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Director: Keiji Inafune
Zombrex Dead Rising Sun is a brand new, awkwardly named film created by Keiji Inafune, creator of the Dead Rising video game series. It is being released via Xbox Live for free and is being delivered in increments over the next few weeks. Today marks the release of webisodes 1 through 3 on Xbox Live; there are 8 in total. Does Inafune's first foray into movies hit the target?
Let me start off by saying that I am a huge fan of anything that has to do with zombies. Yes, I do agree that as of late, the gaming industry has been dishing out more abuse on the zombie population then they rightfully deserve, but I personally can't seem to get enough of them. I don't know if it is the silly, unrealistic nature of their being, the comedic factor which they bring to the table or just the shear bliss of watching inexplicably helpless people get ripped apart and eaten by the slowest moving creatures on the planet, either way I find them extremely entertaining. That said, I must say that Zombrex Dead Rising Sun is quite possibly one of the worst zombie movies I have ever seen in my lifetime and I have only seen the first three webisodes. Thus far, the film is extremely cheesy, the voice acting is horrible, the acting is overly dramatic and the fight scenes are a laughable.
I will try and remain spoiler free from here on out, although to be honest there isn't much that can be spoiled as the first 3 webisodes are extremely predictable. The basic premise of the movie revolves around two brothers, one of which is stuck in a wheelchair (you know he is going to survive long), who find out that there is a zombie outbreak. They proceed to leave their safe home and venture out into the zombie infested town in order to make their way to the "numerous" reported safehouses, which they looked up on the internet. If your still with me, then you probably see exactly where this is going. They make their way to numerous safehouses, which all end up rejecting them for no apparent reason other than to keep them on the path to their ultimate demise. It is all fairly cliched but somewhat exceptible for a B/C level horror movie. The story expands from their but not by much. I won't spoil the whole story and instead will just say that if you've played Dead Rising, then you can see where Inafune is going with the movie.
The movie itself is filmed entirely in flashback sequences, wherein you experience the travels of the two brothers from the beginning of the outbreak and from later in the story. While flashback can be used to truly make a story stand out, in Zombrex: Dead Rising Sun's case, this is not the case. If anything, the flashback sequences serve to show what a hackneyed job the film really is; constantly fading to black and moving back and forth without proper pacing.The other technique of note in the film, is Inafune's decision to shoot majority of the film from a first person perspective. While it is an interesting filming method, ultimately its effect doesn't seem to be what Inafune intended. It never quite feels like something that is fully realized and instead falls somewhere between the immersive experience of films like Cloverfield or Quarantine and the horrible first person sequence in the Doom movie.
It is ashame that Inafune, so far, hasn't been able to truly capitalize on the true potential of the film and the techniques, which he implemented. Inafune is an extremely talented individual and his vision for what the film should be just doesn't seem to be coming through in its execution. There are another 5 webisodes to go in the Zombrex: Dead Rising Sun film and while I didn't really enjoy the first three, I will remain somewhat optimistic that Inafune can redeem himself in the later portions of the film.
Be sure to check out the release schedule below, so you too can experience Zombrex Dead Rising Sun in all its glory.
[embed:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6xbZ2NyITE&feature=player_embedded ]
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