Rent Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2018)

Undead blandness - Day of the Dead: Bloodline review by NP

For a film called ‘Day of the Dead: Bloodline’, this delivers what you would expect – nothing more, possibly slightly less. Rubber faced zombies stalk the city street set and deliver much theatrical bloodletting: cascades of the stuff shoot out toward the camera. Then we get to know the characters – sullen, pretty, some in love with each other, most just delivering deadpan military-isms: earnest recriminations and stoical retorts. Curiously, it’s a bit bland, the gore scenes committed perfunctorily, creepy moments and dark corners just the same as you will probably have seen before, rolled out with an alarming lack of tension.

In horror films such as this, heroic leads have to make illogical decisions. You could blame heightened emotions, the stress of the relentless apocalypse, or simply the need to place them in jeopardy. But they’re such a torpid bunch, you’re not really bothered about what happens to most of them.

Zoe, the main character, is well-meaning, pretty, brave, and is ultimately responsible for the death of hundreds. Most interesting is Max, the undead attempted rapist regularly taunted at close range by our heroes. My score for the film is 5 out of 10.

Barely alive - Day of the Dead: Bloodline review by AER

Whilst this better than the previous Day of the Dead film starring Mena Suvari and Ving Rhames, this sequel (?) is still cheap and in search of a better plot. Whilst you're left scratching your head wondering why one of the zombies seems to be able to talk and resist the urge to feed for half the running time (there is an explanation), you're also wondering how these characters have survived so long given how stupid they are. The lead doctor Zoe (Sophie Skelton) takes huge risks at the expense of her fellow refugees in the name of science. And when a rapist zombie obsessively tracks her to the base, she finds he has the antibodies to save people from turning into a rotter. But the amount of people she gets killed, there's virtually nobody left to save. It's kinda fun though and that's because you'll probably enjoy shouting at the TV at how moronic they all are and how crap the dialogue is. Jonathon Schaeh (THAT THING YOU DO) played the rapist zombie to good effect but this one is still UnDOA.