Oftentimes the experience of trying the sad selection Netflix offers under the Horror tag is less then rewarding to say the least. Fortunately for me - The Rezort was not one of those times, far from it. While a relatively low budget production, in my opinion what it lacks in grandeur it more than makes up for in an original plot and an innovating story. Personally, I have never seen such a take on the whole Zombie Apocalypse scenario therefore found The Rezort to be both refreshing and very entertaining.
More than a mere Zombie flick, this film is a human document. Unlike most other films of the sort the plot occurs well after the all too familiar plague of living dead biting people and turning them. It actually follows humanity's war against the undead and deals with the aftermath of the victory. Also unlike the scenarios often presented in such films - humanity has actually done quite well for itself in terms of survival, as "only" two billion people died and the plague has indeed been contained and all but exterminated. Moreover, the remaining zombies now inhabit a tourist attraction offering people a hunting safari experience shooting undead for their pleasure.
Indeed a human document, particularly human stupidity. The very existence of such a "rezort" is an affront to basic intelligence, showing just how dumb people could really be. Not just because the place was allowed to exist to begin with - but because it's shown as a prosperous business and people actually pay for it. Adding to that the fact that just like the joke shared via online dank memes there are indeed zombie rights activists (I kid you not) only stresses the implied social criticism, although not in the most obvious of ways.
The one problem I had with this film was certain aspects of the writing and direction. First of all, I do like it when the zombies are portrayed in a convincing manner, like possessing the ability to both walk and run (many films have them capable of only one of these basic motoric actions). However, also like most other films, zombies can't help but growl and be continuously noisy. So how come they still manage to literally sneak up on people? How could the director miss that? No explanation.
Also, I can't help but wonder what happened to all the cellphones, especially those coming with a basic flashlight option (i.e. all of them, every single type by every single manufacturer). I only wonder because during certain scenes the protagonists had to wonder around in total darkness. While I do realize the production needed darkness as an excuse to fake an implied fear factor - I do believe they could have taken the 5 seconds on screen to tell us an explanation (like "no cells allowed on the premises" due to any reason at all). That too would have been rather cheap, but at least acceptable.
And finally, of course, the all too familiar cheat of the car that suddenly won't start, because if it did the protagonists wouldn't have had to face certain death. It's not that the zombies attacked and made reaching the car impossible, or hung on to the doors and made the driver crash, or any other overused scenario. The car simply doesn't start, because. I can't help but be all the more frustrated on account of such screw-ups given how easily they could have been avoided.
Having said that, I still feel the Rezort was one of the better Zombie films of the past years. While not at all a Horror film and having only few impressive scenes, the story, the pace and the sort-of twist make the entire experience rewarding and entertaining. I would definitely recommend it to fans of the genre, as I honestly believe its good features far outnumber and outweigh any and all reasons to complain.
More than a mere Zombie flick, this film is a human document. Unlike most other films of the sort the plot occurs well after the all too familiar plague of living dead biting people and turning them. It actually follows humanity's war against the undead and deals with the aftermath of the victory. Also unlike the scenarios often presented in such films - humanity has actually done quite well for itself in terms of survival, as "only" two billion people died and the plague has indeed been contained and all but exterminated. Moreover, the remaining zombies now inhabit a tourist attraction offering people a hunting safari experience shooting undead for their pleasure.
Indeed a human document, particularly human stupidity. The very existence of such a "rezort" is an affront to basic intelligence, showing just how dumb people could really be. Not just because the place was allowed to exist to begin with - but because it's shown as a prosperous business and people actually pay for it. Adding to that the fact that just like the joke shared via online dank memes there are indeed zombie rights activists (I kid you not) only stresses the implied social criticism, although not in the most obvious of ways.
The one problem I had with this film was certain aspects of the writing and direction. First of all, I do like it when the zombies are portrayed in a convincing manner, like possessing the ability to both walk and run (many films have them capable of only one of these basic motoric actions). However, also like most other films, zombies can't help but growl and be continuously noisy. So how come they still manage to literally sneak up on people? How could the director miss that? No explanation.
Also, I can't help but wonder what happened to all the cellphones, especially those coming with a basic flashlight option (i.e. all of them, every single type by every single manufacturer). I only wonder because during certain scenes the protagonists had to wonder around in total darkness. While I do realize the production needed darkness as an excuse to fake an implied fear factor - I do believe they could have taken the 5 seconds on screen to tell us an explanation (like "no cells allowed on the premises" due to any reason at all). That too would have been rather cheap, but at least acceptable.
And finally, of course, the all too familiar cheat of the car that suddenly won't start, because if it did the protagonists wouldn't have had to face certain death. It's not that the zombies attacked and made reaching the car impossible, or hung on to the doors and made the driver crash, or any other overused scenario. The car simply doesn't start, because. I can't help but be all the more frustrated on account of such screw-ups given how easily they could have been avoided.
Having said that, I still feel the Rezort was one of the better Zombie films of the past years. While not at all a Horror film and having only few impressive scenes, the story, the pace and the sort-of twist make the entire experience rewarding and entertaining. I would definitely recommend it to fans of the genre, as I honestly believe its good features far outnumber and outweigh any and all reasons to complain.