Day X (2005) User Reviews

Pretty dire

[raypdaley182 · 3/10 · 26 January 2008]

OK, this film is straight into the bad special effects pretty much straight away with the really bad sound effects for the black guy in the car firing what are audibly obvious blank rounds.

The people go from being ill to infected FAR too quickly for my liking (quite literally a matter of seconds!). Right, my 1st question. During the opening title sequence is there supposed to be no picture? Because as useful as that guy's narrative is, I'd have preferred to see what was happening.

Yes, I understand they did it to save money but that shouldn't be an excuse. We have no explanation as to who the person he's carrying actually is or where she came from and he is far too free with his ammo in a handgun that normally only holds 15 rounds.

One man organises the survivors he finds himself amongst. The soldiers sent to rescue him and his mystery woman are killed so he and 2 others are forced outside to collect key-cards from the bodies which will allow him to enter a bunker which is close by.

We learn little bits about the monsters in the form of a video dairy that crops up now and then during the course of events. It turns out although they look dead and eat flesh these aren't classic zombies as just shooting them in the head won't kill them.

I did like the very vague reference to "Night Of The Living Dead" but when the team are returning back where everyone else is sheltering I couldn't work out how the guy with the beard got injured (did someone shoot him by accident or was he bitten in the fraction of a second he was being held by the zombies?).

I assume the mystery girl cured him after sucking blood from his chest wound and spewing it back into his mouth? We find out the "zombies" were infected by an airborne biological weapon called Series 14 and we're told the mystery girl IS the antidote to this virus.

The film is incredibly slow for this kind of horror film, there are tiny segments of action but not much. It's incredibly thin on plot and far too thick on explanations and pacing isn't very good.

There are far too many boring lulls between what little action there actually is. The video diary leads to a seemingly obvious conclusion that everyone inside the bunker their going to is already dead.

Whilst walking a perimeter guard the ex Army girl finds a door open and bloody hand-prints on the floor, after securing the door she starts pulling open one of the boarded up windows for no explainable reason (I assume when she touched the blood she got infected). She also doesn't seem to struggle much when she's being pulled out of the window and despite having a fully loaded pistol only fires it once, even then that shot isn't at one of the monsters.

The stoner guy freaking out and killing 3 monsters armed only with 2 knives is a bit surreal and he looks very weird afterwards (I'm fairly certain he was bitten as he was being attacked).

The escape sequence is very over done and we go from having no action to having far too much. Why the mystery girl suddenly decides to just run into the monsters to get herself killed is not explained and seems pointless (yes, admittedly from the look in her eye she's insane but what she does is truly insane even by the standards of the insane).

The route they take to get to the van seems too long and far too risky, they couldn't have planned something shorter and safer? The black guy dies in the van without ever having given them the codes so the 3 of them who are still alive and are driving to the bunker can't get in there anyway. Even if they could the mystery girl with the cure is dead.

The key card did get them inside the bunker where the rather weird and extremely weak ending showed exactly what I'd previously predicted, only zombies inside the bunker and no-one else alive.

A very weak low budget movie with little plot, extremely bad pacing and a very predictable ending. Best avoided even for zombie movie fans

Day V

[GutterJim · 5/10 · 21 November 2007]

Day X starts off fast with a single individual becoming enraged and killing a coworker without any explanation as to why. Soon afterwords a group of people in a parking garage become infected and attack our main character Frank Chambers. These attackers have not died and come back to life but it is explained later that an airborne virus scrambles the brain and affects the blood making those infected with it hunger for the flesh of the living.

The locations used in Day X are very cool. You'll see a lot of run down industrial warehouse interiors and exteriors, and only a few lush garden like settings. I'm guessing they didn't have to build a set for this film at all. There are some locations used that could have been explored more but that may have taken away from the fast paced storyline. I don't like to give away the whole movie in written format but the story doesn't drag at any point in the movie, it does however end rather abruptly. Maybe that was the filmmakers intent to get a sequel in the works. The make up effects are good, some of the infected have a very nasty gory look while others have a quick dirty chimney sweep look.

The CG is not pretty but it's very lightly used and not on screen long. Sound effects are a little fake towards the beginning of Day X but later on with shot guns and other louder guns they sound effects are perfect. Some of the actors are re-dubbed, not due to language differences but most likely due to on set audio issues. The dialog feels a little forced from some of the actors while others simply had too much foul language written for their character. The camera work is really professional for an indie film. The making of feature shows some of the lengths the camera men went took to get some really cool shots. Over all I enjoyed watching this mix of horror with sci-fi. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoyed Dead and Deader, 28 Days/Weeks Later or Undead.

"Day X" d.x.'d!

