Severed

release year: 2005
genre: horror
viewing setting: home DVD, 8/5/06

synopsis: Night of the Living Dead meets the world of logging, as flesh-eating zombies overrun a remote forested island.

impressions: Generally, it was okay, except for these things: 1) shaky camera work...why is this necessary? 2) funky change in direction around 1:05, as the movie ceases to be a survival-fleeing-for-safety effort and instead turns into a why-are-people-acting-so-weird kind of deal, and 3) completely hollow, ambiguous ending that offers no resolution for the audience. We also noticed quite a few examples of stupidity, including a single character being directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of almost all the protagonists in this movie. Oh, let's not forget the scene where guy #1 is being eaten by about six zombies, and guy #2 (who's free and clear) stops running and goes to help guy #1...and is quickly, mercilessly eaten as well. Why? This isn't heroism - it's stupidity. No one on this earth would act like that, especially given that guy #1 has repeatedly proven himself cowardly and useless. Whatever.

something this movie has that no other movie has: Tree sap that looks like blood, was genetically engineered, and turns people into flesh-eating zombies.

acting: It wasn't bad, but just like the last movie we saw the actors/actresses were limited by the script. Hmm, come to think of it, both movies also featured attacks with chainsaws. And stupid characters. And idiotic endings.

final word: The world of logging meets the world of the living dead. It had potential, started out strong, but got dumb.

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