User Reviews

I sat and watched this with my wife this morning. I am a Zombie fan she isn't, so with some of the rubbish in this genre we did not hold out much hope! The positive thing is that we watched it to the end, with quite a few other zombie flicks we have not managed to do this. It is not a great movie but not terrible. The acting is fine, again not great, the storyline is very predictable. A goes into slot A, B into slot B. We knew everything that would happen from start to finish with no surprises whatsoever and we did not get anything wrong, Oh and we are not Mensa students! The camera work and settings were excellent for the budget and they used the location to the full. So is it worth watching? If there is nothing else on fine, We voted it a 5 out of 10, in reality we would have gave it 4.5 for the reasonable work they done. The reason we could not vote it higher was it was so predictable...

I've probably seen most zombie related movies which include all of Romero's work, 28 days/weeks and the less serious 'Shaun of the Dead' and 'Fido'. 'Dead Season' fits right around the middle simply because it doesn't add much to what's already been done. It feels like an extension to one of the other movies where you follow the characters after they finally get away from the main population.

The acting is obviously a little uneven because only the four main actors have real experience which always seems to be an issue with indie films. The secondary actors are noticeably less experienced but not enough to be a problem, they are really just scenery for the most part. The rest of the production is so well done that it's shame the story is so generic.

If you're a fan of all things zombie and need a new one to watch then I would recommend it because it's well done overall even with the flaws.

Dead Season (2012)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Better than average film starts off after a zombie apocalypse takes out most people. Survivors Elvis (Scott Peat) and Tweeter (Marissa Merrill) meet by chance and soon the two jump in a boat and head off to an island. Once there they find more survivors being led by a man (James C. Burns) who is up to something darker than zombies. DEAD SEASON suffers somewhat from its obvious low-budget but for the most part this was an entertaining film that managed to have some brains for it, which isn't the norm for this type of picture. Unlike most movies that turn up on DVD, this one here isn't about cheap gore and dumb action. Instead we're given a pretty interesting story that actually had me caring about the characters, their issues and the situation that they're in. I thought the entire story was pretty good and I enjoyed seeing what a group of survivors might be doing to try and continue their lives while everything around them is pretty much dead. A lot of credit must go to the performances, which I found to be very good. I especially liked Merrill who was great in her role and I hope to see more of her in the future. I also enjoyed Corsica Wilson who plays a daughter locked up in the village. The gore effects are pretty graphic for this type of picture as there are several damaging bites and heads being shot off. I think a higher budget would have allowed for some of the plot to be developed more but there's still no question that this film gets quite a bit done and the majority of it done very well. Fans of the genre should be entertained by this one.

This is a film about a couple of people (Elvis and Tweeter) who meet up during the devastation of a zombie outbreak. They come across a guy who has some supplies and keys for a boat. They leave the Florida mainland and head towards an island. When they get there they are taken by a group of survivors to a gated complex with others living there. They soon fit in and find that there is more going on here than they thought. It soon becomes a fight for survival, and not just against the zombies.

Surprisingly, Dan Hicks is in this film. You probably will not see him, but it is interesting to me that a noted horror veteran showed up for this endeavor. His appearance may be the best thing about the movie.

Aside from some sound issues, the film is pretty good. Not a life-changing experience, but a zombie film with more going on than just zombies. There is a back story (though it remains rather murky) and a "shocking" twist (that does not really make much sense). It is a thinker... sort of.

I rarely feel compelled to write reviews about movies as most are neither particularly good or particularly bad. However, on this occasion I cannot help but feel I need to warn the rest of you potential victims that this movie is a complete waste of space.

Directorship - OMG! Acting - Oh dear! Storyline - Hmmm!?!?! Effects/Action/Gore - Don't get me started! Camera work - Poor at best.

How anyone could have likened this to The Walking Dead series (of which I am an avid fan) needs a smack!

Honestly, go do some knitting with your grandma, you'll feel ultimately more satisfied.

Enough said.

For a low budget zombie movie, then "Dead Season" wasn't actually bad. It combined elements from both the Romero type zombie movies and the "28 Days Later" type zombie movies, and it worked out well enough. Initially, the movie is a bit halting in the beginning, but once they get to the island, the movie picks up and actually becomes rather interesting.

The story is about a zombie outbreak, duh!, that has left most of the world dead and hungry for flesh. Three survivors meet up by chance and decide to set sail for an island, where they find that other survivors are holding up.

Sure, the story is fairly average and 'generic' in sorts in means of a zombie movie, but "Dead Season" doesn't focus on the zombie outbreak or bloodshed, it is a character driven movie, and it actually pulls that off nice enough.

I will say that I could have wished for more zombies to appear in the movie. Being a zombie aficionado there just wasn't enough zombies in the movie for my liking. The zombies that was present, though, well they looked alright, good enough make-up, a small amount of gore and mayhem (again, something I could have used more of), and they also combined the slow, stumbling zombies from the Romero type movies, as well as the fast, agile, running type zombies from the "28 Days Later" type movies (and those familiar with my reviews, will know that I am not keen on these running zombies).

