Movie Review: Day of the Dead : Bloodline
Updated: May 27, 2019
‘A small group of military personnel and survivalists dwell in an underground bunker as they seek to find a cure in a world overrun by zombies.’
IMDb rating 3.7/10 Rotten Tomatoes 0%
So we have another remake of the ‘Dead’ series post-Romero and I decided to give it a watch. I've been a fan of them and a fan of zombie films in general. I've watched good ones and watched a bunch of bad ones in my time. From things like Wyrmwood to Zombieworld to the remake of Dawn of the Dead and things like World War Z and 28 Days Later. I almost passed on the film until someone at work actually mentioned it not that long ago.
Now most zombie films will talk about the origin of the zombie outbreak but this one skips it for the most part. The film gives essentially ‘Patient Zero’ but doesn't speak to the origin of the virus and even the origin part of the film is quite short and then it fast forwards right into the heart of the apocalypse a year or two later. The beginning lays the groundwork for the major plot points and circles back around much later for the idea of the end to the outbreak and a vaccine. It’s appears to be a pretty obvious plot point it wasn’t subtle but then again what zombie film is? The character is Max and he is having blood drawn regularly because of the amount of antibodies in his bloodstream which plays into the fact that he isn't completely dead and still has some form of intelligence to be able to track the woman he is essentially stalking. Which then they use to manipulate into a vaccine later on to save humanity.
I didn't think the film was absolutely terrible but there was one section of the film that I will have to call bullshit on roughly around the halfway mark. During the apocalypse a young girl is sick and they have to scavenge medical supplies back at the school where the stalkee went to school prior. Now Max has been stuck on the school since the outbreak and catches wind of his target and somehow manages to get past the military team by the front door and also manages to get past the military team watching the vehicles to get under their humvees and sneak into the Military bunker. BULLSHIT! I felt like I had to suspend disbelief in a sense more so than I do when I watch wrestling shows. Maybe the explanation hit the cutting room floor but it needed to be there it left such a gap and it was size of the Grand Canyon for crying out loud. I could have easily explained it with a scene or two that may have been a minute or two tops. Without it however, it just left me scratching my head.
Now this film didn’t get a U.S. theatrical release and that may be in part to the post-Romero era. Also could be due to the fact that this is the 2nd remake with the original being back in 1985 and the first remake back in 2008 with Mina Suvari and Ving Rhames (which did absolute brutal numbers in theatre) I am trying to think if I even saw that one. I will admit I did prefer the Dawn of the Dead remake with Ving in it. One reason for that and that is ZOMBIE BABY!
If you enjoy zombie movies you will probably watch it. If you are expecting Romero-esque things you will be disappointed. It is good from afar and far from good. If you have some time to kill give it a watch but I would put a lot of other films ahead of this one if given the choice.
1.5 Beards out of 5