Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Somewhat enjoyable B-grade zombie romp, January 1, 2006
Even though it has a nearly incomprehensible story and the acting is cookie cutter, All Souls Day is still a somewhat enjoyable B-grade zombie romp; as long as you're a fan of the genre. The story revolves around a teen couple (Marisa Ramirez and Eurotrip's Travis Wester) whose trip south of the border during the Day of the Dead takes a bloody turn when the flesh eating undead rise. There's much more to the story than that, but you'll be hard pressed to make sense of it all, so you may as well enjoy the campiness of All Souls Day as long as you don't expect much from it. The gore effects are about what you would expect from a low budget zombie romp, but they're not all bad, and there's some familiar faces abound as well in the cast, which also features Mulholland Drive's Laura Harring, David Keith, and genre stalwart Danny Trejo. All in all, All Souls Day is worth a look for zombie fans, and it's much, much better than the recently released Day of the Dead 2: Contagium (which by all means, should be avoided by everyone).
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Better than the most direct-to-dvd zombie flicks, March 6, 2008
All Souls Day: Dia de los Muertos is part of the wave of zombie movies flooding the direct-to-dvd (some even going as far as direct-to-cable). This particular zombie movie was written by mark A. Altman who also wrote the campy and very B-movie-like House of the Dead 2. A zombie flick which actually improved on Uwe Boll's own house of the Dead which is not really saying much. All Souls Day is Altman's second try at another zombie movie and while this second attempt wasn't as fun as his previous one it still manages to be a watchable and interesting zombie movie.
The movie is set in a dusty Mexican town that hides a dark secret from its past. A young couple (played by Marisa Ramirez and Travis Wester) happen upon what seems like an abandoned town. They soon come across a funeral procession and when they inadvertently interrupt the ritual all hell literally breaks loose. It doesn't help the two couple that the only person who seems to be real in town is the sheriff but whose own past ties in with the secret of the town. It was very good to see genre veteran David Keith in the role of the town sheriff. His limited time in the movie was pretty good. When the town's people (who by now have shown themselves to be zombies) begin to lay siege on the young couple in the town's only hotel the rest of the movie gradually shows more of what made this particular Mexican town a death trap for any passerby who happen to come across it on All Souls Day. Soon enough help comes in the form of the young couple's two friends who arrive in town only to get themselves stuck in the same dire situation the original couple find themselves in.
The resolution of the movie was handled well and it brought a nice supernatural origin and reason as to why the town's population has turned into flesh-eating zombies. The performances in the movie could be seen as being mixed. The more veteran performers like David Keith, Danny Trejo (as the town's manipulative patriarch) and Laura Herring perform their roles well without being too over-the-top. The actors playing the pair of young couples on the other hand go from very good to awful in the span of moments in some of the scenes. It's really this mixed bag in the cast's performance which keeps me from giving it that extra star to make all Souls Day a very good zombie instead of just being a good one.
The gore effects in the movie was pretty good in the small amount of sequences where the zombies end up doing what they do best once they get a hold of someone. While I was hoping for more of the grue in this particular zombie movie I wasn't too surprised why it didn't have more. Other than the pair of young couple there really wasn't much living people for these zombies to munch on. But for a low-budget zombie movie which had its premiere on the SciFi Channel All Souls Day has the look of a polished movie instead of one shot on someone's neighborhood with a digital camera.
All Souls Day: Dia de los Muertos is not a great zombie by any stretch of the imagination. This movie is instead just good enough to watch without wincing at how low-budget it is and at some of the hammier performances. I would definitely recommend it to be Netflixed for a slow night with nothing else to do but watch something.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
This re-animation did not work, June 2, 2007
I like Jeffrey combs. He was a great Herbert West in the reanimator films and when he gets creepy, he makes a film fun. I also love Ellie Cornell and have from the first time I saw her in Halloween 4. I saw Jeffrey and Ellie together and thought that this was a can't miss movie. The movie started out okay then Jeff and Ellie got killed in the first 5 minutes and a totally unsympathetic cast ensemble took over. The film did actually have a plot however, and there was a real reason why zombies were running around the town so as far as that goes, it had a step up on most zombie movies, but I just could not get into it. The actors were not very good and the characters they played were not too bright. Oh well, it was diverting for a while so it is not a total waste of time. Rent it though, don't buy it.
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