Dead Rising: Watchtower (2015)

   

Associate Produced & Directed by: Zach Lipovsky

Produced & Written by: Tim Carter

Starring:

Jesse Metcalfe .... Chase Carter
Meghan Ory .... Crystal
Virginia Madsen .... Maggie
Keegan Connor Tracy .... Jordan
Aleks Paunovic .... Logan
Dennis Haysbert .... General Lyons
Gary Jones .... Norton
Carrie Genzel .... Susan
Rob Riggle .... Frank West


Release Dates:
Crackle: Mark 27, 2015; Edinburgh International Film Festival: June 26, 2015

 

 

Rating:

 

 

An ineffective vaccine fails to stop an epidemic which is turning people into zombies. The survivors organize themselves to escape from the living dead.

 

The film starts off with what happened afterwards with the main hero Chase Carter battling away the zombie's in which there's some decent special effects and fast paced moments. This also involves a zombie dressed as a clown or a police officer zombie too. This was a total attention grabber.

Next, the story takes place beforehand in which the setting looked pretty decent with Chase Carter and Jordan Blaire discussing as to what is going on while filming a situation on a quarantined area.
People are being vaccinated due to a zombie outbreak. The moments seemed drawn in as to what is going on there.
Some tense situations occur involving Jordan afterwards and has to be taken into quarantine in which this had fast action paced moments bringing on a ton of intense energy.
The zombie moments happen as there's someone lying on the ground and starts attacking and chewin on a victim. This should please the fans of this genre but isn't overly bloody or graphic. However, it causes a commotion on people running for their lives and so fourth. This showed decent timing on all of this.

Chase and Crystal have a heated argument while this is happening but try to escape with a woman sitting there acting like a basketcase by the name of Maggie which drew me in wondering if she is changing into a zombie or not. This left off a mysterious impression.


While the three of them speeding away alot of intensity is going on in which a zombie is grabbing onto one of them. A real attention grabber by wondering if they will survive this.
Also, while they are on the road another one jumps in front of them which looked totally intense. For sure made me wonder if they will get into an accident. This looked very well done and packed with action and suspense.

They try to hide out in stores and other places to prtect themselves. Yet when this happens it seems to drag a bit and lacking a bit of a storyline. Things seem to roll along a bit when there's the mild emotional moments with their conversations on trying to stick together. This looked pretty convincing while watching the moments unfold.

In many spots what's humoress is news reports on zombie outbreaks hosted by Susan and Frank in which they have heated arguments. Frank shows off a cocky attitude and not taking stuff seriously as well as being negative. This for sure offers some good dark comedy timing while watching the whole story with these segments. I had to chuckle a bit.

Besides the zombie invasion the people encounter evil warriors lead by Logan in which he's nasty to someone cornered by zombies offdering her a ride and couldn't get away with him speeding off a so fourth. It looked pretty intense when these zombies attack this vicitim.

Maggie spots her daughter but she's a zombie as she runs to her ready to hug her child. Right away I was thinking that this was a bad idea. This was well focused piece by piece to see as to what will happen next. This was a dark moment for sure. Yet not as intense as I hoped it would be.

Chase and Crystal get into action big time making weapong to do away with the living dead. This looked fairly well done with lots of graphic moments coming to life.
They also use these objects in later scenes. It involves an electric saw on a long object as well as them hand in hand with chainsaws springing in for the kill. To people who lik zombie's with action this is for you big time.

Logan manages to kidnap Crystal and holds her as hostage. During this she tries to fight back as much as she can which is one of the best moments in the story. Certainly looks tough and action packed by what she does.
Also she struggles against his other warriors when she manages to break free. Alot of this looked powerful and well focused.

Chase has a battle with Logan himself and more of the action kicks in greatly as the two of them look powerful while going at it. Logan is starting to change which combines into the horror apart from the action. Great camera takes between the two of them. Another terrific attention grabber.

Just when things seem to be back to normal and thinking the pandemic of the zombies have ended something horrifying happens which I won't give away. Yet, it reminded me on the ending on Return of the Living Dead. But this was done in a serious fashion.

Bottom line is that this flick was a bit slow as we've seen these types many times. Yet it makes it just above average when we spot warriors terrorising locals and so fourth. This also reminds me of covid days but yet this was done long before that has happened. Based off a video game. Also features video game effects for the credits and so fourth. Can be a fun flick to watch but if you want to see something a little more original and more entertaining you may want to skip this one.

The acting stands out in a fair fashion in which Jesse Metcalfe (Chase Carter) seemed to be on the ball with his energetic behavior. Does well stressing stuff as well as going into action. Does a nice job by rolling with the punches. Shows some fair characteristics.

Meghan Ory (Crystal) was perfectly sharp in her performance with her strong personality and getting to the point of stuff. Also knew on how to act powerful and tough when necessary. She was a right fit for this part and deserves good credit for this.

Virginia Madsen (Maggie) offered a good calm behavior along with acting like a basket case at first. Shows off a nice emotional attitude when she had to act this way. Seemed to show off her reactions to things quite nicely.

Aleks Paunovic (Logan) was a powerful force of nature indeed. Lived to play a lead villain in this one. Does well with his evil and nasty behavior. Plus shows off a nice violent rage too. He studied this part inside out big time. A worthy character actor.

Dennis Haysbert (General Lyons) does a fine job as a head lieutenant of his army. He was loud and clear with his commandments. Shows off a good alerted behavior. Offers a nice seriousness to all this.

Carrie Genzel (Susan) does well as a serious news reporter having a no nonsense attitude. She focused well on what she was talking about. Plus reacts well to someone else feeling irritated. Had a good calmness and being serious on stuff.

Rob Riggle (Frank West) who played the other news host was a natural ham as someone who doesn't take his work seriously with his arrogant sarcasm. He made me laugh a bit. Seemed to really bring out his unlikeable behavior just acting like a typical goofball.

Zombies are sliced and diced cut in half and so fourth.
Some bloodied bites.
The odd bloodshed.

Oleksa Lozowchuk was terrific composing the music for this piece. Offered alot of strong adventureous classical music with fast action violin and trombone playing. Also offered alot of drum beats and banging sounds. Concentrated well on each scene especially during the struggling moments and so fourth.

Frank West: You're basically fucked.