Webseries Review:- CORPSE CONTROL

CORPSE CONTROL USA   5 episodes (15-20 mins per episode)

Creators: Dave Krause and Chris Ragozzino

"This is a dying industry...there's hardly any corpses on the street." - Ragz

"First we have a corpse running through Manhattan... now we have one running through Queens??!!" - Ragz

"Well, lets be real a corpse wont be the weirdest shit running through Queens." - Dave

CORPSE CONTROL is a webseries currently on YouTube that has recently been brought to my attention. Standing at five episodes with a sixth soon to come (delayed due to covid) which will conclude its first season before jumping straight into season two.

CORPSE CONTROL is set in New York. The city is recovering from a zombie virus that has plagued the world for the last twenty years, a vaccination was developed which has brought the human race back to relative normality and the remaining corpses are more of an inconvenience than a threat anymore. That is where Dave (Dave Krause) and Ragz (Chris Ragozzino) come in. Employed as zombie exterminators by Corpse Control it is their job to remove any corpses that accidentally wander into apartment blocks or generally cause a nuisance to the public. They neutralise the problem by knocking the ghouls out with a tranquilliser gun and transporting them back to HQ to dispose of. For these two friends it is not the most interesting of jobs all the time and they might not be the best at their jobs but after one task goes awry they stumble upon a major trigger that could turn the table again on the battle between humans and zombies.

This offbeat horror/comedy series is bags of fun and has a lot of good stuff going for it. It is completely relevant to the current world climate. I'm not sure if this was entirely intentional as this series has been a long time in the making according to it's creators but you have to admit their timing on this has been impeccable. Even though an actually real life pandemic (which was no where near as cool as the zompoc we all hoped for) did incur some complications they totally nailed it. This series is a labour of love and created on a tight budget with a very small cast and crew. They may be small in number but mighty in their performance and execution. They all look like they are having an absolute blast filming this and although sometimes there is the odd awkward scene that feels a bit off all the actors here are pretty solid. There is a varied range of characters from the beautiful to the bat shit crazy. All are familiar to the zombie genre for example; some are completely oblivious to the threat in front of them whilst others are more cautious but all are likeable and some are just plain hilarious. The script is heavily dialogue driven as we watch Dave and Ragz spend a lot of time talking about women and trying to score dates with their customers only to bumble through their jobs. Hilarity does prevail as this approach leads to awkward bedroom antics and an impromptu photo session when they are called into a modelling studio using an illegal "rental" corpse. 

Creators Krause and Ragozzino are both big Larry David fans and his influence is melded into CORPSE CONTROLs horror humour, dialogue driven situations and character arcs. They really wanted to shoot a horror series as in their words "it is super fun and you get a lot of lines delivered in a specific way to get them stuck in your head" and they are true to their word here as they have a great way of using well known lines like "go ahead punk... make my day" and still getting a laugh from it. 

The zombies in this are referred to as "corpses" rather than zombies but they are the slow, shuffling, moaning and groaning type and, after the dialogue, are a great comedy element. The first zombie we meet is trying to hide itself in a pile of cuddly toys which is kind of cute. Make up wise they look really good and very Romero-esque with a blue/green tinge to their skin. The really slow ones seem quite harmless but are not to be trusted. There is very little in the way of gore and violence but when needed they use some great practical FX techniques and there is a bit of blood here and there. There are a couple of transformation scenes which are pretty true to form. I find myself saying this in a lot of my reviews but this does need a lot more zombies, I'm hoping they are holding out on us and more will turn up as the series goes on. The zombies are well acted and in keeping with the old school zombie aesthetic. Transmission is past through bites or bodily fluids and reanimation can take several hours. It is understood here that the majority of the population have been vaccinated against the virus so I guess that your vaccination status could affect the time it takes to turn? Another question here could be; does a human change when it becomes a corpse as a result of being vaccinated and getting infected, is it the virus that is evolving or is it something completely unrelated that is causing the zombies to change?? I think this is a great twist to a show that is not meant to be serious. 

The soundtrack becomes its own set piece here with a really catchy theme that smacks of 70's horror with a distinct jazzy edge of an 80's cop show. It fits in really well and shows real dedication from the creators as they painstakingly went through hours of tracks to find the right one. The other incidentals and effects are also incredibly effective. The overall cinematography, sound recording and continuity is top quality here with no major glitches or sound quality issues. This on its own is a great accomplishment for a low budget production and again it shows the commitment the crew have and that they have really thought about every aspect of the process which is something I really appreciate.

 

When it came to location they stayed local and opted to shoot in and around New York City. Knowing the area well and having a few connections they were able to shoot out on the streets of New York and Manhattan. The apartment scenes were shot in Brooklyn and they even got to film in The Stand, a popular comedy venue in Union Square.

In conclusion CORPSE CONTROL is more aimed at a comedy audience than it is horror but fans of both will appreciate this. The adult humour will have you chuckling along almost throughout. It's self aware and does not take itself too seriously but never goes that over the top it becomes silly. I have seen quite a few YouTube budget zombie movies and shows in my time that have fallen completely flat, you end up laughing at the show rather than with it as it is just so badly done. Even if it has a promising story, the recording and sound quality is often poor and the acting appalling. With CORPSE CONTROL it is a different story. Everything has been carefully planned and thought out right down to the finer details in the brilliant and humourous set pieces. As I have already mentioned the recording, sound and visuals are as good as any movie and the script is funny and engaging. The last episode (ep.6) of season one will be an extended episode and will be out over the next week or so and filming for season two will start this summer. I can also tell you a little bit about the upcoming season two as I have been well informed that the zombies will be even "cooler" and some more names on the US comedy scene will be featured which is very exciting stuff. I have been well and truly impressed by this webseries and am keen to follow its progress and see where they take it so I score CORPSE CONTROL a solid 3.5 brains out of 5.

Check out all five of CORPSE CONTROLs episodes by visiting and subscribeing to their YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/c/corpsecontrol) and show your support by following them on FaceBook, Twitter (https://twitter.com/CorpseControl) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/corpse_control).