The Dead the Damned and the Darkness (2014)

Simply Perfect

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Anything even remotely zombie, and I am interested. And from the DVD cover for "The Dead the Damned and the Darkness", then it seemed like this might actually be a zombie movie with some substance to it, pardon the pun.Lets start with the title of the movie, which kind of Sticks out like a sore thumb, because it is clearly missing a comma in it. But that is just an insignificant thing, of course, and has no impact on the enjoyment of the movie itself. It is just a small thing that nags in the back of your head.Now, the storyline was adequate. Not the best of stories, nor the worst. It was a fairly straight forward, albeit somewhat generic storyline. Nothing that hasn't been seen in other zombie movies, so don't expect anything groundbreaking or innovative here. Still, it was entertaining enough for a zombie movie.What impressed me about "The Dead the Damned and the Darkness" was the zombie make-up and design. They really had some pretty nice prosthetic and make-up, and it looked quite good and convincing. However, yes there is a however, the sound that they opted to go with for the zombies was just so poor. It sounded like some kind of great predatory beast, which really was so misplaced for a zombie movie. And that actually borough a clownish touch to the movie, which brought it down somewhat in overall enjoyment.The acting was fair and people were doing good jobs with their given roles and characters. I didn't see a single familiar face in the movie, so it was refreshing for me. I enjoy watching new talents in movies, as they are not associated with other roles and characters yet.All in all, then "The Dead the Damned and the Darkness" was an adequate zombie movie, which is worthy enough of a place on the movie shelves of any zombie aficionado.

First of all, though I've seen hundreds of low budget horror films, there are folk out there much more familiar with today's low budget fear films, including many experts in zombie film and lore of the undead. Having said that I've seen and enjoyed the Dawn of the Dead remake, 28 Days Later, and yes even World War Z (never read the book), all big budget films when compared to the average independent film. I realize I'm in the minority here, but this film is enjoyable. On the technical side, just about a one man filmmaking army Rene Perez makes the most of his budget and resources, and can't be sure but looks to have done considerable planning prior to filming. He makes the most of his locations, thus he avoids the absurd number of close ups that low budget filmmakers rely on to hide the fact they have no location to speak of. I hate CGI gunfire, but here the filmmakers are wise in how it's rendered and filmed, even including the detail of discharged shells. The acting is no worse than the average teen slasher film, in fact the actors all possess interesting faces unlike the generic casting you often see in a lot of low budget horror. Also on the plus side is the camera-work, Perez has a very nice graphic sense and considering the low budget shows an ambitious eye. As for the zombies many are clearly wearing masks and stumble about in a not always convincing fashion, but hell I don't know how a zombie moves, last I checked they don't exist. The hero's combat suit is well designed and cool to look at. I applaud the filmmaker's decision to shoot the majority of the film in daylight, even big budget films have difficulty keeping night time scenes visible.Now I enjoyed the film itself because it has that certain charm that many low budget 80's action/horror films possessed. Now many would disagree, but I'm speaking about movies like the Italian Road Warrior ripoffs, David A. Prior (Deadly Prey) or Fred Olen Ray's (The Assault) work. I don't go into these films looking for perfectionism, if it's there great, but otherwise I just want some cool and/or fun stuff to watch. On a final note I applaud Perez for the manner in which he weaves the hope that God offers into the storyline, most take a very hostile view of the subject, the horror genre especially, so he went against the grain in this respect, hat's off.

Most zombie movie fans put up with a lot of bad ones,just to get that one good , bad-ass zombie flik reward.Sorry ,this isn't it.I see tons of bad zombie films ,and this one is not one of the worst i,ve seen in the past few years ,and sadly ,it also far from the best.The story ,for what its worth ,is hmmm.... , alright.A guy wants to take his cremated family's remains to the sea.Dump the ashes ,and make some sort of peace with himself.Well ,using some sort of high-tech armor (left over from Uli Bolle,s last film ? ),he puts it on ,looking like a dude from some 80,sci-fi film from Italy,and leaves for the coast.Along the way ,he of course ,finds others trying to survive.For starters ,the acting is just o.k. .This is a very low budget film,but is not shot on someones cell-phone.It does has some decent production work ,and the camera work isn't that bad.The shots are set up well ,and the F,X. (masks ,and gore) are done well enough.The "action" is weak ,and the sound-track sorta shoddy.It has the feel of a few of this type of zombie movies (Extinction:G.M.O. crons. ,The Darkness something ,)...too many "Zombie /survival ",low budget ,kinda boring things. Fine for a one-time ,watch,on a Sunday afternoon.I will also add that this is called Part 2 ,because of The Dead and the Dammed,a cool little "Western Zombie movie" made some years ago by the same writer/director,though its more in mention,as a actor explains a lot of un-answered questions towards the end of this movie,going back to the aforementioned film,and its zombie-virus story.Like I said ,some body rippin , a little blood splashin ,some bare boobs ,(2), some cool lookin zombie masks,some blood ,bullits ,and some boring B.S. . oh yeah ,...a happy ending too !.....gotta love these type of films ,cause like the living dead ,they just wont stay down...

The movie starts out with a man cremating the remains of his family. After bottling up the ashes, he puts on an outfit that looks like something out of Star Wars. Almost at once, he's pursued by zombies. At times I could tell the zombies were wearing rubber masks. It sounds funny, but it wasn't. It goes to show how low budget this was. Since the zombies are shown as being mostly decayed, I expected their clothes to be in very bad condition as well. However, there are a few splatters of blood here and there on the material. No rips or shreds in the clothing. The deaf girl's clothes were in worse condition than those of the zombies. I'm not sure how I could catch that but the wardrobe designer didn't. The lead character is trying to make his way to the ocean to toss his wife's ashes into it. Along the way, and in this movie, it seems longer than it is, he comes across a few other people who become part of his boring survival group. Seriously, if that's survival, tap me in the head with the nearest bullet so I don't get bored to death. There is some nudity. A zombie tears the shirt off a woman exposing her breasts. BTW, her boobs were the best actors in the entire movie. I gave this a 2-star rating. The storyline was boring, and the action was also boring and tedious. It's very. VERY low budget. I didn't enjoy it, and I can't recommend it. If you wanna watch a boring zombie storyline with characters you don't care about, SyFy has one on called Z Nation. On the bright side, at least it wasn't filmed through a camcorder. Personally, I think the lead character should've thrown this movie into the ocean when he threw in his wife's ashes.