A genetic breakthrough which can produce large trees at a quicker rate has an unfortunate side-effect..the sap, once entered into the human bloodstream, turns humans into flesh-eating zombies, whose bite produces the same effect.
Tyler(Paul Campbell)doesn't wish to follow in his Chairman father's footsteps, but is coerced into going to a logging site whose production has grown silent. Once there, Tyler finds that the workers, and environmentalist protesters, are raving zombies munching on mutilated bodies. Finding a logger, Luke(Michael Teigen), who saves his life, they make for a makeshift shack of temporary safety containing a small motley group of frightened survivors. Rita(Sarah Lind), the mastermind of the major protest against the logging company's cutting down trees, is one of the few who made it to shack, along with fellow protester Stacey(Leanne Adachi). Mac(Julian Christopher, a fatherly, trustworthy, wise, & heroic presence)is the foreman whose men were plagued by the zombie virus thanks to a horrifying chainsaw mishap, caused by a spiked tree(..planted by the protesters), which mixes the genetically enhanced sap into a worker's wounded shoulder. Carter(JR Bourne), is a wimpy, pathetic scientist, working for the company taking samples of the sap, testing it for possible dangers with the results, good or bad, sent back to the research center. Carter perhaps knows what is causing the zombie plague. Together, on foot, Tyler will lead the motley group to his truck hoping to escape with their lives intact. Rita, however, has plans to save her boyfriend, Greg(John Reardon)which separates them temporarily. Problems arise even when they make it to the truck, and the group find themselves, thanks to the board who forces Tyler's father to sign a decree for confinement, trapped in the camp with only a back road as a possible escape route. Things get even worse when those who somehow survive multiple zombie attacks, find themselves in the camp of another logging company, led by the massive, imposing Anderson(Patrick Gallagher)whose presence over the men offers just as much a threat to them as the bloodthirsty undead.
This zombie film is rife with stupid human behavior, particularly by the cowardly scientist Carter, played by JR Bourne as if he were Dr. Smith of LOST IN SPACE. He quivers like a little scared child, always cowering and shaking. He is the type who doesn't help others in need, despite the rescuing he receives(..like when Luke saves him from an attack only to be left by Carter to fend for himself). Tyler makes two really dumb decisions(..one, obviously because without making it there wouldn't be a movie, his leaving the truck as zombies come toward him, opting instead to flee into the forest, and a second, instead of leaving with Rita when escape is possible, decides to try and help Carter who was completely surrounded by zombies with no hope, it seems, of escaping a sinister fate)which will have you screaming at the screen. The film is shot in a frenzy, using grainy stock it seems, never keeping the camera still when the zombies make their appearances. Blood spurts in slow motion, but rarely is the true violence(..like our characters bludgeoning the zombies with weapons)ever shown on screen. The zombie virus works like in the 28 DAYS/WEEKS LATER with those infected convulsing not too long after being bit. They rampage their victims just as feverishly as in Zack Snyder's DAWN OF THE DEAD remake. Actually, this film is shot very similar to Snyder's film, giving those infected little time on screen, instead almost completely focusing on the characters and their plight. This film, despite how the zombie virus starts, isn't really any different than the films that have came before it. I do think many zombie fans will like it..many will be game for zombies in a forest, even if we rarely see true carnage(..there is some flesh-eating, but most of it is more implied than shown in depth). The cast, for the exception of Bourne, who I thought was dreadful, is actually pretty decent. I really thought Christopher, as the foreman who becomes the rock everyone leans on to stay alive, was especially good.
Tyler(Paul Campbell)doesn't wish to follow in his Chairman father's footsteps, but is coerced into going to a logging site whose production has grown silent. Once there, Tyler finds that the workers, and environmentalist protesters, are raving zombies munching on mutilated bodies. Finding a logger, Luke(Michael Teigen), who saves his life, they make for a makeshift shack of temporary safety containing a small motley group of frightened survivors. Rita(Sarah Lind), the mastermind of the major protest against the logging company's cutting down trees, is one of the few who made it to shack, along with fellow protester Stacey(Leanne Adachi). Mac(Julian Christopher, a fatherly, trustworthy, wise, & heroic presence)is the foreman whose men were plagued by the zombie virus thanks to a horrifying chainsaw mishap, caused by a spiked tree(..planted by the protesters), which mixes the genetically enhanced sap into a worker's wounded shoulder. Carter(JR Bourne), is a wimpy, pathetic scientist, working for the company taking samples of the sap, testing it for possible dangers with the results, good or bad, sent back to the research center. Carter perhaps knows what is causing the zombie plague. Together, on foot, Tyler will lead the motley group to his truck hoping to escape with their lives intact. Rita, however, has plans to save her boyfriend, Greg(John Reardon)which separates them temporarily. Problems arise even when they make it to the truck, and the group find themselves, thanks to the board who forces Tyler's father to sign a decree for confinement, trapped in the camp with only a back road as a possible escape route. Things get even worse when those who somehow survive multiple zombie attacks, find themselves in the camp of another logging company, led by the massive, imposing Anderson(Patrick Gallagher)whose presence over the men offers just as much a threat to them as the bloodthirsty undead.
This zombie film is rife with stupid human behavior, particularly by the cowardly scientist Carter, played by JR Bourne as if he were Dr. Smith of LOST IN SPACE. He quivers like a little scared child, always cowering and shaking. He is the type who doesn't help others in need, despite the rescuing he receives(..like when Luke saves him from an attack only to be left by Carter to fend for himself). Tyler makes two really dumb decisions(..one, obviously because without making it there wouldn't be a movie, his leaving the truck as zombies come toward him, opting instead to flee into the forest, and a second, instead of leaving with Rita when escape is possible, decides to try and help Carter who was completely surrounded by zombies with no hope, it seems, of escaping a sinister fate)which will have you screaming at the screen. The film is shot in a frenzy, using grainy stock it seems, never keeping the camera still when the zombies make their appearances. Blood spurts in slow motion, but rarely is the true violence(..like our characters bludgeoning the zombies with weapons)ever shown on screen. The zombie virus works like in the 28 DAYS/WEEKS LATER with those infected convulsing not too long after being bit. They rampage their victims just as feverishly as in Zack Snyder's DAWN OF THE DEAD remake. Actually, this film is shot very similar to Snyder's film, giving those infected little time on screen, instead almost completely focusing on the characters and their plight. This film, despite how the zombie virus starts, isn't really any different than the films that have came before it. I do think many zombie fans will like it..many will be game for zombies in a forest, even if we rarely see true carnage(..there is some flesh-eating, but most of it is more implied than shown in depth). The cast, for the exception of Bourne, who I thought was dreadful, is actually pretty decent. I really thought Christopher, as the foreman who becomes the rock everyone leans on to stay alive, was especially good.