Review of Dead Air

Dead Air (I) (2009)
8/10
Low budget, yes. Well done, also yes.
16 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
If it weren't for the ending, I would have given this film a full 9. The movie starts almost like Pontypool. Same controversial radio host, same woman boss, same feeling of weirdness from people that are at the same time isolated and in the center of attention of their listeners.

The plot is about some middle eastern guys that plant a zombification virus in the major U. S. cities, so people just get really mad and start scratching at each other. Later on, the plot is revealed to be slightly more complex. I really liked the dialogue of Abir, although I may be a little biased there. At least I was glad to see a terrorist that is smart, idealistic and petty at the same time. It really gave dimensions to the character.

One reviewer said that the zombies were ridiculous. What I find ridiculous are the films where infected people start acting like dumbed down superheroes, ripping arms and biting through necks. We're just human, damn it, with flat teeth and trimmed fingernails. From that standpoint, the movie was refreshing. Yeah, the extras were not professional zombies, I get it. Maybe that's why they call movies like this low budget. Like all zombie movies, it features a way for infected people to not attack each other, which for me seems the thing most hard to believe.

Babylon 5's Patricia Tallman is still sexy, even at her age, but her role is supporting at best. That gets a little annoying when the entire movie has about six characters beside the zombies, and most of them secondary. Also the ending was really bad. The film was decent for a long time, clearly overcoming the financial shortcomings, but the last 10 minutes just ruined a lot of the buildup.

Bottom line: it really was painfully low budget, but at the same time refreshing and showed a decent effort from both production and acting teams. It is a must see for a horror fan. Personally, I would get some more funding and redo the last 15 minutes, because they felt like a plane crash near the destination runway.
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