Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane is set aboard Concord flight 239 from Los Angeles to Paris during a horrendous thunderstorm. Onboard the passengers feel the turbulence as the plane flies through the thunderstorm, down below in the cargo area several Medcon scientists are transporting an experiment. The body of a woman named Kelly (Laura Cayouette) who has been brought back to life using the modified poison of a Mosquito, unfortunately during the turbulence she manages to escape from her metal box & starts to eat the passengers who become infected & themselves turn into flesh eating zombies. As the few remaining passengers fight for survival aboard the plane they also have to worry about events outside as the Pentagon aware of the situation orders the plane destroyed...
Co-written & directed by Scott Thomas & also known under it's working title Plane Dead (the version I saw was called Plane Dead in fact) once it actually wakes up & gets going Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane is rather fun if your a zombie/horror fan which I consider myself both. First of all lets look at that title Flight of the Living Dead, I love it & think it's both clever & funny all on it's own. Considering the spoof sounding title you would be forgiven for thinking that Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane is a horror comedy with the emphasis on the comedy but in actual fact apart from some one-liners & a couple of mildly amusing scenes it takes itself pretty seriously. I would say the script by Thomas, Sidney Iwanter & Mark Onspaugh owes more to The Return of the Living Dead (1985) than Night of the Living Dead (1968), there's some Snakes on a Plane (2006) & it also has a fair amount of Turbulence (1997) & Executive Decision (1996) as well as all those other action/disaster films set on a plane thrown into the mix as well. The two angles come together surprisingly well actually, with the thunderstorm outside making things very uncomfortable outside with the flesh eating zombies inside also a problem. The main problem I had with Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Palne was how slow it is to get going, the zombie action doesn't really start until way past the three quarters of an hour mark which is just too long really to sit down & watch these passengers sitting down on a plane. Some of the character's are quite quirky & likable but most of the development that happens during the first forty five minutes is quickly forgotten about when the zombies attack, the guy cheating on his girlfriend with his best friends girlfriend for instance is built up but nothing ever becomes of it. So basically the first half is pretty dull & slow going with the second half almost too fast with too much happening, I will put it like this I liked the last forty five minutes much more than the first. Still a very enjoyable light hearted (although not as funny as it's jokey title might suggest) horror/zombie film.
Director Thomas does alright here, the second half of the film has a great pace with lots of bloody zombie action. There are however a few things that bugged me, first the amount of times people shoot guns, automatic machine guns & even set off a bomb without breaching the hull of the plane. I'm sorry but you can't set off huge explosions on a plane & not expect any damage. Then there's the fact they killed off the best looking girl & the one character I was rooting for, I don't know her name but the one who throws up in the toilet & is wearing a pleasingly short skirt & boots. While there is plenty of blood there's not much actual gore, a nun has both her legs bitten, there are a few bites, a zombie ends up in the planes engine, a zombie ha sit's head blown off & there are quite a few bloody gunshot wounds but little else. As I said there's plenty of blood but nothing really explicit. Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane is a fun film & not really meant to be scary which is just as well because it isn't, the setting is unusual for a zombie film too which I liked & thought was something a bit different.
Technically the film is fine, it's surprisingly well made with good production values. The special effects are also surprisingly good with some impressive CGI computer effects of the plane & fighter jets in the air. The acting is alright from a good looking cast (some of the girls are very easy on the eye) & there's a few familiar faces in the cast from Kevin J. O'Connor to Brian Thompson.
Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane is a fun light hearted gory horror zombie film that once it gets going is terrific stuff, unfortunately it takes a while to get going & the entire first forty five minutes doesn't do it any favours. If you stick with though & make it that far you should be rewarded with an entertaining zombie flick, overall I liked it.
Co-written & directed by Scott Thomas & also known under it's working title Plane Dead (the version I saw was called Plane Dead in fact) once it actually wakes up & gets going Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane is rather fun if your a zombie/horror fan which I consider myself both. First of all lets look at that title Flight of the Living Dead, I love it & think it's both clever & funny all on it's own. Considering the spoof sounding title you would be forgiven for thinking that Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane is a horror comedy with the emphasis on the comedy but in actual fact apart from some one-liners & a couple of mildly amusing scenes it takes itself pretty seriously. I would say the script by Thomas, Sidney Iwanter & Mark Onspaugh owes more to The Return of the Living Dead (1985) than Night of the Living Dead (1968), there's some Snakes on a Plane (2006) & it also has a fair amount of Turbulence (1997) & Executive Decision (1996) as well as all those other action/disaster films set on a plane thrown into the mix as well. The two angles come together surprisingly well actually, with the thunderstorm outside making things very uncomfortable outside with the flesh eating zombies inside also a problem. The main problem I had with Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Palne was how slow it is to get going, the zombie action doesn't really start until way past the three quarters of an hour mark which is just too long really to sit down & watch these passengers sitting down on a plane. Some of the character's are quite quirky & likable but most of the development that happens during the first forty five minutes is quickly forgotten about when the zombies attack, the guy cheating on his girlfriend with his best friends girlfriend for instance is built up but nothing ever becomes of it. So basically the first half is pretty dull & slow going with the second half almost too fast with too much happening, I will put it like this I liked the last forty five minutes much more than the first. Still a very enjoyable light hearted (although not as funny as it's jokey title might suggest) horror/zombie film.
Director Thomas does alright here, the second half of the film has a great pace with lots of bloody zombie action. There are however a few things that bugged me, first the amount of times people shoot guns, automatic machine guns & even set off a bomb without breaching the hull of the plane. I'm sorry but you can't set off huge explosions on a plane & not expect any damage. Then there's the fact they killed off the best looking girl & the one character I was rooting for, I don't know her name but the one who throws up in the toilet & is wearing a pleasingly short skirt & boots. While there is plenty of blood there's not much actual gore, a nun has both her legs bitten, there are a few bites, a zombie ends up in the planes engine, a zombie ha sit's head blown off & there are quite a few bloody gunshot wounds but little else. As I said there's plenty of blood but nothing really explicit. Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane is a fun film & not really meant to be scary which is just as well because it isn't, the setting is unusual for a zombie film too which I liked & thought was something a bit different.
Technically the film is fine, it's surprisingly well made with good production values. The special effects are also surprisingly good with some impressive CGI computer effects of the plane & fighter jets in the air. The acting is alright from a good looking cast (some of the girls are very easy on the eye) & there's a few familiar faces in the cast from Kevin J. O'Connor to Brian Thompson.
Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane is a fun light hearted gory horror zombie film that once it gets going is terrific stuff, unfortunately it takes a while to get going & the entire first forty five minutes doesn't do it any favours. If you stick with though & make it that far you should be rewarded with an entertaining zombie flick, overall I liked it.