zombie Hunter
Production Companies: The Kilmax, Arrowstorm Entertainment
Director: Kevin King
Producers: Kevin King, Chris Le, Jennifer Griffin, Steven Christopher Wallace
Scriptwriter: Kevin King
Main Cast: Danny Trejo, Martin Copping, Clare Niederpruem
Release Date: July 18th 2013
Running Time: 90 minutes
Certificate: 18
Introduction
Now with Halloween season fully underway now, the debate raging about the best horror film is back in session. However, this year I’d like to add another film to the list of the best horror films: 2013’s Zombie Hunter. Now if you haven’t heard of this masterpiece then you’re in for a treat as I’ve genuinely seen student films with better quality and filmmaking abilities. However it does have Danny Trejo playing a zombie killing priest so that’s something. Anyway, without further ado let’s get into my review of the film.
Synopsis
Zombie Hunter follows Hunter (Copping), yes really they named the main character Hunter, as he tries to navigate through a zombie apocalypse in his Dodge Charger. However, after he is in a definitely not coincidental car crash Hunter is brought into a group of fellow survivors. Now amongst this group are two stereotypical rednecks, two of the horniest women ever to survive an apocalypse. Oh and of course the best of the film: Father Jesus. And yes when the zombies start to converge on the survivors Jesus eventually awakes from his mediation and starts killing zombies with an axe. I mean some other things happen throughout the film but I’m going to save you the hassle of the rest of the synopsis: Hunter saves everyone, dies and comes back to life in the space of about 5 minutes. So with all of the plot nonsense out of the way, let’s get into the analysis portion of the review.
Analysis
Danny Trejo’s Performance in Zombie Hunter
To begin my analysis of Zombie Hunter, I’m going to discuss the only excellent performance in the film: the legend that is Danny Trejo. Now it’s normally very difficult to get all film reviewers agreeing but everyone who reviewed Zombie Hunter said the same thing. That being Trejo’s performance was the only good one in the film. This is blatantly obvious when he first appears and actually manages to make the apocalypse and the survivors’ situation sound genuinely dangerous. All of this is in spite of the rest of the cast going nowhere near the same performance level.
Although this does allow the audience to admire and love Danny Trejo even more. And there is no better scene to illustrate this than the scene of Jesus murdering zombies with an axe. Oh and did I forget to mention that Jesus is shirtless the entire time whilst he’s attacking a giant mutant zombie with an axe? Honestly there is just so much to love about Danny Trejo in Zombie Hunter.
Editing in Zombie Hunter
Continuing my analysis of Zombie Hunter, I’m going to discuss the film’s editing or lack thereof. So why do I say this? Well, for the most part Zombie Hunter uses so many jump cuts that it actually gets nauseating to watch. Take for example when we see Hunter killing zombies in a petrol station. Now it’s an alright scene in theory, the nauseating editing makes it laughably stupid. Take for example, when a zombie appears behind Hunter the film uses a jump cut which then just has the zombie in front of him and attacking him.
Now this isn’t normally that bad but the laughably stupid reason to use a jump cut because it feels like there was a scene cut in the middle that was left out. Another example of the film’s editing is how it creates a pace throughout the film. Now as seen by the aforementioned petrol station scene, the film’s editing can often create a very choppy feel to the film. This is seen frequently across the film as the film speeds up during a near miss sex scene to a exposition heavy scene to a zombie attack all within about 10 minutes. All of this frantic editing pace does nothing to help the film.
Special Effects in Zombie Hunter
To conclude my analysis of Zombie Hunter, I’m going to discuss the special effects within Zombie Hunter. Or to reuse a joke from the editing analysis the lack thereof. And the most obvious example of the film’s terrible special effects is the zombie blood. Now I might be wrong but even if humans turn into zombies they still bleed red blood. However, clearly no one told Kevin King as all the zombies in Zombie Hunter bleed purple blood.
And if that’s not weird enough, every time zombies get killed the blood splats backwards onto the camera. All this does is make the audience question whether the characters can actually see the camera or why the blood keeps making the audience wonder why it keeps happening. Honestly I would go further in depth about the special effects but I’d be here until Halloween.
Summary
To summarise Zombie Hunter, this is a tragically terrible film which borders on unwatchable at times due to the horrible editing. However if it has one redeeming feature it’s Danny Trejo’s performance which single handily kept me going through it at times. So yeah stay for Trejo and virtually nothing else.
Overall Rating: 3.5/10 – Poor
Target Audience: 18+
Content Warning: Moderate Sex and Nudity, Moderate Violence and Gore, Moderate Profanity, Mild Frightening and Intense Scenes
Recommendation: No
