Cleaning out my Tivo, I run across Rise of the Zombies… a random flick I recorded on the Syfy Channel. I don’t normally watch Syfy, let alone record low-budget movies that air on the channel. Regardless, I thought I’d give it a shot.
A group of scientists form a refugee camp on Alcatraz Island and seek an undead solution. When the prison is overrun by zombies, which are washed ashore, what begins with a few boring minutes leads straight into mobs of the undead brain bashing inside the prison. Danny Trejo (as an alpha zombie hunter) loads Hemingway, Heather Hemmens and about 12 other survivors into a raft, leaving LeVar Burton, the Mad (Undead) Scientist with his test subjects to seek an antidote.
French Stewart has a humorous bit-part during the introduction as a Rise of the Planet of the Apes rip-off. It was nice to see LeVar Burton as a scientist without a visor, but family lineage always leads to a doomed outcome in undead movies. Rise of the Zombies is better than Zombie Apocalypse and feels like a psuedo sequel. Somehow, distribution company, The Asylum, seems to entice well-known actors in cheesy movies. It’s clear the budget was blown on talent and not on a legit screenwriter (or special effects).
If Zombie Apocalypse was the Battle of Los Angeles, then Rise of the Zombies is the City By the Bay’s version of Dawn of the Dead.
Strength: A few well-known actors.
Weakness: Pencil thin script and zero special effects.
WTF Moment: A just-born baby turning undead… then getting stomped to death!
Notable Quotes:
– “We gotta get off this island.”
– “Bottom line is: They’re here. We’re sitting here like… sitting ducks.”
Review: 3/5