Breakdown Lane (2017) User Reviews

Was this a spoof?...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 5 June 2017]

I knew that I should have taken heed to the low rating that "Breakdown Lane" had managed to score here on IMDb. But it is a zombie movie after all, and that is really all that is needed to make me watch a movie. However, the market is unfortunately flooded with questionable entries in the zombie genre.

"Breakdown Lane" didn't break that mold, and it turned out to be just another low budget zombie movie with the heart resolute on trying, but failing to achieve anything.

This is definitely a B-movie in every meaning of the term. Low budget script writing, low budget special effects, low budget acting talents, well, you know how it goes.

The movie is incredibly slow paced and very, very little happened throughout the course of the movie. And that made it really difficult to sit through and watch it to the very end. And believe me, it was indeed a struggle to sit through this.

As for the script, well this pretty much sums it up; are you kidding me? Wow, the script for "Breakdown Lane" was definitely something else. And points for trying, but come on... It was just so far fetched that it was like it was a farce on the zombie genre.

It was so hard to take it serious that the day after an outbreak happen that people would resort to cannibalism. One day! There would be so much food at the stores and homes, it was just idiotic. And more so why would they say that they needed to breed and repopulate the Earth? Just how fast and effective was this outbreak? Talk about some major plot holes and lacks of writing anything worthwhile.

The zombie effects were laughable at best. But at least they were trying. And sadly so, because special effects are vital - pardon the pun - to a zombie movie to be effective. Here "Breakdown Lane" didn't come through.

"Breakdown Lane" is not a particularly impressive addition to the zombie movie gallery. And it is definitely not a movie that I will be returning to watch again, as it just didn't have any outstanding qualities to it. Actually, I gave up after about an hour of sitting through this slow paced ordeal, then I just tossed the towel in the ring.

Breaks Down After 30 Minutes or So

[Uriah43 · 3/10 · 12 January 2021]

This film begins with a young woman named "Kirby Lane" (Whitney Moore) driving somewhere in the southwest when her car breaks down in the middle of the desert. Since her car is equipped with Northstar she calls them up and talks to a service representative named "Max" (Kevin Tye) who advises her to stay in her car and wait for a tow truck. Not long afterward, however, he tells her that he is having some difficulty getting a tow truck because of some strange events happening in that area. Little does she know that a zombie apocalypse has just occurred and society has completely collapsed. What follows is her attempt to stay alive with little food and water in a desert landscape inhabited by lawless gangs and ravenous zombies. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film started off real well but got bogged down somewhere after the first 30 minutes or so and never really recovered after that. That said, although I give the directors (Bob Schultz and Robert Conway) credit for not turning it into yet another zombie-comedy that seeks to become "so bad it's good" it still could have used a lot more depth and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Below average.

Take it for what it is

[egghead28 · 5/10 · 19 June 2017]

A very low-budget zombie flick that actually has some decent aspects to it but can't seem to decide which type of movie it is. For starters, the tone is all over the place.

It starts off as a fairly suspenseful movie, with the main character stranded on the highway miles from anywhere and there's small ominous feel to it that she'll be fighting for her life in the wilderness.The hillbillies/rednecks turn up to save her and she escapes, meets another guy who saves her and take her to the city/town, then the movie begins to lose itself a little bit.

She suddenly goes from a helpless woman to Rambo in the space of the minutes, with scenes like reading 'Shooting for Dummies' then she's a shooting ace and expert zombie killer, and the tone almost becomes like a comedy/spoof. The hillbilly/redneck just happens to be outside the door in the Mall, of all the places to be!

The pacing is a little off too, with the car scenes going over a relatively slow timescale, then once she's in the city, it speeds up and whizzes through its story, and the suspense from the start is a bit lost and it all becomes a bit tongue-in-cheek.

