Virus Undead (2008)

   

Directed by: Wolf Wolff &

Co-Produced & Written by: Wolf Jahnke

Starring:

Philipp Danne .... Robert Hansen
Birthe Wolter .... Marlene Vogt
Anne Breuer .... Vanessa Lux
Nikolas Jürgens .... Eugen Friedrich
.... Patrick Schubert
Ski .... Bollmann
Axel Strothmann .... Polizist Lehmann

Release Date: Shanghai International Film Festival: June, 2008
*Images courtesy at: www.outnow.ch

 

 

Rating:

 

A group of young friends party out near a farm area and are trapped by a virus that kills people and animals only to be revived as flesh eating infected beings as the whole town is slowly turning into this one by one.
The partying friends are trapped in their area by battling these infected people and have to fight for their lives to prevent from being bitten by others fighting even against their own that have turned after being bitten.

 

The beginning looks impressive with a camera shot on a wheel of a vehicle driving fast as well as having some blended scene's on news reports and news paper showings too adding a nice touch as to what we may expect in a horror film such as this one.
There's a nice setting with the group of friends driving along and having a conversation as things seem to look normal and still and suddenly a crow bangs into their windshield of their vehicle which is a perfect jumping moment and works every time for a film such as this one.
We also spot a good intense situation with a nasty bad ass named Bollman challenging against one of the friends as this looked nice and believeably intimidating with a goon against a younger and smaller person. Good spoken discussions between these two.
Things seem to flow well with the friends eating and hanging out near a house and partying along with the odd jumping moment on a crow falling and dying which adds some mysterious moments to the story here.
We also see alot of dysfunctional and intimidating situations revolving around Bollman and his buddies as things look extreme by what goes on with all of them as well there's a good shot on a mysterious monstrous force dragging one of his friends away in a field which looked spooky to watch.
There's also a mysterious moment when Eugen Friedrich seems to almost lose control and nearly takes his life as you wonder why he is about to do this. This scene was nicely put in to make you watch for more wondering as to what is going to happen next.
A nice shot on the friends spotting some creature that looked dead and them taking a closer look which makes you wonder if this beast will leap up and attack or not. Good effects are spotted on how creepy this dead beast looked like.
We also spot a moment with Bollman trespassing and trying to wreck someone's car and getting demanding as this looked perfectly intense to watch as well as seeing on what is happening to him which adds more perfect horror to the story here. Also a nice shot on his friend being caught on fire and their car exploding which is a perfect effect in that scene.
Alot of great classic horror moments with Bollman acting like a zombie by terrorising everyone in the home and their struggles against him with nice fast action shots on this showing every perfect intense moment that we spot here including him biting a chunk out of Patrick's arm as this doesn't look pleasant at all. Plus great moments on other people infected by the virus trying to crash through the home which seems to pay a tribute to Night of the Living Dead.
There's a perfect situation with Robert and Marlene going out to get help in the forestry area with a police officer there and a nice close up shot on him biting a female victims neck and shocked reactions on the two of them seeing this adding a nice dark shocking moment that worked perfectly into the plot here.
There's many perfect scene's with everyone struggling against the infected people with punching and kicking as the action is excellent to watch adding a ton of great dark horror throughout everything here. Things looked perfectly intense as well as spotting Patrick turning and struggling against Robert which there's a nice camera shot looking down on this adding more terrific excitement here.
Plus there's a great shot with Robert on a rooftop struggling against some crows as it looked a bit phony with the computerised effects but yet still looked suspenseful while struggling against Patrick which makes you watch closely wondering if he will fall or not. This situation almost seemed to pay off a tribute to Hitchcock's flick The Birds.
Bottom line is that this German flick had a thin plot and was a bit complicated to understand yet a good film regardless by what we see here as it looked like one of those retro grindhouse flicks by how it was shot and adding alot of great terror and effects throughout the whole film as you think to yourself what the hell is going on. I'd advise you to check it out if you enjoy films that involve zombie type infected people since this was looked pretty clever with the dark horror feel to it all.

The acting is at an even pace as the actors seemed to feel a bit uncomfortable speaking english without having a heavy accent. Lead actor Philipp Danne (Robert Hansen) pulled off his part well as the intelligent one who seemed to have a clean cut look and good charms to his personality. Also does well when he acts anxious at times or showing concerns too. Also gives off great energy when performing into battle by struggling against others just rolling in with the punches here. Shows good shocked expressions and reactions too in certain parts of the story as well.
Birthe Wolter (Marlene Vogt) seemed to pull off her role quite well expressing her feelings on things as well as having a good argumentive attitude. Plus does well with her struggling emotions and doing well getting excited when the terror happens around her too. She did her best by what she can do through all of this. She isn't one of the best performaners but not bad at all.
Nikolas Jürgens
(Eugen Friedrich) was the one who stood out the most throughout everyone here. He shows a good insecure type of behavior as well as acting perfectly negative. Showed perfect energy when he acted like he was losing his mond showing perfect insane expressions. Also does a good job speaking clearly towards others. He even does well acting excited and anxious with his intense anger too along with acting believeable when trying to pull himself together without changing which really came off well too.
(Patrick Schubert) was okay in his role as he shows off some interesting moments but nothing too special at the same time. Seemed to do okay when he acts anxious by trying to stop someone from vandalising his vehicle and trying to act calm about it all which seemed to look nautrally well done here. He was lacking energy after his arm was bitten as he was low on energy howling in pain and not getting into this too much. He seemed to do okay when he turns and knew on how to act vicious with his struggling energy.
Ski (Bollmann) was one of the best actors in this film showing a perfect dark and deep voice in his speaking which for sure adds to his character as a hulking type of goon in the flick and knew on how to come across as perfectly obnoxious too just making himself become believeably unpleasant within all that he does in his part of the role. He for sure studied this role and portrayed a perfect horror character especially when he acts violent and sabotaging a car as well as changing his personality when he gets infected and rolling with the punches big time by acting incredibly vicious too. He deserves a gold star for all of what he did. Way to go.
Axel Strothmann (Polizist Lehmann) seemed to be a bit of a ham in his role as an officer of the law as well as making his role a bit mysterious like too. He came across as some of those closed minded types and can do well offering some humoress moments when seeing him munching on a donut in a couple of scene's that he did showing a nice focus here. He knew on how to change that when he turns and acting perfectly canniballsitic in a certain part of the story whichhe offered a nice creepiness into his behavior.

A butt is briefly revealed after someone showers him to prevent from having an infected virus.

Many infected people are revealed which looked gruesome.
A chunk of someone's arm is bitten off.
A person's face is shot through with a gun and results splattering out.
A head is stabbed with a sharp gardening tool.

There's some nice light tapping piano music used in many parts of the film as well as the odd screeching sounds too. Plus there's great spooky hissing and windy sounds which suits into the feel of everything that is happening in the darkest moments. We hear the odd guitar playing as this brings some scene's to life in certain areas. Also we have the odd low humming sounds too which sounds pretty good all put together by Dominik Schultes and Max Würden.