The Killing Strain (2010) User Reviews

Not all that bad

[progman63 · 5/10 · 4 February 2012]

I don't know what version of the movie you guys watched, this was the broadcast premier on the Chiller channel by the same name.

The acting really wasn't that bad. The FX weren't really that bad either. It wasn't really exceptional, just what you'd come to expect from a mid/low level budget made for cable movie.

You can't expect the quality of a polished production from some major studio, but this was much better than a lot of garbage that's been produced and then, somehow, actually gets aired.

Yeah, there are a few of the maddeningly stupid plot devices to build suspense - let's go down into the dark cellar all alone, and if you hear a strange noise don't bother to tell anyone or call for help.

There's the loudmouth bully, and the nerdy guy, and the chick who lost her family, and the sensible guy everyone wants to listen to. Nothing too revealing, but well played non-the-less.

And you do notice one or two scenes that never seemed to be followed up on even though you knew something was supposed to happen with them. But nothing was so glaringly terrible that it would ruin the entire movie.

Solid B grade movie with decent acting and storyline.

Virus/Zombie movie that stays pretty much middle in the middle pack, nothing extraordinary here.

[My_Opinion-245-920801 · 5/10 · 28 December 2011]

The Killing Strain is your run of the mill low budget zombie/virus movie. In all honesty the movie was not bad, it just was not good. There was nothing extraordinary to separate it from movies such as anything from the Dead Series by George Romero or even the 28 Days Later. So as you can already see the bar is set high to begin with. Yes, this is a low budget reflection of great movies in this genus, however; budget restraints aside there still was nothing that popped out at you and immediately or grabbed your attention. No amazing scenes of violence or compassion. Nor was the sub-standard acting done well, it was hard to tell if the actors played there parts purposely over the top, or was the acting that God awful again, hard to say. The pace of the movie was enjoyable at least they were no long drawn out explanation of what lead to this disaster. I just wish the Directors and writers would have taken the time to put a plot together that would take hold of you, instead we are treated to an ordinary run of the mill zombie-ish movie that will not differentiate it's self from over a 100 other such titles.

Ordinary zombie movie delivered at an independent level

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 13 February 2016]

THE KILLING STRAIN is another garden-variety zombie movie, made at an independent level (and on the cheap) and shot out in the wilds of Texas. It's a pretty unconvincing and uninteresting little movie, content to plough well-furrowed fields instead of chronicling anything new, and is let down as a whole by the usual constraints of indie film-making.

The main problem the film has is the derivative script which fails to give the viewer either an interesting storyline or likable characters. The amateur cast do their best but their roles are very ordinary with nobody standing out from the crowd. The special effects are limited and the zombies in the film are just your bog standard looking types with little to distinguish them from another hundred movies.

In essence the film is a version of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, with various survivors holing up together in remote buildings to survive an onslaught of the living dead. If no other zombie movies existed then this one would feel quite exciting, but it's that over-familiarity that ruins it for me; to make a mark these days, a zombie film has to do something really special, instead of being merely ordinary.

One of the Most Painful Films I've Ever Watched!

[amlahood · 1/10 · 19 June 2010]

Wow! I went to see the midnight premiere of this film in San Antonio, TX since a large portion of the film was shot on some land owned by my family, and several of my relatives played zombies. I am sorry to say that this film did not turn out into anything remotely resembling a polished, well-made film. Where to start? The acting was cheesy, non-fluid and everything about the film just felt forced. There was horrible timing issues (delayed reactions) probably due to poor editing in the cutting room. The acting was so bad, it borderlines on being funny, but there was such an obvious intent to be serious that it turns out to be just painful.

The plot itself is pretty standard of zombie films, (of which I am normally a fan) beginning with an experiment going horribly wrong and the entire region (South Texas in this case) becoming infected. Eventually the entire crew gets stranded in a house, and just seem to stay there for the entire movie. It was quite boring, with the only interruptions being the anticipated attack on the house by zombies, and the standard searching for supplies to escape routine which you would expect. This isn't necessarily a bad thing if it is done right, like in Night of the Living Dead which kept a certain amount of excitement (albeit cheesy and over-the-top) throughout the whole feature. Instead, the whole thing felt more like a high school kid with an expensive camera,some friends and some money to blow to create a film, as opposed to a professional director and group of actors.