The acting is pretty good for a film of this stature, the lead actress, Whitney Moore, does a good job and carries the film well. The actor playing Max, was also pretty good and made the character likable. Same can't be said for the minor rooftop characters who were pretty wooden and emotionless, and just not very good.The rooftop jumping scene where they all jump onto rubbish, is clearly just a 2m drop as some of the actors landings are just awful. I appreciate that's what the set is, but still at least make it look like a jump from a building's rooftop.

The zombies or makeup aren't bad given the budget, but the CGI is bad, blood spurting everywhere yet no bullet holes or anything.

Is it great? No. Is it terrible? Also no. 'Breakdown Lane' doesn't outstay its welcome with its running time nor does it really bore the watcher. Take it for what it is, A C-movie zombie flick that quite frankly is a valiant effort that shouldn't be take too seriously. I enjoyed it.

5/10

A ton of removed scenes from the final product..

[dtr-12110 · 1/10 · 10 April 2022]

Let me start off by saying this first, the trailer looked awesome! Especially one scene in the trailer in particular really made me interested in watching this movie.

Unfortunately the majority of scenes in the trailer where NOT in the movie! Including the scene that I was dying to see. That being said, I feel like I was being lied into watching a movie that really sucked.

The movie itself was boring and a utter waste of time. The only redeeming quality was the lead actress, as she was very beautiful and seemed to play a good character. The other acting was very mediocre to plain horrible. The movie ends with no clear answer and it feels like everything we watched was for nothing.

I would stay away from this movie, and if you watch the trailer and you see the scene that intrigued me (most guys will know exactly which scene in the trailer I was dying to see lol) don't expect anything nearly as good!

Not worth pressing PLAY

[mandaleephotography · 1/10 · 16 October 2018]

Horrible actors and horrible script all around. Not sure if this was a joke movie for how bad it was.

We got to breed

[nogodnomasters · 5/10 · 4 July 2017]

Kirby Lane (Whitney Moore) is speeding on her way to meet her on line boyfriend on the outset of the biblical zombie apocalypse, who were called, "creepers." At this point the plot becomes confused. She gets pulled for speeding and is told by the cop to take a one hour nap. Yes, the cop wants a single woman to park along side of a deserted road for an hour. Afterwards, her SUV won't start hence the idiotic pun title. Her Northstar help claims it is her transmission that keeps her engine from turning over, but she can push it. She wants to go to the city during the zombie apocalypse while everyone is leaving. Her reasons change midway through the film.

The film was all about Kirby Lane. There were no group of survivors like in most zombie films where you have to guess who besides Daryl is going to die. Many scenes were done as a graphic novel with metal music. It takes about two seconds for the entire world to turn to anarchy. The feature was mostly concerned with creating scenes than a decent plot with plenty of blood splatter on the camera lens. Boring scenes of Kirby talking to Max at Northstar. Never felt she was in any trouble as she was the only character and never really developed at that.

The guy at the service station looked like an Aboriginal. A car had Arizona plates. Filmed in Drumheller, Alberta Canada.

Guide: F-word. Sex.

Ehhhh

[harryhoustonastros · 4/10 · 28 July 2019]

There's like 15 good minutes of footage in this whole film...other than that...meh. It's higly forgettable. I don't know if it deserves this 2.7 rating? That seems a bit too low. But it definitely could have been a LOT better.

A Giant Pile of Steaming, Stinky Crap

[ikeybabe · 1/10 · 13 August 2019]

I was expecting a brave heroine stomping out zombies as if they were road kill. Instead, I got garbage - bad script, worst acting, awful cinematography, stupid twists and turns that made zero sense. I love zombie flicks - even the bad ones. But this one, scored a 1 because zero wasn't an option. When the main character's car breaks down, she sticks with it - even pushing it through the desert (WHY?!). For some reason she goes from paved highway to dirt road to highway back to road. There's some weirdo stuff: the car being pulled by a pack of zombies - yeah, that is plausible! The cannibals who gotta breed. And yo, while the klan - I mean clan - are around the campfire why is it the camera cuts off the top of the speaking character's head? (Couldn't pull the camera back any further?). Just idiotic from start to finish. Ridiculous. Instead of giving this a go, watch "Train to Busan" (awesome!), "I Am Legend" (outstanding), "Rezort" (fun ride) or any other zombie flick - just not this one,

Wow! Just Amazing!

