Humans Versus Zombies (2011)

Posted by anythinghorror on 2012-04-18 · 2 Comments 

The zombie film ain’t going anywhere.  I say this because I don’t want any zombie lovers to get scared.  Zombie flicks keep stumbling over the celluloid horizon like little glass vials popping up all over Whitney Houston’s hotel room (too soon?).  I’m not sure you can sense it, but are you picking up on my sarcasm?  I think by now you know I love my zombie stories.  But I’m starting to think the golden age of zombies is over.  Sure we have THE WALKING DEAD on AMC, but when’s the last time you saw a really original, kick ass zombie flick?  Don’t get me wrong; I’ve seen some decent zombie flicks lately (STAG NIGHT OF THE DEAD, THE DEAD, POP PUNK ZOMBIES), but nothing I’d call original or exciting.  A lot of the recent zombie flicks are finding inspiration from novels, graphic novels, and video games.  But what about the live-action role playing game, Humans vs. Zombies?  Come on; you know … the game played at U.S colleges where players begin as humans and try to survive in a game where zombies have begun to rise from the dead?  The ultimate goal of the game is for either all humans to be turned into zombies, or for the humans to survive a pre-set amount of time.  Hey; at least you know if you’re kids are playing this game they aren’t having sex!!

Well writer-director Brian T. Jaynes (along with co-writer Devan Sagliani) have done just that and turned to this live-action role playing game for the inspiration of their zombie flick, HUMAN VERSUS ZOMBIES.  In it a zombie virus sweeps across a college campus and the surrounding town (and presumably the world) infecting and turning its victims into ravenous, flesh-eating zombies.  Sure the plot is the same as many, many other zombie films (DORM OF THE DEAD immediately comes to mind), but as we’ve seen before, a lack of originality can be made up for with energy.  So how does HUMANS VERSUS ZOMBIES stand?

This is an odd time to be playing croquette!!

I pretty much gave you the entire plot summary in the above paragraph.  A group of students get caught up in the middle of a zombie viral outbreak.  The students are Danny the geek (Jonah Priour), James the jock (Jesse Ferraro), Tommi the goth-gamer girl (Madison Burge), Amanda the sorority chick (Melissa Carnell), and Brad the ‘crazy’ guy (Jack Black look-a-like, Chip Joslin).  The students are gathered up by campus security cop Frank (Frederic Doss).  Frank is your typical conspiracy nut-waiting for the zombie apocalypse-Iraqi vet-gun nut.  You know; the kind of guy you want when the zombie shit hits the fan.

All modern zombie flicks need a heavily-armed, ass kicking female.

The characters are all rather likable except for Tommi. It might just be me, but her character just rubbed me the wrong way.  She was abrasive, obnoxious, and a pain in the ass.  She had me rooting for the zombies.  But besides her character I liked the main cast and thought they interacted well together.

The zombies and zombie make up was well-executed as well.  The zombies looked pretty damn good, the gore f/x were fun, and these ghouls definitely aren’t “Romero zombies.”  These bastards were fast!!  But besides these two elements of the film, how was HUMANS VERSUS ZOMBIES overall?  Well ….

As a whole, HUMANS VERSUS ZOMBIES is a pretty forgettable movie experience.  It’s not a bad film; just forgettable (I guess that is a bad thing).  But there’s nothing I can specifically point to and say, “that was shit, this didn’t work, that was ridiculous …”.  The main problem here is that everything was so predictable and expected that there was nothing to really grab your attention.  I watched HUMANS VERSUS ZOMBIES about two, two and half weeks ago and if I hadn’t jotted down any notes, I wouldn’t have been able to remember one detail about it.  This is a case where the decent parts don’t add up to an entertaining whole.

If you get the chance to catch this one, I say check it out.  I caught it on Chiller TV.  I’m not pissed I watched it, but I’m also glad I didn’t buy the DVD.  I’d love for a few of you to check it out and tell me your thoughts.  Again; I didn’t hate this one, I just don’t think there’s anything here that will make a lasting imprint on you.  I’ve seen a lot worse and I’ve forgotten a lot better.  This lies somewhere in the middle.

My Summary:

Director:  Brian T. Jaynes (& co-writer with Devan Sagliani)

Plot:  2 out of 5 stars

Gore:  4.5 out of 10 skulls

Zombie Mayhem:  3 out of 5 brains

Reviewed by Scott Shoyer

Filed under Movie Reviews, New Posting, Zombie Flicks · Tagged with Brian T. Jaynes, Chip Joslin, Devan Sagliani, Frederic Doss, Humans Versus Zombies, Jesse Ferraro, Jonah Priour, Madison Burge, Melissa Carnell