Film Review: WYRMWOOD: ROAD OF THE DEAD (2014)

 WYRMWOOD: ROAD OF THE DEAD (2014) Australia  1hr 38mins

Director: Kiah Roache-Turner

"This morning I shot my wife and child with a nail gun." - Barry

"This truck runs on zombies... no zombies, no truck." - Benny

"Never, EVER grab a mans balls in a fist fight. It shows low character" - The Captain

Family man Barry (Jay Gallagher) has not only had to eliminate his wife and child in a horrible way when a sudden zombie virus hits his town but he then has to find his sister, his only surviving relative. As Barry and his family try to escape the initial outbreak his sister, Brooke (Bianca Bradey) is taken by armed soldiers and forced into participating in experiments by a psychotic doctor in a mobile laboratory. The movie jumps between both stories as Barry teams up with fellow survivors Benny (Leon Burchill), Frank (Keith Agius) and Kelly (Cain Thompson) in an attempt to find Brooke and escape the outbreak. Along the way both Barry and Brooke make discoveries about the zombie virus but can they turn these discoveries to their advantage?

One of the main taglines on WYRMWOOD: ROAD OF THE DEAD is "MAD MAX meets DAWN OF THE DEAD" which does kind of ring true, well the MAD MAX bit does anyway. There are some great costume and vehicle designs that are reminiscent of the late 70's Aussie classic. WYRMWOOD: ROAD OF THE DEAD is a black horror/comedy. More horror than comedy this time with some awesome gore and greatly timed one liners entirely designed to be in as bad a taste as possible. 

I love the WYRMWOOD angle on the zombies and their origin is fantastically thought out and executed... so much so I'm just gonna dive in to the juicy bits straight away. Before the world went to shit Benny was out hunting/camping with his father and brother. That night they witness a meteor shower and the next day Benny awakes to find his brother has turned in to a flesh eating ghoul and has devoured his father. Physically they look like a regular zombie crossed with a deadite from the EVIL DEAD movies as they have that pronounced brow that sinks their eyes in more. They act as a rage infected person would but trapped in the body of a Romero zombie. Predominantly they are slow and shambling, hordeing is their forte and once they've got you surrounded you are done for. I did see some of them running after a vehicle early on in the infection but as the movie went on all you had to do was walk a bit quicker and you could outpace them. They are angry bastards and very vocal, if they get hold of you, you are pretty much screwed. As well as their white eyes and sunken appearance they emit a noxious green gas which Barry and the gang learn how to utilise when they discover that the meteor shower not only changed the human race it also rendered vital resources useless. Infection appears to be airborne at the start but only affects people of a certain blood type, however that does not mean everyone else is safe. The virus can then be transmitted by bites which will infect and turn you either way. The other twist to the zombies is Brooke... due to the experiments she endured which didn't turn her she discovers that she can control the zombies to a certain extent. Now this is pushing the boundaries a bit and they could be in danger of things getting too stupid here but they manage to reign it in enough to not blow it completely.

The action, zombie or otherwise, is almost constant. The CGI visuals at the start do look a bit dated already but your eyes tend to adjust and you don't notice as much as you go through the movie. There is a mix of practical FX (the zombies) and CGI (some action and blood) and a ton of great gore moments, some of which are actually a bit of a shock. Character wise there are a number of personalities that you route for almost immediately just be prepared to see most of them die horribly but hilariously! Benny (Burchill) is a dumb, loveable badass and there are a couple of others that are similar. Then you have the psycho doctor (Berynn Schwerdt) who is far from loveable but very entertaining and the Captain (Luke McKenzie) is just plain nuts! The two main characters Barry (Gallagher) and Brooke (Bradey) are a little one dimensional and wooden sometimes... definitely not as charismatic as others but still likeable enough.

The soundtrack is fantastic! It's loud, bold and incredibly effective, they try to shoehorn in as many genres as possible even squeezing in a blast of "Get Down Tonight" by KC And The Sunshine Band. The comedy is very Aussie which is never a bad thing but expect plenty of toilet humour, booze and wife beater vest tops.

WYRMWOOD: ROAD OF THE DEAD does not take itself seriously at all and just has fun with the genre. It has some great ideas and storylines for the zombies and there are plenty of them plus some glorious gore to enjoy so I score this 4 brains out of 5. It's a pretty good score so I wonder how the recent sequel WYRMWOOD: APOCALYPSE (2021) will measure up? 

WYRMWOOD: ROAD OF THE DEAD is available to buy or rent on Amazon Prime or on DVD or Blu Ray.