[redtalon-76742 · 1/10 · 2 July 2020]

Wow! and not in a good way. Amazing! Amazingly crap. Seriously, this is unbelievable in so many ways.

Fine little gem

[edgy-827-486965 · 8/10 · 30 May 2017]

Not a gem exactly, but well not awful 3 stars too, because its not that bad if you love 80th zombie movie. Actually this movie looks very much like "The Dead Next Door", maybe not so complicated (yes, lol, I know, for B-movie), but have same aura. And I think its sort of road movie - this is always plus for modern zombie films. And yes, story there very simplistic, action parts weak (but watchable), soundtrack (I mean main theme) is a joke, but anyway this film can be a hidden gem in a distant future.

Not bad but inconsistent

[thedarkestshadow-32785 · 6/10 · 13 September 2020]

This is a decent effort but has problems. In a few scenes the sound goes in and out. The acting is pretty good especially the lead. Considering she came from a godawful movie like Birdemic she has come a long way IMO. The zombie makeup and acting is not great but I've seen worse. I've seen zombie movies so awful I couldn't finish them and this is much better. I'd call it middle of the road or maybe just under. I gave it an extra two stars because Whitney Moore is gorgeous. It lost one star because of the HUGE inconsistency at the end. She walks towards the vehicle and it's daylight( despite being night just a second or two earlier). Gets in and it's night. Gets back out for a second and it's day again and you can see a consistent flow of traffic in the background.

Better than expected movie, but editing let it down

[JDtheBigGuy · 5/10 · 26 October 2023]

It was good enough that I watched the whole film.

It's a standard zombie plot film, done on a budget, however unlike so many, this one has OK to good actors with reasonably natural dialogue. In particular, the female lead was very believable. Fight scenes were shot well enough to hide most of the usual cock-ups that are made when done on the cheap. The zombie actors and their makeup were also better than low budget films usually manage. Special effects were limited, which was just as well, as they were not impressive.

If it wasn't for all the blindingly obvious goofs, I would have given this 6 stars.

Not the worst movie ever made... just kidding. It is.

[moorek · 1/10 · 28 April 2022]

Some people are trying to compare this to B or grindhouse movies but that is unfair to those movies. There is a difference between a movie with bad acting, script and direction but made with love and a movie that just throws all these elements together and hopes something sticks. The makers of this movie didn't even try to piece it together correctly. It is true to say that student movie productions in high school often show more care and concern than this movie.

It is foolish to point out problems with a movie this bad but there are some things that just show how bad it is.

PUSHING THE CAR. So as to not have shelter, the main character (Kirby) pushes her heavy SUV for who knows how many kilometres. This makes absolutely no sense. Whatever advantage of having the car as shelter would be lost by the exertion to keep the car moving. The city is 50 miles away. The average person walks about 3 miles / hour. Pushing the car was maybe a half mile per hour. But even if we accept this foolish behaviour then what is up with the paved/dirt road situation. We seem to rotate between scenes of the car on a dirt road, on dirt or on a paved road. Initially if it had been on the dirt road and then rolled to the pavement then that would be okay. But we see the car finally make it to a paved road, only minutes later to be back on dirt again. The worst is when she pushes her car past the police car on paved road (as a car passes in the opposite direction), she is then on a dirt road in Arizona with a paved road clearly visible behind her. She left the paved road to start traveling randomly over some dirt road. WTF?

Of course that was the plot device so she could talk to Max which of course is not needed later in the movie when she talks to him on the phone.

