Hold on to your bats folks, for is this yet another zombie flick that hits the screen? Will it swing wide or will it hit home? Let's have a look, shall we?
Black Summer is a zombie flick that picks up just after the outbreak of the epidemic. Interestingly enough, we won't see much of the relentless dead for some time, which is arguably a good thing. The unseen is scarier than theHold on to your bats folks, for is this yet another zombie flick that hits the screen? Will it swing wide or will it hit home? Let's have a look, shall we?
Black Summer is a zombie flick that picks up just after the outbreak of the epidemic. Interestingly enough, we won't see much of the relentless dead for some time, which is arguably a good thing. The unseen is scarier than the seen(and it saves on the makeup). The first two episodes introduces us to the potential cast. Potential, because some won't make it past those first episodes, which is another good thing I suppose. A zombie flick worth its grain should have a profound sense of vulnerability. Nobody is safe.. not even the leading cast members.
Two hits and it starts to looks good. And here is another good thing: some of the cast are actually interesting. Take Spears for instance. He is a close runner up for being my favorite. We don't know much about him, but he is introduced to us as a detainee of the military. But are these soldiers actually good? We never quite know what is the truth. Spears tells Rose lateron that they are just heavily armed looters, forcing her to make a tough choice with little to go on. He remains ambiguous, saving Rose from a zombie while he could have left her to die, but prepared to leave other people behind.. or so he says. And at some point he even gave me a yes reaction.
Would you shoot a kid?, asks Rose.
Yes, Spears replies, aiming his gun at one.
Do it, I thought. Let me see you do it!
Of course he doesn't. Kids in are invulnerable. Like dogs. Which makes you wonder why they put them in, except perhaps for the trailer. It feels that cheap. Oh right, a bunch of kids turn out to be nasty, but you'll know they won't get hurt, no matter what. I bet a nuking them from orbit won't kill them.
And here is that thing: Black Summer is seriously hamstrung. It develops ideas(or actually: steals them from others) and then completely undoes them.
Possibly the best moment is where five desperate people are chased by two zombies into a diner. At odds with eachother and without any proper weapons they have to work together. Killing two zombies with five people must be easy, right? Yes, I know: you will do it, cause you played the game. But in reality trying to kill someone with a cooking pan is hard, let alone a screaming bloody corpse that flails at you.
And even though the conversations are at times awkward this episode it actually okay.
But these moments are rare as everything is marred by ham-fisted writing. Dialogs suffer especially. You see the actors try to do their best and the guy in the diner trying to persuade the others to throw the Korean lady to the zombies gives arguably the best delivery. And at some point there is even an attempt at a Tarentino like conversation. But that is what it is: an attempt.
Situations often feel awkward. There is a whole episode where one mysterious car chases a group in their car to the point of finally destroying both. The point? Stealing fuel is suggested, but how is that going to work if your car is destroyed? It is like someone thought: let's take this one from Duel. Why? Cause it is Matheson, man. Who? Matheson, the guy who invented zombies! He wrote the script for that movie.
The whole school episode is Children of the Corn redone! Redone poorly. Someone must have gone through the works of King, Matheson and others and turned them into a poor dervatives.
It is hubris.
I liked the few moments, but to be honest, I barely hung on. The creators of these series should take stock of their strenghts and weaknesses. Writing isn't their strong suit, so don't try to pull of a Tarentino. Don't steal from others. Don't make people nasty unless there is a reason to. Movies like Saw and the Purge are nonsense, but can offer a twist. Don't make people do stupid things, like banging on a drum when noise attracts zombies. Be aware that if you give a group of people weapons, that not everyone knows how to handle them. Play on that. Make people worried about their car running out of gas. It is a simple thing, really. And if you grab a car, what car will it be? The big guzzler that can take six, half a ton and go cross-country, or the nimble economical two seater with a suitcase sized booth that can get you far?
That sort of thing.
Seems easy enough. It probably isn't. But then you want to make another zombie flick in a world saturated with zombie flicks.
Merit… Expand
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