- Directed by Peter Deak
- Written by Victor Csak, Krisztian Illes
- Stars Matt Devere, Luca Papp, Nikolett Barabas
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 59 Minutes
- Watch it: https://amzn.to/4l8JNFQ
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhiaVEqJgN8
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s a tale of survival in the apocalypse, with survivors struggling against the zombie infected. That sounds like a familiar formula, but they do a nice job with it here and they spice it up enough with some unique elements. We thought the middle drags a bit, but overall it’s an entertaining piece of work.
Spoilery Synopsis
We watch news reports about a new pandemic that spreads over the Earth very quickly; it turns people into raging, uncontrollable beasts. It soon turns into a full-blown zombie apocalypse. We watch as the news stations go off the air, one by one. We watch as a pilot calls his wife and kids, telling them to get out of the city. They go outside, and Abby, the little girl, watches as her mother and little brother are eaten. Then the two get back up and come for Abby. A man shoots them dead and offers to help little Abby. Credits roll.
Ten years pass, and the city is an overgrown wasteland of empty buildings. Abigail is still with Cassius, and they’re out in the woods hunting. They look like they’d done this a lot. That night, they find a scout, so the pack must be closing in on them. They get on their horses and move away from the zombie horde.
They run into a couple more “ferals” who are attacking a man, and Abigail shoots the man by accident. Cassius does a mercy killing on the guy as Abigail loots the man’s car. A bunch of guys in dune buggies soon show up to investigate. They all hold each other off at gunpoint until a thousand ferals come over the hills and attack. There’s a big battle as the two good guys and two others, a pregnant couple, make a quick escape. They are David and Megan.
The four go to an abandoned building to set up camp for the night. Cassius tells the newcomers that they’re on their own after tonight. David and Megan talk about “the colony,” and Abigail wonders if that’s a good place.
By morning, the ferals have arrived, and Abigail, on watch, has to deal with them. Abigail recognizes that they’re in the place where her father used to store his airplane. As they walk, we see that one of the largest members of the dune-buggy party has turned into a monster and is chasing them now. The group soon comes upon Abigail’s father’s airplane, intact, in a hangar, and David thinks he can get it running.
The horde attacks just as Abigail gets the plane started. She was eight when the apocalypse started, but somehow she knows how to fly. They do, in fact, take off, but then they just as quickly crash. We see that David’s got a wound on his leg, and he knows what’s coming, but no one else suspects.
We all stop for the night and get a crazy load of character exposition dumps. By morning, it becomes clear to Cassius that David’s been bitten. The foursome comes upon a farmhouse that’s occupied.
The man inside, Norton, allows them in after disarming them. He’s almost too friendly. They have electricity and a laptop, so Cassius looks at his old photos on a flash drive he carries. He knows about the colony but doesn’t want to join them; we soon see that he’s more than a little crazy– he thinks humanity deserves this punishment. He’s got something nefarious in mind, but David’s in the bathroom not looking his best, so what happens next, we don’t know.
Norton puts on a high-tech glove that calls the infected, and David reacts to it. So does the horde, elsewhere. Turns out, Norton’s gone full mad-scientist, and he has everyone drugged and tied up now. He’s also got his long-dead wife in a cage, and she’s not happy about it. She and not-yet-a-monster David fight. The group gets out, grabs their stuff, and on the way out, Megan’s water breaks.
The group steals Norton’s car and makes their way toward the colony, but the ferals are close behind. David buys the others some time, since he’s mostly a monster himself now, but he doesn’t last long.
Cassius, Abigail, and Megan make it to the colony, a collection of old barges and boats, and Megan gives birth. The people there are suspicious of the newcomers. George pretends to be happy when he talks to Cassius.
Abigail likes the new place, but Cassius wants to move on. The midwife tells Cassius that the baby’s going to be fine, but Megan is dying. Megan wants Cassius to take care of her new daughter the way he did Abigail.
In the morning, Norton looks at all the bodies outside. He uses his power glove to gather and control the ferals.
One of the local boys invites Abigail to their version of a dance club. Roderick explains to her about the boats’ self-destruct bombs and the emergency escape tunnel.
In the morning, Norton and the Ferals attack en masse, and they take the boat people by surprise. Abigail and Cassius help out as they can, but there are a lot of infected people. Cassius destroys Norton’s glove, and the ferals eat him.
On the way out, Abigail sees that one of the main Ferals is her own father. Everyone runs down and out through the “Plan B” tunnels. Roderick presses the button, and all the boats explode, taking most of the ferals with them.
Cassius fights against the Alpha zombie, and they’re both big, tough guys. Abigail hesitates but eventually shoots the baddie.
Cassius eventually leads the large group of survivors off to a safe island somewhere.
Brian’s Commentary
This looks like it was filmed at the same place as “Chernobyl Diaries” from 2012. I’d recognize those ruins anywhere. It starts off looking very low-budget, but the characters are good, the situations are believable, and overall, it was pretty entertaining. It did drag a bit in the middle, but overall, we liked it.
Kevin’s Commentary
The ruins worked well, even if they did look familiar. All the locations were good. I agree the middle could have been tightened up a little, but it was entertaining overall. The power glove was an interesting idea that worked for me. Young Luca Papp as Abby is a badass, as is Matt Devere as Cassius. They made a good team. All things considered, I give it a thumbs up.
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