Customer Reviews

Dead Creatures

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My wife summed it up like this: "It was unpredictable and realistic...it seemed like it could happen...it was so cerebral!"

She's right. This is a cool not-your-typical zombie flick. For one thing, our heroines aren't zombies. They have, apparently, contracted a disease that drives them to eat human flesh.

And eat human flesh, they do! This is one of the goriest movies I've seen in a long time... and done much more realistically than most zombie movies.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE NotLD and ALL ROMERO'S CHILDREN! This movie is just different... and worth your time.

The plot is basically this: Two different groups of women are hiding out, suffering with this disease that they contracted when they were bitten by other victims. The disease forces them to eat human flesh. Are they zombies? One of the actresses in the extras says that they are. I didn't think so. But they are, I suppose, THINKING zombies.

The actresses are great, btw.

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the video shop someone comes up with Dead Creatures. You'll get no synopsis from me, but lets say this slow burning slice of life at the coal face of zombiedom is pretty radical in that it doesnt rely on the well worn cliches we all know and love, but strikes out in a new direction.
A worthy addition to the 'not a normal horror film' genre.

I love when movies have commentary but a bad movie brings bad commentary. Maybe worth a rent but don't waste your money like I did.

Hmm, low budget, independently made British Zombie flick. Bleak and slow but strangely compelling, not unlike being sucked into a world of the undead. You come back to life watching the voice over extra on the DVD which is a blast, these guys are funny! It's good to know independents like Parkinson are out there doing this kind of stuff.

Dead creatures is a very different film, if you are expecting a american glossy shocker, then you will find it boring. If you are looking for something more gritty and slowly paced then it's worth a watch.

This is one of the best movies I've ever seen. The other reviewers would tell you that I'm crazy- And it's true that THIS IS NOT your typical forumulaic zombie movie - no. No sleek cool hero's or overly animated beasties. (Which in my book is a plus since the more realistic it is - the more scarier and more intellectually appealing.)

If you want something creative and fun that dares to take a zombie flick to a whole new arena then try this out. Women will especially love this film because it flips the typical misogyny of the horror genre on its ass.

This movie sux's it looks terrible and doesn't play in my dvd player. Also they got the director mixed up...it's suppose to be by Fangoria!!!

When faced with a disease which wastes the body while compelling the victim to eat human flesh, a group of afflicted women huddle together to survive. DEAD CREATURES provides viewers with an alternative to the usual Zombie fare, in that the "Zombies" appear more or less like normal people accept that they crave human flesh. Yep, they even talk...a lot. I personally don't care for talking Zombies as they are not as threatening or dare I say, "realistic". The horror element is diminished when Zombies babble. Despite the claims of the director, these are not really Zombies as they are NOT the undead, rather, they are living people with an odd disease which is transmitted by the bite of an infected person. As implied in the film, those afflicted will eventually die unless they are put down by their support group. These are not rage type Zombies, nor are they Romero Shamblers or Snyder Runners. Where the disease has been allowed to run its course, we do have a fair to good looking stage 3 Zombie, though they are too weak to hunt humans, (darn). In the special features the Director stated that he aimed this film at those who were tired of comedic horror, adding that he wished to provide an alternative to the Zombie film. On that count he succeeded, however, DEAD CREATURES is actually a rather ponderous, tedious film, though occasionally punctuated by some decent gore. This is basically a dialogue driven picture where the women spend most of their time sitting around their apartment talking and smoking pot. What kill scenes there are remain unconvincing and devoid of any style or slaughter appeal. The few gore scenes presented are well done, accept that what the women ate would not have fed a church mouse. The actors required some strident direction here, but alas such was not the case. Although originally slotted for a micro budget, DEAD CREATURES was made for a paltry $70,000.00, and unfortunately it shows. As I have stated before, what Zombie fans want most of all is CARNAGE. End of story. This ain't Shakespeare. Most fans don't care about social messages in these type of films, (unless they are artsy fartsy types). If you want that, then watch PONTYPOOL, (oops! I mean PONTYPOO). Why film makers overtly strive for sending us a social message in a Zombie film is beyond me. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear people. This film has a number of social messages, but I could care less to discuss them. The fact that our loved ones come after us when dead should be creepy enough. Competent direction should draw the viewer in, which would seriously add to the creep factor. Unfortunately, this rarely happens in the modern Horror film. I will give the Director credit for attempting something different while avoiding the dreaded horror comedy route. Spot on! I also enjoyed the gore that was presented, however, there is no escaping the fact that this is a boring movie with minimal Zombie chow time. I really wanted to like this film, however, this is a marginal outing at best. Recommended for the "Zombie" completest.

Several plain/plump looking women live together in an appartment. They talk a bit then go out, kill someone bring them home and butcher the body.

They're compelled to survive on human flesh. They don't even get it on with each other, or their prey.

And there's a sub-plot about some nut who captures creatures such as themselves and then tortures and kills them.

Very little else happens in this film. Unless the 'everydayness' of this horror is meant to make some point, it's rather boring.

... This isn't your typical zombie movie. This isn't a high budget movie. This isn't a gorefest.

I'll line up in this litany of isn'ts. This isn't a good movie. This is a horribly dull movie. I think the director would have us feel sympathy for the four fat women who do nothing all day but smoke pot. Well screw them, they aren't dead creatures, they are tedious boring wretches who should die but don't. They move from cockroach infested flat to cockroach infested flat. Oh the old kook of a man does nab one of them near the end, but he is as inanely pointless as the potheads. The only thing that remotely looks like a zombie is a wheelchair bound lump of flesh who says nothing but "geh" and drools, she's there in the first half of the movie and not there in the second half of the movie and it doesn't matter because nothing matters.

If I want realism I'll walk outside or go to the supermarket. A zombie movie and realism are two completely different concepts. Cross them and you get an abomination, like this movie.

The director actually did a nice job with I Zombie, which I'd recommend only for a few reasons. First, when the guy ethers his abandoned girlfriend for a midnight ride, that's some powerful stuff right there. Man I really felt for the kid, not because I've ever ethered a girl and took her for a ride, but because it's tough to see a man with a broken heart. Second, there's the scene where he rips his own dork off. I'm not making that up. And third, at the end of the movie he's a bloody heap of tissue lying on a bed. Other than those three things, I Zombie is also ennui on celluloid.

Dead Creatures gets 2 stars because any zombie movie should start at 2 stars. Maybe I'm just a misogynist. I felt nothing for the four fat women who did nothing all day but smoke pot, except for contempt, but that was only fleeting because how can you feel contempt for useless muppets?