Finally, the errors in this film were just too much to handle. The CG effects were laughable at best and entailed a still-framed picture with some fire and/or smoke added in for effect. In several of the scenes, you could actually see a loading symbol in the bottom right from the computer editing program which was never removed. But the worst part were the inexplicable UFO's which were shown on the horizon in a scene near the end of the movie. It looked like the whole thing was stolen from another film and then destroyed cars, fire and obviously fake mannequins with blood were just superimposed over the image. Add in a few plot holes (I don't hold it against them too much, it IS a zombie movie after all) and COUNTLESS continuity errors (such was firearms mysteriously appearing and reappearing with different people in different parts of the film) and you have a film which looked and felt like the group was making last-minute edits to the film up through the car ride over to the theater. Avoid at all costs!!!

Fried cola!

[LOL101LOL · 1/10 · 26 August 2011]

I love a good zombie film, great bit of escapism, most times it makes for good viewing, even the B grade variety are OK to watch for a laugh. But this horror of a film is as bad as a B grader will get! Where do they get these 2 bit actors from? no not the people that act the zombie roles. The blood and guts parts are OK, but that's where it stops, the acting is so poor it nearly turned me into a brain dead zombie! And damn that script is horrible, and yes the directing is not much chop either. Should you watch it? sure why not, but be warned it is crap, but it is a great film to remind you of better films from the past, or hopefully better one's to come.

A very solid 1 out of 10

The Killing Yawn

[mhorg2018 · 1/10 · 11 March 2017]

Another of the many lame zombie movies to come down the pike. I'll start this out by saying this; if you're even thinking of watching this trash, skip it and go watch The Girl With All The Gifts or Train to Busan. Those are worth your time. This is a cliché ridden, poorly acted, lame mostly rip off of Night of the Living dead. It starts with a flat tire. Guys wife goes to take pictures - she gets attacked, killed and turns. Guy runs off, finds the worst boarded up farm house in the universe, filled with all stereotype characters, one's a redneck, one's a granny, two are hot girls (one's the rednecks girlfriend) and the final guy may or may not be gay. They don't know it but... Just do yourself a huge favor. Skip this silliness. You'll be grateful.

Just awful

[melissa-183 · 1/10 · 30 August 2011]

I love zombie movies, even the not so great ones. But this one is really JUNK.

The storyline is simple. A man and his wife get a flat tire during a zombie outbreak. The wife is attacked by a zombie and becomes one. The man survives and reaches a house where more people are hiding from the zombies. The idea is not new but could be just fine for a zombie flick.

The movie is full of clichés and the acting is so terrible it's almost hilarious. I have never seen so many actors in one movie acting this badly and every dialog is so horrible it's just painful.

Don't waste your time. Skip this one.

1/10

the worst movie i have ever seen

[mrbambam1985 · 1/10 · 2 June 2012]

this has to be the worst movie ever made who ever mad this movie should never me aloud make another movie there's not one good actor in the movie the story is bad from start to finish i cant think of one good thing to say about this movie except i hope it never comes on TV ever again even the zombies are bad they all look the same at least with good zombie movies like dawn on the dead and 28 days later none of the zombies look the same may be its because this movie cost about 20 bucks to make the actors in this movie should get medals for bad acting the red neck and his girl friend are the worst people is this bad movie and what was the point of the soldier guy he was pointless in the movie and why in gods name did they end the movie with them walking off like 2 losers i have a idea im going to end the movie with 2 people walking on a high way give me a break

Actually a rather nice zombie movie...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 6 April 2012]

I picked up "The Killing Strain" from Amazon because of one reason; it is a zombie movie. I am a sucker for zombies, and just have to watch all that I can. When I received the movie by mail, I put it in my 'to-watch-pile' because the DVD cover looked sort of discount-like. So nearly two months pass by before I sit down to watch it.

"The Killing Strain" really surprised me, because it was not the kind of cheesy, low-budget crap zombie movie that I expected it to be. There was actually good production to this movie and they had fairly good actors and actresses on the cast list.

The story in "The Killing Strain" is as you have seen in countless zombie movies prior to this one. A strange infection is rampart, turning people into mindless killing machines - zombies, if you will - and the protagonists find themselves in the middle of the chaos. Yeah, nothing new here. But still, the movie was executed in such a manner that it managed to keep me entertained and watching. Being trapped in a farmhouse, again very cliché, there is a group of people coming together for survival, and of course personalities and tempers clash as not everyone is on the same page. And sure, the characters were fairly generic and cliché, but still it worked out well enough.

