DVD Review: EATERS

EATERS-RISE OF THE DEAD

reviewer Harry Davenport
Rated: 18 (UK)
Release: 13th June 2011
Drector: Luca Boni, Marco Ristori
Cast: Rosella Elmi, Guglielmo Favilla , Elisa Ferretti

Eaters: Rise of the Dead is yet another straight to DVD zombie film that brings nothing new to the genre. It fails to entertain or even shock. The only thing in any way different is that this is Italian.

The first thing that appears on screen is “Uwe Boll Presents” and this can never be a good thing. Uwe Boll is the director who brought us Postal, Bloodrayne, and a plethora of other terrible terrible films. Thank God here that he is only a producer, for Eaters is certainly better than anything he has ever made. First time directors Luca Boni and Marco Ristori wrote to film makers asking for help, and to his credit, Boll was the only person to reply, but this was a film that shouldn’t have been made. The script is distinctly second hand, borrowing most obviously from Day of the Dead, being predominately set in a base with a Doctor experimenting on the dead.

The characters in the film are paper-thin; mad doctor, tough soldiers, evil Nazis. Despite setting up the film with news footage describing the world devastation with quotes from newsreaders such as “this morning the Pope shot himself in the head”, the world created is far from epic. The messy plot ties the characters together in what seems to be a very small world.

The film follows two men tasked by the Doctor to find some samples of both dead and alive zombies. Most of the film revolves around them musing about the fate of the world. This could be quite interesting but both characters are frustratingly boring. That said Alex Lucchesi and Guglielmo Favilla give OK performances.

One of the strangest things about the film is the choice of having the Nazis being lead by a dwarf with a Hitler moustache. It is crude and doesn’t make sense. He has Nazi memorabilia in his office but surely in their doctrine of perfection he would be considered a lesser person. It is an inclusion to shock and amuse and it does neither.

The film looks cheap except for the make up. The gore is actually quite revolting and realistic, but even this is devalued, for when a zombie is shot the digital blood looks amateur, as do all the moments where digital effects are used.

If you’re in the mood for a good zombie movie watch Day of the Dead. If you’re in the mood for a good Italian movie watch Rocco and His Brothers. If you’re in the mood for a good Uwe Boll movie… good luck finding one. Boll might not have directed this, but it is further proof that anything with his name on is truly awful.

Movie Rating: 1/5