After seeing some truly terrible zombie movies, I in all honesty was expecting Disaster L.A to be the same. Fortunately, while far from a good movie, it's pretty bad on the whole actually, Disaster L.A is a long way from being one of the worst zombie movies.
Unlike zombie movies like Vampegeddon, Zombie Nation, Zombie Night and Vampires vs. Zombies, Disaster L.A does have a few redeeming merits. The effects and make-up could have been far worse than they were, in fact compared to those of most other zombie movies they're impressive, the meteor effects are some of the better ones personally seen for a disaster movie. The acting on the whole is awful, but Justin Ray does make a real effort to give his role some charisma, while the opening scene is thrilling and the music score has some quite creepy moments.
However, despite starting well Disaster L.A is more yawn-inducing than fun, scary or thrilling. The rundown-parking-lot-like sets are incredibly basic, some of the movie is too darkly lit, editing is chaotic especially in the zombie scenes and a truly amateurishly staged confrontation in a car and the whole movie looks drab. Aside from Ray, the acting is awful, more underplaying to the point of somnambulance than anything else. A big dishonourable mention has to go to the unbearably obnoxious Jerod Meagher. The movie also really wastes the zombies, for characters that are meant to be the stars they are treated like fairly insignificant secondary characters. There's very few of them (only three at most), they are in so few scenes and when they do appear not only are their scenes staged in a lumbering way but they do not come over as very frightening and they acted towards the other characters very indifferently.
The script is to sum up in one word atrocious and constantly cringe-worthy, no unintentional laughs in sight, while the characters are cardboard and annoying, with no development or even redeeming qualities. The direction is so characterless it feels like there isn't even any after the opening sequence, and the story is a predictable bore with awkwardly staged zombie scenes and disaster scenes that are ridiculous to the extent that tension and suspense are nil.
Overall, has a few things in its favour, other than that Disaster L.A induces more yawns than thrills. 4/10 Bethany Cox
Unlike zombie movies like Vampegeddon, Zombie Nation, Zombie Night and Vampires vs. Zombies, Disaster L.A does have a few redeeming merits. The effects and make-up could have been far worse than they were, in fact compared to those of most other zombie movies they're impressive, the meteor effects are some of the better ones personally seen for a disaster movie. The acting on the whole is awful, but Justin Ray does make a real effort to give his role some charisma, while the opening scene is thrilling and the music score has some quite creepy moments.
However, despite starting well Disaster L.A is more yawn-inducing than fun, scary or thrilling. The rundown-parking-lot-like sets are incredibly basic, some of the movie is too darkly lit, editing is chaotic especially in the zombie scenes and a truly amateurishly staged confrontation in a car and the whole movie looks drab. Aside from Ray, the acting is awful, more underplaying to the point of somnambulance than anything else. A big dishonourable mention has to go to the unbearably obnoxious Jerod Meagher. The movie also really wastes the zombies, for characters that are meant to be the stars they are treated like fairly insignificant secondary characters. There's very few of them (only three at most), they are in so few scenes and when they do appear not only are their scenes staged in a lumbering way but they do not come over as very frightening and they acted towards the other characters very indifferently.
The script is to sum up in one word atrocious and constantly cringe-worthy, no unintentional laughs in sight, while the characters are cardboard and annoying, with no development or even redeeming qualities. The direction is so characterless it feels like there isn't even any after the opening sequence, and the story is a predictable bore with awkwardly staged zombie scenes and disaster scenes that are ridiculous to the extent that tension and suspense are nil.
Overall, has a few things in its favour, other than that Disaster L.A induces more yawns than thrills. 4/10 Bethany Cox