Review: Zombies: The Beginning (2007) Zombi: La creazione (original title)

Director: Bruno Mattei | 90 minutes | horror, action | Actors: Yvette Yzon, Alvin Anson, Paul Holme, James Gregory Paollelli, BB Johnson, Dyane Craystan, Gerhard Acao, Mike Vergel, Miguel Faustmann, Gene Zwahir, Ronny Boos, Sereno Cunial, Sven Stefaniksen, Tony Wells, Bon Vibar, Lili Schneider , Gary King Roberts, Darwin Valdez, Jim Gaines, Carlo De La Cruz, Anna Lin David, Nataniel Mercado, Ariel Castillo

‘Zombies: The Beginning’ (‘Zombi: La creazione’) is the sequel to ‘Island of the Living Dead’ (‘L’ísola dei morti viventie’) from 2006 by famous director Bruno Mattei. It is as well as his last film. This sequel seems to tie in directly with its predecessor when Dr. Sharon Dimaro is the sole survivor of the perils occurring in the previous film. During a meeting she encounters the necessary incomprehension and disbelief from various high lords. Then she is approached by one of them to go, accompanied by a group of soldiers, to a base on another island with which contact has been lost. At first she refuses, but after several nightmares she accepts the request. She travels with a group of soldiers to… wait a minute… doesn’t it seem a bit too familiar to the seasoned horror and film fan? Indeed, because the events that have occurred so far are virtually an exact copy of the scenes and events in James Cameron’s 1986 ‘Aliens’.

This approach is, as it becomes clear all too quickly, when the various characters and characters, with the exception of a few omitted persons, can be traced back to their counterparts and predecessors in ‘Aliens’. The events also follow those in Cameron’s film, with the difference that these are zombies instead of aliens. But otherwise it is designed almost identically: the introduction to the various characters, the double evil intentions of the ‘big shot’ of the ‘Corporation’, the experiments that have taken place on the base, the unexpectedly emerging zombies,

Very little original so all and therefore all too predictable. Soon, if not immediately, it becomes clear what and when will happen, which characters will die where, how that will happen as well as how the heroine in the story will fare in the fight against the zombies. All to be completed in advance and thus also undermining or nullifying any possible tension in advance. Nor is it all too pompous in terms of horror. Starting with when the various zombies make their appearance, slow-motion images are often used. The reason? Probably to make the various zombie performances last all the longer and thus make them all the nail-biting scarier, but the nature of the zombies’ performance quickly cancels out any possible scary level. There is little to none in the least convincing gore as the zombies make their victims, something that is repeatedly left to the imagination too. The zombies don’t look too terrifying themselves either. This was undoubtedly the intention, as they have apparently sharpened vampire teeth along the entire length of their teeth. But all in all they do not come across as scary and the slowed-down scenes in which various zombie heads growling and snarling in close-up do not change that too much either. The zombies are numerous and it still produces a few somewhat atmospheric images of hordes of stumbling zombies with some subsequent nice images such as bullets hitting into zombie bodies and zombie heads and zombies that are settled in other ways, but that is all. Bee. It is not a design that will warm the average zombie and horror enthusiast inside.

Little eye-catching acting by the cast members, and by their counterparts in the ‘Aliens’ film certainly done much more interesting and above all more convincing. Although, due to the high copy content of Mattei’s production and the obvious low-budget content of it, it will not seem particularly appealing in any case. In addition, the acting comes across as very wooden and for the viewers of the English-language dubbed version, this will not boost the quality of ‘Zombies: The Beginning’ too much. However, towards the end of the film, director Mattei has built in some unusual finds into his story, which in all the progressive exaggeration and absurdity (completely in ‘Aliens’ style, stomachs bursting out zombie babies are just a few examples of this). of the whole thing. Apart from that, the whole, not too convincing and low-quality approach on several fronts can already make you laugh. This makes ‘Zombies: The Beginning’, in addition to all the imperfections in the design, especially recommended for lovers of zombie and horror-crash films.

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