By Geno McGahee
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has just unleashed Turner Clay’s zombie film DISASTER L.A.: THE LAST ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE BEGINS HERE. Zombie apocalypse is a popular subject in horror films. With films like WORLD WAR Z and THE WALKING DEAD TV series, the demand is there to see dead people walk around and rule the world. In Clay’s debut film, we visit this potential future for mankind and it turned out to be a mixed bag.
The setting for DISASTER L.A.: THE LAST ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE BEGINS HERE is outstanding. We are in the heart of L.A., when meteors begin hitting the city and it’s happening with regularity. John (Justin Ray) has been going through some tough times since his girlfriend left him for a jerk, but he’s trying to get over it with his pals and brother, Turner (Jerod Meagher) at a party. This is when the madness begins and it is met with confusion by some, fear others, and joy by the minority…being Turner.
John is his brother’s keeper and he begins to see the severity of this problem. The newscasters are predicting more meteor strikes and everything appears to be an L.A. problem. When the meteor dust begins infecting the people and bringing the dead to life, the writing is on the wall and John and his group of friends plan an escape.
It is a battle for survival. The best and worst are brought out of the living through this and the unfocused partier, Turner, becomes focused and leads the group. The plan is to get to the coast, but with the government’s evil plan to destroy the entire city and every living thing in it to solve the problem, the clock is ticking.
As the group runs from the zombies, members begin sacrificing their lives to save the rest. This was rather odd. “You run. I’m going to stay here and be lunch” was the theme of some of these characters. I know this is a zombie film and calling something unrealistic seems wrong, but there were moments when I scratched my head in disbelief! At one point, Turner, John, and his ex are on the run, and two zombies are running at them. Turner tells the duo that they’ll never make it and to run and he’ll keep the running zombies busy. I thought it would have made more sense to either fight them 3 to 2 or just keep moving.
The visuals in this film are very good. The day for night effect was used at times and I’m not a big fan of that, but they did do a lot of night shots to make up for it. The shots of the city burning were very good and the CGI was good. The execution of the production of this film is impressive. It just looks good.
DISASTER L.A.: THE LAST ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE BEGINS HERE plays out like a Romero flick, and you can see the influence throughout. If you did zombie films, this one should satisfy your cravings. The characters could have been developed a bit more and the decisions they made at times seemed odd, but in an imperfect zombie-filled world, anything goes.
I recommend DISASTER L.A.: THE LAST ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE BEGINS HERE. It won’t change the world but it’s a fun watch.
Rating: 6/10
Disaster L.A.: The Last Zombie Apocalypse Begins Here
Street Date: September 16, 2014
Order Due Date: August 19, 2014
Run Time: 83 Mins.
Pricing: BD $14.97 SRP/ DVD $9.97 SRP
BD Cat/UPC: 1000512438/ 883929431144
DVD/Cat/UPC: 1000512436/ 883929431137
