Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (2015)

wyrmwood-road-of-the-deadHow would you handle waking up to an intruder in your home? In February 2015, Barry woke up to a problem, and the fact that someone had broke into his house, was the least of it.

Directing this 98 minute action/ horror is Kiah Roache-Turner.

Some of the cast is: Jay Gallagher as Barry, Bianca Bradey as Brooke, Leon Burchill as Benny, Keith Agius as Frank, Luke McKenzie as The Captain and Berynn Schwerdt as The Doc.

After waking up to a distressing call from his sister, Barry hears something downstairs and goes to check it out. What appeared to be a person raiding his refrigerator… turned out to be an undead… person raiding his refrigerator. Realizing the warning Barry got from his sister about getting out of town was real, Barry and his family hit the road to try and find some place safe. Unfortunately, some place safe will be harder to find than it seems and the threat is only growing.

I found an interesting Australian horror about zombies. Now, this indie (independent) film happens to be Roache-Turner’s directorial debut, and for a first go, Roache-Turner did a really good job. Yeah, it may have taken 3 1/2 years to make, but after watching it, it was worth the wait. Side note: When looking for this one it was originally titled “Wyrmwood”. Why the name change? No clue, maybe Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead sounded cooler? Actually… it kind of does.

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Writers Kiah Roache-Turner and Tristan Roache-Turner may have given us yet another zombie flick to add to the over-populated genre, but what they threw into it also makes this one stand out on it’s own away from the crowd. As most zombie flicks go, it’s usually a virus that “somehow” gets out of hand and before you know it, the human race is screwed. This one however, doesn’t worry about how it started, just that it did and yeah… the human race is still screwed. Kiah and Tristan throws in some cool and unexpected surprises that not only add some humor to the film but also some good twists to the story that give us a few things we haven’t seen before.

The playthrough had a really good pace and it held my attention the entire time. Between telling a few of the characters back stories and telling the overall story, there’s always something going on. Keep in mind it’s a zombie movie, nobody gets to sit and relax for too long. Also, Tim Nagle does some really good work with the cinematography and throws us into some killer scenes.

As for the special effects, I thought things looked really good for the most part. Lisa Cotterill’s work with the special effects makeup looked great. The only problem I had was the use of CGI for some of the blood work. I’ve yet to find a flick that CGI blood not only looks good but flows good with the scenes. Other than that, sets, costumes and especially the zombies looked good.

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I thought the cast did a good job and Gallagher’s character was a badass. Now, my favorite character had to be Benny. Burchill, who played Benny, did a great job at bringing some comedy to the death defying situations. As much as I liked Bradley’s character you don’t get a chance to see she her do a lot, but by the end of the flick she truly becomes a badass. So I’m hoping they do a sequel and give Bradley/her character more of a chance to shine/kickass.

Summary : I wasn't expecting much, but as luck would have it, I found an undead gem. So, if you get the chance and you think you might be in the mood for some zombie meets Mad Max with a hint of Night of the Comet... (that's not as rare of a mood as one would think by the way, I've already watched this one a few times) then grab it and give it a go. I will warn you though, this flick does have some gore to it, like any good zombie flick should.

It's rated UR (unrated) but has language and violence.


Rating


Average

3