“Zone of the Dead”
Day 3 of the 2025 31-Days of Horror.
Follow this link for more information.
On what is supposed to be an easy prisoner transport mission, Interpol agents Mortimer Reyes and Mina Milius soon realize that their only chance for escape from the zombie hordes that have overtaken the city, lies in allying with the dangerous, mysterious prisoner.
To be honest, what drew me to this was the fact that Ken Foree is the leading man. Since I enjoy pretty much anything he is in, regardless of quality, I was fully expecting this would be no different from many other low quality movies that use a big or popular actor. Overall, aside from some relatively minor annoyances, I became engaged in the story.
Zone of the Dead (aka Apocalypse of the Dead) is a Serbian horror film (with some influence from Italy and Spain). We’ve got our flawed hero, Agent Reyes, Foree, doing his thing as a stereotypical tough guy, widower, apparently has some sort of substance addiction since his wife’s death, and a consultant on a younger agent’s first mission. The agent in question: Agent Mina Milius, a delightfully talented Kristina Klebe, owning every scene she’s in as an Interpol agent on her first mission, and who is a little star struck by working with the legendary Reyes. Then we have our anti hero, The Prisoner, Emilio Rosso, whose character is essentially “Napoleon Wilson”, if you’re a fan of Assault on Precinct 13. There’s supposed to be some chemistry or sexual tension between him and Milius, but it didn’t work. No explanation as to who he was or why he was in prison or why Interpol was involved, beyond “that’s classified” or “no one of importance”. They simply did not develop this character nearly enough, or it was far to subtle and buried in convoluted subtext. I appreciate they were trying to make him mysterious, but they didn’t give quite enough for me to care. Then there’s Armageddon (Vukota Brajovic). Yes, that’s the character’s name, Armageddon. We’re introduced to him when the poison gas hits the church (?) or convent (?) where he is living and turns the nuns into zombies. Apparently, Armageddon believes he is the prophesized hero who will defeat the undead. Which he does with extreme prejudice… while referencing the bible.
I rather like the zombie mythology that they create in this. The idea that the Chernobyl incident is somehow connected to the zombie plague is intriguing to me. I’m uncertain what I think about the constant quotes and references to Dawn of the Dead, though I kind of get it… Ken Foree.
One major annoyance was the over use of shaky cam shots. This wasn’t a found footage film, so the shaky cam was almost entirely unnecessary. On the plus side, there was some well executed practical gore, for those of us who prefer that in our horror.
Anyway, I thought it was worth watching. I love it when films come up with new twists for the zombie genre, and even though plenty was derivative and cliche, enough original ideas that kept me watching.
