World War Dead : Rise of the Fallen

The surviving elements of a documentary leads us into a found footage film about the horrors of war. A documentary team set out to make a film about one of the most famous battles of World War One, the battle of the Somme. By using the credibility and insight of a famous historian and the look of a stunning anchor, the director hopes to add to his Bafta win from the prior year. While filming however they stumble across a mysterious amulet and a whole heap of undead zombie soldiers.

I rarely say this at the start of reviews but here goes....Horror can be both a blessing and a curse. Take this film for instance, we have some great staples of the genre here. Scream queens in Wendy Glenn, gore as in zombies and found footage as in soon to be extinct but still just on trend. So all good there...but wait a second please. We also have the negatives, it is poorly written (surprised?) and the stink of in jokes and nods is annoying. The , slow pace at the start with all the false scares jars and will make a few scream out but after a point will make you scream at it! The acting is very fishy, it is after all lead by an actor from Eastenders playing a wide boy director. these are actually all forgivable in the horror genre scheme of things. These are all there in other staples and in truth live amongst the great works of the field. Where I become an irritated film watching person is after this...

When I came across the found footage sub genre in the 90s with Blair Witch I was never sold on it. Having been a film buff I was aware of the power of the word of mouth. For some films it created a deserved following, Star Wars is an example. Blair was a dud of the highest order. So when this faded away I was happy enough. As with anything it is cyclical and so it was to be reborn under the umbrella of 'Paranormal activity'. I hated these films, I hated them more than anything because they were simply money making ventures. I do understand the economics of the system and as such saw them as filling fodder. What irked me here was that the directors had the guts to make a zombie film with 'bite' (pardon the pun) and then mix it awkwardly with this found footage fodder. I know many will say that the slasher did the same and mixed genres with cross overs but the difference for me was at least, those had some underneath. Subtext, sex, sadistic sides that are deeper and more complex than this body of work has ever reached (yet).

I want to say that the film might be worth the few quids spent in Asda on it and it will also be the start of the director's bodies of work but it will not stand out nor shall it be remembered.