Review : Deadhunter Sevillian Zombies, Julián Lara, 2003

DEADHUNTER SEVILLIAN ZOMBIES

Original Title : Deadhunter Sevillian Zombies

Directed by Julián Lara

With Beatriz Mateo, María Miñagorri, Julián Lara, Dan Liaño, José Manuel Gómez, Jesús Gallardo, David Ruz, José Pedro Gil...

Year : 2003

Country : Spain

Length : 76 min

Rating : 6.5 / 10

SYNOPSIS

The construction project on the subway system in the Spanish city of Sevilla had to be close more than 20 years ago. Many workers died and were buried alive for unknown reasons. But now the construction has begun and those poor victims are reanimated again as zombies, arising from the underground to invade the city and consume the citizens of Sevilla. As the death toll mounts and all hope appears lost, the last chance to save the city arrives in the form of a special operations group called the Deadhunters. If they can't stop the bloodbath, they'll certainly die trying. From opening scene till final fade, the Deadhunters will hunt the undead, sometimes with horrible consequences. When the zombies' hiding place is finally discovered, the Deadhunters will bravely cross that undead Rubicon and confront evil face to face.

REVIEW

Julián Lara is back behind the camera a year after his short "EVIL NIGHT" which got good reviews when released. And you don't change a team that wins, a great part of the cast of his first work come back and are implicated in "DEADHUNTER SEVILLAN ZOMBIES", the first ever long running film by the Spanish director.
For this new opus, basically planned as a second short, Julián Lara reiterates the formula he used in "EVIL NIGHT" assuring at the same time direction, scenario and production. If, like some New Zealander director, this Iberian director likes to appear in his own movies, here also he has one of the main parts, we can only wish him the same career as Mister Peter Jackson !

We quickly get into the subject with a quite direct opening sequence, where a young Chippendale dances in front of happy young ladies before getting savagely killed by one of them who transformed into a zombie. That's when the presentation of the Deadhunters intervenes, an anti-zombie commando in charge of cleaning the city of Seville...

"DEADHUNTER SEVILLAN ZOMBIES" is a real amateur movie, directed by a passionate man who delivers here a high rhythmic cocktail, oscillating between gore and comedy. Indeed, even the audience has the right to a good dose of real bloody massacre, Julián Lara doesn't hesitate in introducing some entertainment bits, like the scene where the one-legged old man fights with his canes against the "motherfucker zambies", of the one with a character beginning a "handkerchief" dance to escape the zombies...
This gore/ humour mix, as well as the very amateur aspect of the make-ups, of direction but also of the interpretation of the actors reminds of "BAD TASTE", a movie which is being referenced to by the director in a sequence in a video club where on of the Deadhunters, after hesitating with a film with Jena Jameson, finally chooses the cassette of the first movie by Peter Jackson!
Also, another good reference to George Romero's "DAWN OF THE DEAD", in particular in the opening scene and it radio announcement, and the one in the supermarket...
The most attentive viewers will also note the very fast cameo of Troma's boss, Lloyd Kaufman (he's in everything lately), who plays the part of a member of the audience at the cinema victim of a bloodthirsty zombie.

Besides its affirmed influences, "DEADHUNTER SEVILLAN ZOMBIES" still stays a zombie movie of its own, entertaining, even though little innovative, which sometime has too long sequences and which would have deserved a more important budget!
Julián Lara is one of those directors on which we'll keep a close eye on...

Note from Oh My Gore ! : 6.5 on 10

Published on 2005-09-06