I don’t know why indie filmmakers are still under the delusion that referencing horror maestros in some form during your film is clever or cute. Granted, it worked to some effect in “Night of the Creeps,” and in a slight degree in “Final Destination,” but now every indie filmmaker who drudges up a zombie movie feels the need to reference George Romero or Tom Savini in some way. There is actually a character off-screen named Agent Savini. Come on, quit it. I’m surprised there wasn’t a Romero hospital by Fulci street and Nicotero Lane. Hey, that’s going in my screenplay! “Apocalypse of the Dead” basically combines “Assault on Precinct 13” with “Dawn of the Dead” and completely throws the shit in the fan.
It’s by no means a perfect zombie film, nor is it a masterpiece, but it definitely has some strong writing behind it as well as very gruesome zombie effects that keep the film’s menace threatening and creepy. The dynamic is almost the same as the Carpenter film as well. There’s a convict being transported who has to team with the survivors to fight the zombie hoarde, there’s a couple of on duty cops, a professor, and some cannon fodder for good measure. Not to mention a religious fanatic who is convinced the dead are the coming of judgment day and takes them out with sheer precision. The strongest performances are from Ken Foree and Kristina Klebe, both of whom garner interesting characters with a great dynamic. Foree is a tortured and soon to be retired special agent who is intent on going home and leaving his past behind him. While being transported, he meets Agent Milius, a lightweight who has to confront these monsters and deal with the onslaught of the dead.
Directors Milan Konjevic and Milan Todorovic direct “Apocalypse of the Dead” with competence and respectable tension. If you can get past the first twenty minutes comprised of shaky acting and badly dubbed Serbian actors delivering dialogue, the horror does inevitably pick up and provide some wicked zombie fodder as well as some respectable gore and splatter for the zombie geeks. “Apocalypse of the Dead” has a lot of potential to be one enormous zombie film, but sadly falls under the trappings of writers who seem to just give up mid-way. Most of the film is intended to be set at a local office where the group has to fend off the zombies, and then shifts in the end to a dock where the group learns about the walking dead. There we learn that they hibernate during the day, and there’s an apparent leader who signals the dead like the sand people in “Star Wars.”
There’s even the obligatory callback to “Dawn of the Dead” where Foree’s character Reyes is cornered in a room as the dead loom outside. “Apocalypse of the Dead” essentially establishes all it needs to establish in the first hour, and then switches to auto drive in the final ten minutes that involve nothing but gun fire and zombie splatter. It’s most definitely nothing superb, but in spite of the flaws, this Serbian zombie actioner has value, if only for Ken Foree’s focused performance. Ken Foree and Kristina Klebe are really the reason to watch “Apocalypse of the Dead,” as the pair’s performances are strong and almost too competent for a zombie film that loses track of its own premise by the climax. While it’s not a masterpiece, it’s worthy of a watch for open minded genre fans.