Zombies have pretty much overrun the UK. No cause for this is known,
there isn't even a clear pattern to these zombies, some are just stumbling
about slowly, some are long distance runners - but all are lethal, feed on
human flesh, and a zombie bite turns one into a zombie within hours. A
group of people from very different strokes of life band together out of
necessity rather than friendship, and try to make it to the next army
base: There's old Bill (Harry Keeling), who witnessed his grandchildren
being killed, pre-teen Melanie (Alice Joyce), who saw her parents turn
into zombies, cop Dermott (Edward Nudd), juvenile delinquent Sam (Tom
Murton), slightly idiotic but well-meaning Rik (Richard Lee O'Donnell),
Rik's girl Candi (Jade Blocksidge), and Candi's best friend Kelly
(Alexandra Lyon), whom Candi abandoned in a club, but who proves to be
surprisingly resilient despite her party girl attire and her high heels. Unfortunately,
the group doesn't get along at all, and the time they don't spend running
from zombies, they spend arguing and fighting between one another ...
which makes it all the easier for the zombies to gradually decimate them.
And then they meet Ella (Adelle Overton), a woman fleeing from the
army base, which has already been overrun by the undead. And slowly but
surely our heroes run out of options ... Zombie Hood
might not exactly tell the most original story - but it does so in a
refreshing way, taking a light-footed, even darkly humourous approach to
its dead serious subject matter (without ever becoming moronic), and while
not exactly shying away from violence, the film also leaves plenty to the
imagination and doesn't go all slaughterhouse all of the time, rather
builds its story on suspense then pure gore. Add to that some rather witty
dialogue and an interesting and fleshed out cast of characters played by a
competent cast of actors, and you've got yourself a pretty enjoyable piece
of genre cinema. Recommended.
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