I recently watched this film after trading a friend my Stink of Flesh DVD for Deadlands: The Rising, and I will admit I received the better deal.
First, Deadlands is no masterpiece of low budget indie cinema, but what it is, is a zombie film which is entertaining, gory, and fun. Indie zombie films get a lot of bad rap, as does indie cinema in general. So many people are used to the polished Hollywood look and feel that when someone attempts a reality based horror film it easily gets looked over. Deadlands is one of those films that takes all the glamour out of film-making and firmly grounds it in reality.
Deadlands is no masterpiece. It's weak spots lie in the acting, an entire unknown cast with little experience, but it is far from horrible. The editing on the film is decent and the soundtrack is superb. The music builds a lot of great tension and fits this film perfectly. Many applause to the composers for the music in the film. The zombies are of the running type, but the film also shows the shambling George Romero type zombies as well and to be honest the mix of fast and slow works well with the film. The zombie attacks are fast and brutal, the best of which is the traffic jam of evacuees swallowed up by hundreds of zombies catching them in every direction they try to escape. That scene is an edge of your seat experience all by itself. Deadlands only other fault is the running time which is just under 70 minutes.
The two other most outstanding things about Deadlands, besides the music, was shot selection and set pieces. You can easily tell the filmmakers were aiming for an epic size film and they pulled it off to an extent.
Don't let the meager budget keep you from checking this out, especially if you are a zombie film fan. This is one for every zombie fans' collection.
7 stars out 0f 10 stars, deducting 3 stars for running time(wish it had been 20 minutes longer) and the acting.
First, Deadlands is no masterpiece of low budget indie cinema, but what it is, is a zombie film which is entertaining, gory, and fun. Indie zombie films get a lot of bad rap, as does indie cinema in general. So many people are used to the polished Hollywood look and feel that when someone attempts a reality based horror film it easily gets looked over. Deadlands is one of those films that takes all the glamour out of film-making and firmly grounds it in reality.
Deadlands is no masterpiece. It's weak spots lie in the acting, an entire unknown cast with little experience, but it is far from horrible. The editing on the film is decent and the soundtrack is superb. The music builds a lot of great tension and fits this film perfectly. Many applause to the composers for the music in the film. The zombies are of the running type, but the film also shows the shambling George Romero type zombies as well and to be honest the mix of fast and slow works well with the film. The zombie attacks are fast and brutal, the best of which is the traffic jam of evacuees swallowed up by hundreds of zombies catching them in every direction they try to escape. That scene is an edge of your seat experience all by itself. Deadlands only other fault is the running time which is just under 70 minutes.
The two other most outstanding things about Deadlands, besides the music, was shot selection and set pieces. You can easily tell the filmmakers were aiming for an epic size film and they pulled it off to an extent.
Don't let the meager budget keep you from checking this out, especially if you are a zombie film fan. This is one for every zombie fans' collection.
7 stars out 0f 10 stars, deducting 3 stars for running time(wish it had been 20 minutes longer) and the acting.
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