{"id":15444,"date":"2014-10-02T21:33:51","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T01:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=15444"},"modified":"2015-06-02T21:44:40","modified_gmt":"2015-06-03T01:44:40","slug":"disaster-l-a-the-last-zombie-apocalypse-begins-here-2014-blu-ray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/02\/disaster-l-a-the-last-zombie-apocalypse-begins-here-2014-blu-ray\/","title":{"rendered":"Disaster L.A.: The Last Zombie Apocalypse Begins Here (2014) [Blu-Ray]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Disaster-LA-Movie\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cDisaster L.A.\u201d 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\u2019s just a shameless regurgitation of \u201cCloverfield.\u201d 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\u2019s even the tragic brother dynamic like the aforementioned film. It\u2019s sad considering this is from the director of \u201cState of Emergency\u201d which I actually loved.<\/p>\n

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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\u2019s exactly \u201cCloverfield,\u201d 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\u2019t cribbing from \u201cCloverfield,\u201d it dodges scares at every corner.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a shocking avoidance of swearing. It\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s the hint that these characters should be wearing gas masks, but that\u2019s never really explored, and there\u2019s never a clear indication if the zombies eat flesh or are just rabid biting monsters.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cCloverfield,\u201d director Clay also takes from \u201cNight of the Comet,\u201d 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\u2019t salvage the film, either. There\u2019s a confrontation in a car as the characters flee a parking lot that\u2019s so badly written and staged, I couldn\u2019t help but laugh in sheer embarrassment. Director Turner Clay is a fine director capable of delivering really slick imagery and mounting incredible tension. \u201cDisaster LA\u201d presents brief glimmers of that talent, but in the end it\u2019s another sub-par, forgettable zombie picture.<\/p>\n