[FuturePrimitive666 · 3/10 · 4 August 2007]

This is another one of those films that offers a view at what could possibly happen soon in the U.S. thanks either to foreign or internal terrorists. In any case, a lethal toxin is released in the air supply that causes brains to turn to jelly (And mine too wading through all of this!) and men into mindless animals bent on the desire for only one thing - to satisfy their insatiable hunger with any food source possible, including humans! Nevertheless, however similar these inhumans may be they are not zombies. The leading actor, Ken Edwards is about the only one who seems to know what acting is all about and is convincing as "Frank Chambers", a sort of C.I.A. meets F.E.M.A. type of guy. This film is not awful it's just sub-par for this genre, in my opinion. The story is not original and has been done so often recently and far better that I would recommend this only to those who feel they must see all of these types of films to actually prepare for a coming attack. Finally, on one odd note, I don't know for sure if she was Melissa Holmes, Paula Kavanaugh, Lyn Pierce or another actress, but she has an uncanny resemblance to Barbara Olson, the conservative commentator, author and lawyer who used to be often seen blinking and adding her $00.2 to many a "Larry King Live" show. As YOU may know, Mrs. Olson sadly died on the American Airline flight 77 that slammed into the Pentagon, so it couldn't be her, but with all of the conspiracy talks, etc. I certainly did a double take upon viewing this feisty actress in this film. So, as far as that goes, check this out to see what I mean and, if anything, let's "big up" Ken Edwards, so we can see him in a better, future role. FuturePrimitive666.

Gets the most out of its $10 budget...

[XinXang · 6 December 2007]

I clicked the spoiler button just to avoid getting blacklisted, 'cause I'm not sure what exactly is considered a spoiler nowadays.

In any event this film is obviously extremely low budget. It's shot with a cam or something, and the lighting and sound effects are never at any consistent level. Nevertheless, those involved make the most of the low budget they're working with, putting down a film which was compelling enough to keep me watching through to the end.

It's of course extremely derivative, coming up with it's own take on the recent resurgence of zombie films in the last few years. I can actually imagine if this film got a professional re-write and a more experienced cast and crew, this would make for an entertaining bigger budget horror film, worthy of a series...

Plodding and slow just like a zombie

[mrush · 3/10 · 29 March 2009]

Yes this movie is plodding and boring and never really goes any where.It does however manage to rip off about all of Romero's zombie movies instead of just one like most terribly made zombie movies do.

A group of people end up hiding out in a warehouse after some sort of experimental material is released that turns people in brain dead zombies who ,of course, have to eat lots of meat to keep up their metabolism.This will sort of remind you of both "Night of the Living Dead" and "Dawn of the Dead".They even mention the plot to "Night of the Living Dead " at one point! The leader of the group turns out to be some government courier agent who was escorting some weird albino chick who is somehow involved in all of this.He is,of course, a black guy.Meanwhile in a subplot a group of scientists and military men are holed up in another compound conducting experiments on the zombies like in "Day of the Dead".One of the zombies is especially mean and nasty and this sort of echoes "Land of the Dead".This movie even manages to rip off the remake of "Dawn of the Dead" as the group fights their way from the warehouse to a van.Anyway this movie isn't nearly good enough for you to care too much about the plot.It's basically one big rip-off.

The acting is terrible,there is no character development and the zombies are few and far in between.Since when has zombie movies turned into movies that show few zombies but lots of scenes where people are just TALKING about zombies? Sheesh! Special effects are pretty mundane....little black holes appear in the zombie foreheads when they are shot and we have a few shots of what are supposed to be guts being pulled but all in all the gore factor is lame.Much of the movie is just these people standing around in this warehouse listening to zombies bang around on the walls outside.

Skip this low budget snoozer and rent something by Romero instead if you're hankering for zombies.This is just another poorly done lame zombie movie made by people who have about as much talent for movie making as Miley Cyrus does for singing.

Great idea and Flix

[christie5349 · 9/10 · 23 August 2007]

I really did enjoy this film.. It was both enthralling, funny, and exhilarating. the combination of suspense, and comic relief was well balanced.. The make up and costumes were intense. The plot in reality makes you wonder what the GOVERNMENT really would do to its own with out any warning ... I love Frank Chambers and his control... I also found amusement with the young prodigy "antdote" I have been looking for this Movie to come out for over a year.... OMG... I can't wait until November.... Those of you who have not had the chance to see this "horror" I can only say it is the LIVING DEAD meets OUTBREAK.. Enough gore for the freaky side and scifi Xfiles rift for the scifi junky.. It does NOT drag on like some films. Enjoy

All zombie-apocalypse strategy, no gore

[paultagonist · 6/10 · 20 April 2008]

My first review of a movie...

For fans of Max Brooks and/or conspiracy theorists.

Night of the Living Dead's influence is no more obvious than when the character Jason says "Did you ever see that movie.. the black guy and the.. zombies? Those people in that house?" to character Frank Chambers. And Ken Edwards does do a good job as Frank Chambers, taking charge of a situation we think we know all too well: the zombiegeddon.

No great special effects, but some nice thought-out strategy, if such an unlikely event were to ever occur. Seems the filmmakers didn't really have the money to pull off the battle scenes they needed, but the general atmosphere and mood is great. A bit more blood would've helped things along nicely.

(A slight critique - if you're going to have a "personal video diary" throughout the film, why not make it shakycam so it doesn't seem the same quality as everything else?)