Dead Meat is set Leitrim county in Ireland where Helena (Marián Araújo) & her boyfriend Martin (David Ryan) are driving through the countryside when they hit a man in the middle of the road, the man dies but doesn't stay dead for long as he comes back as a flesh-eating zombie who takes a bite out of Martin's neck. Helena seeks help in a nearby cottage but also finds zombies there as Martin dies & comes back as a zombie too. As Helena desperately searches for help she meets local farmer Desmond (David Muyllart), they both decide to team up & work together to try & escape the zombie infected countryside...
This Irish production was written & directed by Conor McMahon & jumped on the bandwagon started by the likes of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Dawn of the Dead (2004), 28 Days Later... (2002) & Resident Evil (2002) all of which saw an upturn in the popularity of zombie films. Having said that Dead Meat probably owes more to the George A. Romero 'Dead' series of films, to be honest I have to say that while Dead Meat isn't the worst example of a zombie film it's hardly anything to get excited about. The script starts off like a straight Night of the Living Dead (1968) rip-off with a man & woman attacked by a zombie, the man is killed, the woman runs off for help & finds a farmhouse as the zombie menace increases & there's not that much more to it as Helena & Desmond spend the majority of the rest of the film wandering around the countryside fighting the odd zombie in order to get to an old fort which seems like an idea used by the filmmakers because of the location rather than any meaningful narrative reason. The so-called twist ending makes little sense, it's never clear why help wouldn't arrive in Leitrim for six to eight hours since Ireland really isn't that big & if there are flesh-eating zombies everywhere why would you just stop in the middle of the night, light a fire & just sit there? At under 80 minutes at least it's short & has a good pace about it but it's all rather forgettable with flat character's including one who has a horrible thick Irish accent which makes it virtually impossible to understand what he is saying.
The set-pieces are dull with a few boring zombie attacks & the gore is disappointing with a few decapitations, some impalement's, someones eye is sucked out with a vacuum cleaner & some blood splatter but nothing w haven't already seen before & the special effects are fairly poor with some terrible zombie make-up. McMahon clearly pays homage or rips-off other (better) films such as Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead (1978) as a zombie is killed with a screwdriver in the ear, Day of the Dead (1985) as a character has his arm chopped off after being bitten & the wound is burned shut, there are several gliding POV shots like those seen in The Evil Dead (1982) & when Helena nearly gets a pick-axe in the face you can't help but think of Lucio Fulci's zombie flick The City of the Living Dead (1980). This isn't scary, there's no tension or suspense & with the bare minimum of story (people walking around countryside for 80 minutes) there's not much here to recommend beyond one or two gore effects, a decent pace & a thankfully brief duration.
Filmed on location in County Leitrim in Ireland the film does at times look quite nice & fairly professional but at other times it screams cheap low budget shot on digital video camcorder eyesore. The acting is poor although none of the actors are given anything to work with & the character's are very one dimensional.
Dead Meat is alright, it passes the time & it has one or two reasonable moments but a complete lack of character's or story doesn't help, neither do the poor make-up effects & a seemingly random ending set inside a castle. Hard to recommend but I've seen worse.
This Irish production was written & directed by Conor McMahon & jumped on the bandwagon started by the likes of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Dawn of the Dead (2004), 28 Days Later... (2002) & Resident Evil (2002) all of which saw an upturn in the popularity of zombie films. Having said that Dead Meat probably owes more to the George A. Romero 'Dead' series of films, to be honest I have to say that while Dead Meat isn't the worst example of a zombie film it's hardly anything to get excited about. The script starts off like a straight Night of the Living Dead (1968) rip-off with a man & woman attacked by a zombie, the man is killed, the woman runs off for help & finds a farmhouse as the zombie menace increases & there's not that much more to it as Helena & Desmond spend the majority of the rest of the film wandering around the countryside fighting the odd zombie in order to get to an old fort which seems like an idea used by the filmmakers because of the location rather than any meaningful narrative reason. The so-called twist ending makes little sense, it's never clear why help wouldn't arrive in Leitrim for six to eight hours since Ireland really isn't that big & if there are flesh-eating zombies everywhere why would you just stop in the middle of the night, light a fire & just sit there? At under 80 minutes at least it's short & has a good pace about it but it's all rather forgettable with flat character's including one who has a horrible thick Irish accent which makes it virtually impossible to understand what he is saying.
The set-pieces are dull with a few boring zombie attacks & the gore is disappointing with a few decapitations, some impalement's, someones eye is sucked out with a vacuum cleaner & some blood splatter but nothing w haven't already seen before & the special effects are fairly poor with some terrible zombie make-up. McMahon clearly pays homage or rips-off other (better) films such as Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead (1978) as a zombie is killed with a screwdriver in the ear, Day of the Dead (1985) as a character has his arm chopped off after being bitten & the wound is burned shut, there are several gliding POV shots like those seen in The Evil Dead (1982) & when Helena nearly gets a pick-axe in the face you can't help but think of Lucio Fulci's zombie flick The City of the Living Dead (1980). This isn't scary, there's no tension or suspense & with the bare minimum of story (people walking around countryside for 80 minutes) there's not much here to recommend beyond one or two gore effects, a decent pace & a thankfully brief duration.
Filmed on location in County Leitrim in Ireland the film does at times look quite nice & fairly professional but at other times it screams cheap low budget shot on digital video camcorder eyesore. The acting is poor although none of the actors are given anything to work with & the character's are very one dimensional.
Dead Meat is alright, it passes the time & it has one or two reasonable moments but a complete lack of character's or story doesn't help, neither do the poor make-up effects & a seemingly random ending set inside a castle. Hard to recommend but I've seen worse.