FEEDING THE MASSES
2004

Low budget but literate is one way to refer to this 2004 zombie video recently released on DVD. Something called the Lazarus Virus is causing dead people to return to their so-called lives. This normally would cause considerable panic, but big government has thoughtfully instructed the TV news staff to continue with the feel-good TV programming. This includes luring citizens downtown to do their shopping by lying, by saying the stiffs are under control—but our protagonist, cameraman James, has seen otherwise. Fair and balanced it ain’t.

Unique storyline that refuses to be predictable, which is more than you might expect from someone who wrote a Toxie film. The story is involving, the characters are interesting, and the humor is intentional. The filmmakers have loaded this film with paranoia, and the Romero influence is evident in the scenes with the military men forcing the main characters’ complicity in covering up the massacre of shoppers by zombies. This is a very stoner-friendly film. There are several long, lovingly detailed scenes of the slacker protagonist sparking up, and a telling scenario that unfolds when our man forgets his weed at home (in his defense, he was running away from his newly zombified roommate.) Not to ruin it for you, but he rolls a deadhead zombie for his stash.
The acting is just OK for a tiny budget (but lead James is very likable and soldier Roger isn’t bad in his attempt at the film’s most complex character); and there is some peculiar nudity in a gratuitous scene. Some digital FX, but most of film is the eternal story of humans meeting zombies (the slow kind.) Its unique setting and social commentary reveal a more complex film than most indie horror outings, and bode well for future projects for the filmmakers. Somebody give these guys some money! Maybe then they’ll be able to afford film stock.

-Hysteric Eric