Blockbuster Trash: Flight of the Living Dead

I know what you are thinking: why in God's name would anyone rent a film called this? You realize you are talking to the man who has seen both Satan's Slave and Satan's Baby Doll(both possible reviews in the future). Anyhow, is this film a comedy or a horror film? Obviously, it could be either one with the title. Unfortunately, it is a bit of both. Yeah, that's almost never good. Will this film break the trend through sheer stupidity? Find out in my review of...

Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane

The film begins by introducing us to a bunch of 'douchebags'...err, I mean the cast. We get a pair of young couples who will bother me to no end, a black golfer and his wife (clearly not Tiger Woods), a convict and his Air Marshall 'friend,' a con artist and several others. Why such a big cast? All the better to kill with zombies, my dear! Also on board in the cargo hold is a group of scientists and one woman in a body bag. She is one of the scientists' wife and is infected with a zombie virus born from malaria. Well, if SARS can do it, anything can.

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The Deus Ex Machina known as turbulence rears its ugly head and the zombie breaks loose from its Hazmat containment. The monster manages to sneak around the GIANT pathways built into the plane by the French Resistance. The reasoning is a joke, but those things are fucking huge! It manages to get a bunch of people as we are 'treated' to some humor and character interaction. I guess if the goal was to make you desire some zombie-related killings, then mission accomplished! The Tiger Woods guy and his wife are the only really likable characters, although the flight attendants are not without their own merit. Wait, I'm being too nice for a sentence or two. Back to the snark!

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The special effects in the movie are much more 'participation medal' special than 'wow, this is cool' special. The zombie make-up is alright, but they cover so much of it in blood to cover up any problems. In addition, a whole plot element is built around the convict escaping into the tubes of death and discovering the problem. Lots of people get killed and none of them are that good, despite what the film may think. You killed a guy with an umbrella and then popped out the front- interesting idea. In actual execution, it's merely adequate. If you cannot make me interested in your zombie kills, why are you here?

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This movie is like a slightly-bigger budget Troma film. It thinks that it is funny, scary and has good effects. None of those things are true. Setting a zombie film in a confined location is interesting. Unfortunately, the plane appears to be larger inside than the entire space station in Dracula 3000. Honestly, there are far worse films out there (i.e. Wild Zero, The Gardener). This film is merely adequate in most ways and sub par in others. Don't you expect something sillier or funnier with this movie's title? The fact that it underwhelms so much is just pathetic. Maybe they will have better luck in the sequel that they really, really want to make.

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What is better than one film? Five films. It would put most people in a Trance, but not me. Stay tuned...