TIMELINE. Kirby is stranded on the road overnight. Then by the second night, she meets a band of humans who are killing zombies; eating their meat and acting like they are the third generation of survivors. We go from her not knowing this is happening to meeting people who have suddenly embraces a new way of life in 48 hours. It's like the SNL skit where they kill and eat someone in the trapped elevator even though the elevator is only stuck for 45 minutes. Continues when she meets the man who has "harnessed" the zombies and keeps his zombie wife tied up.

EDITING. The above issues are often editing issues. It is just bad. We see the car with mud then without. We see dirt and blood and then it's gone. At one point we see a few cars at the edge of the screen drive by. Those are fun to see and often so subtle that it is fun to notice them. But the last scene with the dog has dozens of cars and a motorcycle drive by in a street only metres away. No attempt to block that out. In that same scene, we see Kirby in the jeep and those scenes are twilight but when she gets out with the dog, it is daytime. We are shown Kirby suiting up for a big fight with lots of small weapons and a rifle. Then suddenly we are on top of the building and there is whole load of various firearms.

PLOT POINTS. Just lots of silly plot points. Kirby doesn't even know of the disease yet knows how to treat it with fire and hot metal. She shoots three criminals and beats up the fourth and while one guy takes off in the car; she doesn't pick up the various weapons lying around. The worst is that Karma seems to come bite Kirby literally. Kriby didn't call the ambulance for the sick father in the RV at the start of the movie so clearly he and his wife turned as did the daughter. So the daughter biting Kirby is payment but Kirby gets what she deserves. Until she cauterized her wound. This would have been a good plot point to keep in the movie. Kirby was not a good person so her surviving wasn't something we cared for.

I Love Zombies

[KILERQUEEN · 5/10 · 27 May 2023]

I will watch or read anything about zombies. This movie was one that popped up under horror genre first so I clicked on it. I personally did not think the acting was that bad. I have seen much worse on low budget movies. I was disappointed when we met Max in person. He wasn't what I pictured in my head by the way he spoke to her through the car. When she actually meets him he is acting like a hard a$$ having a pissing contest. I was happy when he got bit. The one part I thought was dumb is how they tried to say if your burn the bite minuets after getting bit by metal you will survive. Come on! Every zombie lover knows this is impossible! Now you're going to have people try this if it ever does happen. LOL just kidding people are not that stupid LOL. Anyways! For a low budget movie I would definitely recommend just for kicks.

Sometimes you really shouldn't

[TRussellMorris · 3/10 · 20 January 2023]

That being. Make a film without funding. LOL. I mean what was this made for $5.95? Now I'm not one to rag on indie films, I love them, have a real passion and tolerance for low budget, Indie or both. This was a good idea, no fault there, the set up is also good. Lead actress is ok so no real super problem with her. But WOW are the SFX bad. Terrible CGI, very poor execution of the "Scary scenes". Some of the dialog was good, and delivered fine by the lead and the northstar customer service guy.

Unfortunately, even with a liberal dose of suspension of expectation, I was unable to forgive or tolerate the horrid fight, kill or scare scenes. About the only time I found myself not eye rolling was the dialog in the SUV. Good idea but sometimes you just shouldn't release something that was beyond your ability to film many of the scenes with the what seems to be near zero special effects or even a special effects manager? If this film did have one, he should never work on a film again. A real shame, this could have been a decent film, just please secure some funding OR a talented SFX manager. Otherwise just keep it on hold until you can. Sorry, no addition to my collection with this one. I don't think I'd even waste the space if it was in the dollar bin.

Grindhouse flick would make Tarantino proud.

[businessengines · 9/10 · 22 June 2020]

If you understand what Grindhouse movies are about you will love this film

First of all I want to get this out of the way: In any SHTF scenario I would choose Whitney Moore to suffer the consequences with, she is hot.

This film showed when you love a a genre of movies based on stylistic conventions you can make a good film.