Who doesn’t love a good zombie movie? You know we at TFO do. I’d like to suggest that you see Dead Exit, a new short film from local director Wes Young and his collaborators Bob Herron, Randy Foos and Ryan Goff. About 16 minutes in length, it’s just a tasty appetizer for future zombie messes, but it bodes well for future films by them. The DVD includes about an hour and a half of special features, including making of the special effects and stunts, interviews with cast and crew, etc.-everything you could want to know about Dead Exit.
The film’s brief running time (16 minutes) leaves you wanting more, which is not really a bad thing, since most films do the opposite. It feels like the second act of a movie, picking up with our three characters on the run, story already in progress. That’s as much as an introduction as we get; the characters never even get to share their names with us.
Driving down the road, they hit a zombie kid and have to get out and walk, since their vehicle is disabled. Walking is not a pleasant thing for Man 2 (Bob Herron), who is injured in the leg and walks with a limp. Also in the party are Man 1 (Randy Foos) and Girl (Mackenzie Goff). Our they Dad and daughter? Random strangers thrown together by fate? We don’t know, they don’t say. But more importantly, they are all in danger. They need to find a safe place to 
escape the zombies, and are looking for what seems to be a command center of some kind. The zombies waste no time attacking our beleaguered protagonists. That’s all I can tell you without spoiling it, but suffice it to say, people die, and there is lots of blood.
I like the fact that they don’t feel the need to name the characters or explain any of the preceding with any long expository segments. I mean, if we were there like the characters are, we wouldn’t need to have explained to us what we’d just lived through. It may also be an acknowledgment that the zombies are the real stars, and the humans are the ones whose time is running out. Starting in the middle also means we don’t need an explanation for the zombies’ origins.
There’s a frequent use of hand-held camera, but also some other decent mounted camera work. The shot composition doesn’t draw attention to itself, but is good. It’s not too dark to see what going on. Much of Dead Exit has a nicely overexposed, sunbaked sepia shade working for it. I thought the music worked well in the movie, too.
There’s a little humor from the characters’ interplay, but Dead Exit is a fairly straightforward dramatic representation. If you are quick with the pause button, there is an in-joke of director Wes Young on a political poster that gets splattered with blood.
Lots of blood. Real, and also CG, if I’m not mistaken.. And the zombies look pretty good. The zombies are always moving, so they’re not overexposed onscreen and maintain some sort of mystery/shock/whatever value (and 
cover any possible shortcomings). Locals can play spot my friends in the zombie cast. Hey! It’s that businessman zombie guy from the zombie walk. And there’s Jason Rudy, and there’s Stephanie Hyden!
Death by car, crossbow, pistol, handgun, and of course, zombie.
It’s all over much too quickly and the whole thing leaves you wanting more. Recently won best short horror film at the Action On Film International Film Festival. For info direct your browser to their myspace page at: http://www.myspace.com/dogchowmovie or the film’s page at http://www.deadexitmovie.com/.
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