Back in the mid 1980’s a slew of cheap horror films were shot on VHS or 3/4 inch tape. Recently a company called Camp Motion Pictures decided to release some of the better, more campy films on DVD. I enjoyed those films because next to film those formats were the next best thing to the quality level of film. However today, there are new cameras with more advanced technology that gives video a look that is similar to that of film. Now I don’t want to go into details about the use of cameras and everything. But I have a thing against the use of shooting a film on camcorder or a camera that throws off the look of a digital camcorder. With the quality High Definition cameras and 24p cameras on the market. You would figure that the majority of filmmakers would use their budget, no matter how small to at least rent a 24p or HD camera for a weekend. However there are some filmmakers who choose to make ultra low budget horror films using what they have, and there are a select few people in this world who enjoy ultra low budget horror films such as this one. I’m not one of them. Granted that there is a small market for films such as this one, but in my opinion films that are shot with such poor quality as this one should be enjoyed among friends and family. I don’t think that these films do anything to help improve the horror genre.
Forest of the Dead is about a group of teenage kids who are going camping in the forest, Now there are two sets of campers of which enter the forest at different points in the film. In a nutshell there is some kind of zombie or ghost running around turning campers into flesh eating cannibalistic creatures as the box cover puts it. Its a simple plot, that does not need much explaining.
The script (if there was one) is kind of confusing, in the beginning we really don’t know what’s going on as far as who is killing and turning the campers into flesh eating zombies, however as the film starts to come together we slowly learn what’s going on. My gripe with the script is that Writer/Director Brian Singleton pretty much let the actors ad-lib most of the line rather than sticking to the scripts dialogue. This resulted in a lot of pointless swearing and slowed down the pace of the film. The story although unoriginal, was there, and it was written good, but was not executed to the best it could of been.
Whatever good acting this film had came and went, I’ll give credit to some of the actors as some of them were not half bad in certain scenes. However the reality of it is that the film is full of bad acting. I mean, yeah it’s a low budget horror flick, it’s expected. And yes this was pretty much the whole entire cast of this films first appearance in front of a camera. But what I saw on camera were the same things I saw when I was trying to make a movie with my friends the first year of college. They simply don’t care, and would rather do stupid shit in front of the camera that they found funny, but no one outside their circle will. Here’s the deal, when your friend is the director of the film, and you agree to be in it. Do your best. it’s not fair to a guy like Brian Singleton who does show signs of talent when your not doing your best to at least attempt to act and help him make a halfway decent film.
As far as the overall production value goes, Don’t expect much. I mean the movie was shot in the woods for the most part so what do you expect. The make-up effects where fun, they, by any means did not look real at all. But they were fun in that campy low budget way. We don’t get the full share of blood and guts right away in this film, but towards the end it becomes a blood bath.
There are two reason why I think this film is actually seeing the light of day on DVD from Elite. First is that the director Brian Singleton was featured in the documentary Horror Business while shooting this film, and because of the controversy it caused with a certain scene and characters that pokes fun at French-Canadian homosexuals at the
Fantasia International Film Festival. It’s not that a film like this can’t make it in the world of distribution as there are plenty of companies that would. I’m just surprised that Elite picked it up.
Overall, It’s clear that this is not my kind of movie. Although it’s a very low budget film, after seeing films by the likes of Alex’s Ferrari Broken or Christopher Allen Broadstone’s series of films. No one can ever tell give the excuse that they had no budget to make the film with. I’m not taking anything away from director Brian Singleton, as he does seem to show that he has the talent. I just think that with more time and better pre-production he could of make a better film. However as always there are fans of films such as this. And if your a fan of films distributed by the likes of Camp Motions Pictures or Brain Damage Films, then this one might be right up your ally.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
