“Disaster L.A.” actually seems to be going for something in its prologue and set up. It props itself up as a disaster film with zombies thrown in for good measure, and for the most part the big doomsday event is grim and creepy. Then the writers completely switch to auto drive unfolding a movie that’s just a shameless regurgitation of “Cloverfield.” The hero of our tale is having a party before said big event, his ex-girlfriend shows up with her new boyfriend, they bicker, she leaves, big event, and now boyfriend pledges to go across the city to find her as the military threatens nuclear strikes. There’s even the tragic brother dynamic like the aforementioned film. It’s sad considering this is from the director of “State of Emergency” which I actually loved.
After a massive meteor shower, character John awakens from a night of partying to discover the seemingly harmless event has caused a massive catastrophe in California. With the dust spreading from the explosion, John flees to find his brother and hole up in doors. But when he learns the dust is infecting people and the military plans to destroy the city, John flees with his remaining friends to find his ex-girlfriend and leave before dawn. It’s exactly “Cloverfield,” save for the found footage format. I think a disaster film with zombies really could have served us a wicked amalgam of genres, and about humanity fighting against the odds, but when the movie isn’t cribbing from “Cloverfield,” it dodges scares at every corner.
There’s also a shocking avoidance of swearing. It’s a nit pick, I admit, but one that distracted me from the tension repeatedly. Many of the elements that try to pass as ambiguity just feel like incomplete or half thought out script devices. Director Turner Clay also dodges zombie carnage left and right, cutting away at moments when zombies are either biting in to victims, or are chasing after them. It’s explained that people that breathed in the dust and vapors from the meteor explosion will get sick or turn in to the zombies, and yet only a few characters really seem to transform. There’s the hint that these characters should be wearing gas masks, but that’s never really explored, and there’s never a clear indication if the zombies eat flesh or are just rabid biting monsters.
And where did everyone in the city go? There seems to be five people on the street and a total of twenty zombies lurking around every corner? How does evacuation happen so fast and so neatly? Aside from “Cloverfield,” director Clay also takes from “Night of the Comet,” focusing the crux of the horror on massive meteor showers, and even rips off the zombie designs wholesale. To make matters worse, the script is atrocious and the performances don’t salvage the film, either. There’s a confrontation in a car as the characters flee a parking lot that’s so badly written and staged, I couldn’t help but laugh in sheer embarrassment. Director Turner Clay is a fine director capable of delivering really slick imagery and mounting incredible tension. “Disaster LA” presents brief glimmers of that talent, but in the end it’s another sub-par, forgettable zombie picture.