There was one thing that I didn't really like in the movie, and that is the "28 Days Later"-style zombies that are fast, agile and running about. But hey that is all a matter of preference. And the movie was still great, despite the running zombies.

The effects were good as well, and the zombies had great make-up. Now, you didn't really get the tradition guts, gore and gorging on intestines that you usually get in Romero's movies and such. But the zombies still had a great touch of being dead to the make-up and effects.

I don't understand the low rating this movie have gotten, because I found it to be one of the better non-blockbuster-produced zombie movies I have seen in quite some time.

As for the ending of the movie, well, I will not spoil anything by revealing it here, but that ending was so obvious, it could be seen coming a mile away.

Enjoyed this film

[theresabowen · 8/10 · 21 June 2010]

I for one will say that I enjoyed this film and went to see it a few times. For the most part it is what you would expect from an INDEPENDENT FILM as some may not understand what that is. This movie is well thought out the cast is mostly outstanding and the crew did a wonderful job again for an INDEPENDENT FILM.

For the budget of any INDEPENDENT FILM this movie was the best I have seen. The effects were awesome the plot was great and everyone in it gave all 100%....If you want to see an awesome movie with likable and some not so likable but gotta love them anyway characters this is the one to see.

I must mention also that I am a horror film fanatic and with that being said I have seen many and this one did surprise me in the fact that even some of the top directors of some of the more well known horror films have let me down,so I was pleasantly surprised at what was brought to the big screen by this director and the entire cast, Although there seem to be a few crucial cast members not really mentioned here like where is Brian Potts AKA as Sam in the movie and Willie Bowen AKA Redneck Willie AKA Neil who by the way are very comical in this movie. I would and have recommended this movie to everyone I know in fact I have friends and family in many states that wanna see this film and have seen the trailers and can't wait to see this movie . In closing over all THIS MOVIE IS GREAT go see it if you get the chance.

Not a bad debut

[noideasuks · 7/10 · 20 June 2010]

I just saw a screening of this at it's weekend debut at one of the three theaters it showed in San Antonio. I have to say that it does some decent justice to the zombie genre.

I actually went to school with and acted in the director/writer's first stage production back in high school. Daniel has come a long way since "Await The Eclipse" by a long shot.

Not to say this is the most ground breaking zombie film by any means (it is quite hard to do so as the genre has been milked out of all scenarios it can possibly handle), but it is very entertaining in it's own right.

If anything it is a great glimpse of what is to come from these great actors and formidable director. There were great performances from the leads and the comic relief of the the character 'Neil' caused much intentioned laughter from the crowd. By the applause after the screening I think the crowed got what they came for and I would deem this effort a success.

Not bad for a low budget zombie flick!

[WisdomsHammer · 7/10 · 12 October 2015]

You can tell right from the start that this is a low budget film, so if you're expecting top of the line acting, directing, and writing, then this just isn't for you. Remember Robert Rodriguez's low-budget flick El Mariachi? This movie's style reminded me of that one in many ways. This felt like a low budget attempt by passionate people doing the best they could with what they had and watching it from that perspective, I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would! In that vein, I think it has a lot in common with Romero's original Night of the Living Dead as well. Unfortunately, this felt a little like someone trying to remake it rather than do something original. If you love zombie movies like I do, then you probably won't see anything new, but I don't think you'll be disappointed, either.

Not bad at all. Actually pretty good!

[AndyVanScoyoc · 6/10 · 16 March 2017]

Compared to some indie jokes that attempt to pass for movies, this movie is a dream.

Starts out, BAD, so just stay with it, give it time and it does,improve.

Likable, hate-able and mostly convincing characters, by far the best is Sam, played by William Brian Potts.

His character you could really pull for.

Acting ranged...Some people just aren't meant for certain roles...From awful, to downright, believably good.

Some...mediocre at best.

Not bad, at all and though I wouldn't have paid more than a couple of dollars to see it (I saw it free on Amazon Prime) it's certainly not worthy of the 2 1/2 star reviews on AP.

Worthy of a watch...Just bear with it through the bad parts.