Film Review: NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD (2022)

 A NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD (2022) USA 1hr 20mins

Directors: Kenny Scott Guffey and Jake C. Young

"The deceased are not returning as they once were but are seeking out and consuming human flesh." President of the USA

"They're coming to get you Piper!!!" - Adam

In a world where the events documented by George A. Romero in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) were real and remembered by a handful of residents in rural Pennsylvania, culminates in a combination of vague memories and rumours that have come together over the years causing a divide in the community today of people that believe the zombie infection was real and those that think it was all a hoax. In a bid to prove to their viewers that there is some truth to the events, three podcasters head to Evans City to find the fated farmhouse where Barbara, Ben, Tom, Judy and the Cooper family took refuge from the ghouls and (spoiler alert) where they all perished. They hope to find real evidence of the phenomena that happened decades ago before it happens all over again... or are they already too late?

NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD (2022) seems to me to be a fan film made on a shoe string budget and it shows but it does have some positive things going for it. I like the way it is shot. It has a vintage older movie, slightly jerky thing going on with lots of different angles and long distance shots. I found this quite effective, though some shots lingered a little too long for me. The soundtrack is also kinda cool, it has that synthwave edge to it again pushing that early 70's feel. I liked that they went to the cemetery in Evans City where it all started and I was excited to see the farmhouse again. The practical effects were solid and effective with the zombie make up being a great blend of old school Romero style zombies and the more modern look we see today. NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD (2022) had a number of great ideas which, had they had a bigger budget would have worked so much better then it did in reality.

It starts off kinda kooky and fun with video clips of a broad section of society who either believe that what happened in 1968 was real or complete bullshit. Then we get introduced to our main characters. Adam (Mason Johnson), his girlfriend Piper (Brianna Phipps) and Adams friend Brady (Denny Kidd), these are our podcasters. Adam and Piper kind of believe that NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD actually happened, however Brady thinks it was all a hoax so they all decide to go to the farmhouse to prove Brady wrong. If they succeed he has to publicly apologise to them. For some reason they decide to bring Brady's ex-girlfriend Judy (McKenzie Clay) along for the ride. I have no idea why. Probably because she's the only one who's character name is linked to the original movie (??!!). Things go downhill quickly after we meet the main cast. The acting is truly awful. It's slow, painful and excruciatingly awkward, the characters are so one dimensional they are almost transparent. I did wonder how they managed to get themselves up and dressed in the morning let alone string a sentence together. With pretty much every line of dialogue I switched off halfway through, I was that disinterested in what they had to say. For that reason alone I could not care less what happened to any of them and certainly did not give a shit about the charade that was Brady and Judy's relationship. The whole plot became confused and badly contrived,  the worst thing being that the farmhouse was nothing like the original farmhouse at all. I have a vague recollection of one of the characters justifing this by saying something like "the original farmhouse had been knocked down and another one built in it's place" but don't quote me on that. So, this smaller, shittier farmhouse was built in it's place but the original basement is still there. Not only that but they also find amongst the destruction Karen Coopers diary in pristine condition and Bens shotgun. How do we know it is Bens shotgun? Well, it's obvious... whilst Ben was busy boarding up the farmhouse, calming down a hysterical Barbara and fighting hordes of ghouls he found time to crudely scratch his name onto said shotgun in case he ever lost it. Whilst this team of intrepid podcasters are discovering these artifacts and having recurring technical difficulties there are hints that history may be repeating itself as the house is visited by a strange, shuffling creature. The group mistake it for a drunk at first but when he comes back for a second time and bites Judy things take a more sinister turn as one by one the group are overcome by a strange virus.

One of the most disappointing factors about NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD (2022) is the total lack of zombies. If you are going to make a tribute to the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD you would at least try to include a good level of zombie action wouldn't you?? I think they forgot what they were doing as the total amount of screen time the zombies get is about 15 minutes and that is just such a shame. They look pretty cool especially on close ups with the white eyes, slightly more subtle skin tones than the original ghouls and of course their slow, undead shuffling gait. There is a fleeting glance of a zombie kind of early on  but then absolutely nothing for a good 35 minutes. After that you just see glances of the odd lone zombie shuffling about then it'll disappear again. They spend a bit more time on the characters turning which is quite detailed but for a movie based on a zombie movie that had hordes of zombies in it this effort is rather pathetic. I said the soundtrack was great and it is as long as you don't count the weird interlude by a moody Brady who looks quite punk but decides to show us his softer side by playing acoustic guitar and the closing credits theme tune which incorporates all that it is loathsome about every mainstream 90's pop punk band. As the movie progresses we are treated to all sorts of random scenes from Adam taking his top off to look under the bonnet of his car, Piper deciding the best thing to do in a time of crisis is to take a shower, strange video messages from the President about the dead coming back to life and the old crazy farmer dude who is by far the most confusing yet entertaining character in the whole thing. Speaking of confusing, if you hadn't been able to follow the plot well up to that point... you'll be pleased to know the ending makes things even more unclear and you are left wondering what the hell that was all about.

So with all of that in mind my closing thoughts on NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD (2022) are thus: They had some great ideas for this and I loved that they wanted to pay homage to such a wonderful classic zombie movie. I quite liked the way it was shot and the camera work. I also liked the practical effects and zombie make up although these aspects were few and far between. Unfortunately I cant look past the truly horrendous acting. Now, I have seen some badly acted indie Z movies in my time and due to other elements being great I can normally overlook this... but not in this instance. It needed way more zombies or for them to at least be more prominent and less of an afterthought. Again, I am a fan of the quieter type of zombie movie and don't mind if there are only one or two zombies but it needs to be thought through about how you are going to interact with these zombies and executed a lot better then this was. It is with all this in mind that I score NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD (2022) my lowest score of 1.5 brains out of 5. 

A NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD (2022) is out now on Blu-ray in the USA and Streaming Platforms worldwide from VIPCO and BayView Entertainment. If you think I am wrong and have been too harsh then please let me know in the comments. Also if you would like to check NIGHT OF THE UNDEAD (2022) out for yourself and form your own opinion of the movie then please check it out via these links.

Blu-ray: https://amzn.to/3xx9JEp

Amazon Prime Video (Rent and/or Buy) (UK): https://amzn.to/3Yo3Dld

Amazon Prime Video (Rent and/or Buy) (USA): https://amzn.to/3Yoy6Qa

Here is the trailer:

https://youtu.be/9HEogZ6Z_GI