What impressed me the most about "Dead Season" was the soundtrack. They had really put together some great music for this movie. Again, it was heavily influenced by the music that was in "28 Days Later", but still, it worked out quite nicely. The music score really added a lot to the overall of the movie.

As for the acting, well I wasn't familiar with anyone in this movie, so that was a plus. No associations to other characters or movies that way, which I enjoy. People were doing good enough jobs with their characters and their given roles, but just don't get your hopes up for academy award winning performances though.

One thing that the movie had working against it, was that the mood and feeling of this being a cataclysmic event never really shone through on the screen. It seemed that people were fairly relaxed and laid back despite most of the world's population was dead and had returned as zombies. If they had managed to put in that panic sensation and the sensations of overwhelming dread and doom, then the movie had worked better and on a whole other level.

"Dead Season" surprised me, because I hadn't expected much from it, to be honest. And as a zombie aficionado, then I can warmly recommend this movie to zombie fans everywhere. It is not one of the best low budget zombie movies I have seen, but it was far from being amongst the worse.

In the last year I've seen around a dozen or so Zombie films & if was to compare this one to them it would probably land in 3rd place. In the beginning it was a little rough, it gave us a quick take on what the situation was for the lead character Elvis, all zombie films usually struggle in the beginning as to why & how he is almost the lone survivor so I can't fault it for that. As the film progressed it started to focus on the characters more than the zombie outbreak, it reminded me of the Walking Dead series on AMC. It was nice for a change to have some character development in a film like this. You will have to be a bit forgiving as to the cheap make-up & effects for the zombies as they were pretty underdone but the low budget didn't cripple it much at all. About an hour in is where this film started to pay off, giving us a dark turn of events that brings upon an urgency to act for the leads & the action starts to ramp up along with the zombie population. Some people might want to turn it off early but I promise you that if you hang in there it will deliver you a solid effort and a decent ending for all zombie genre fans alike. It wasn't a bad way to kill 90 minutes.

First of all, this movie has not yet been released. I looked it up and it comes out in July. It's currently June. Everyone who has reviewed it (myself included) probably acquired it via torrents. Whatever. I have no shame.

As for the movie, I absolutely loved it. Reading these other reviews, I really don't know what the heck people are expecting. It's a post-apocalyptic zombie movie, not The Godfather!

Are there zombies? Yes. Are there good kills? Yes. Is there action? Yes. The part I liked best overall, is it's not your average zombie horror gore-fest. What makes Dead Season a bit different is they actually go into more of the stories of characters, and the relationships that come up from having to live in this messed up society on the island. THAT was awesome.

The locations and shooting are beautiful, and the acting is really good. There's no big celebrities, but this isn't a huge studio movie. For that, I really like it. I kind of feel bad I got it for free!

All in all, if you want a solid independent zombie movie , this is one of the best I've seen in years.

This was a pleasant little surprise of a movie. It had some great blood and gore scenes along with a good story. It was a low budget film that actually delivers better than I thought it would. If 'Dawn Of The Dead' (remake) had a cheap no-frills little brother, this would be it. The story is a little similar but not the same (with the zombie outbreak and survivors trying to get to safety thing I mean). The acting wasn't that bad, actually it was pretty good (compared to some bigger budget films). The effects were good old-school style effects likened to the great 70's and 80's style slashers. It was entertaining and a good watch, so I give it a 7 out of 10.

This movie is one big nothing. I expected a little bit more, general idea was good, but everything is so, so poor. Acting is bad and unconvincing, there is no proper reaction to anything that is happening. And much isn't happening at all. Scenes are so boring, that I had to watch it with long pauses. I needed three days to complete this, and yes, I wanted to complete it, regardless how boring it was.

You cannot properly understand the lines, the scenes are just jumping from one to another, sometimes zombies are slow and sometimes they are fast, and not much things make sense in this movie...

I've seen around one hundred zombie films. Good ones, bad ones and really, really bad ones. And I truly recommend passing this one.

Another Zombie Movie.

I love zombie movies and the series The Walking Dead so when I see zombie movie I just have to watch it. I don't finish them all because some of them are just terrible and based on just blood and gore.

I Watched the movie with my wife and thought it was so bad, but we watched it all, we couldn't stop so it has to say something.

Most frustrating things were people doing things not logical and leaving weapons behind. Interesting take on the shortage of food but it does not make up for the bad acting and "special effects". Camera work wasn't bad so there is someone with a future that was involved in the movie.

Nothing special but be warned when you start U probably won't stop.

Acting not so great, story line not so great.

Great copy but VERY POOR zombie movie. I've tried a few "underground" low budget zombie flicks these past months but NONE were worth watching. Unless the movie's made by a true talented and recognized director I think it's worthless trying to find a good zombie story out there. Loss of time not of money cause it's free !! Try your luck with this one but i warned you ! Best zombie flick ever: "Dawn of the Dead" original and remake. Generally all Romero's zombie flicks. Both "28 days/weeks later" movies, TV series "The Walking dead", more recently the "Rec" movies, "Zombieland", "Shawn of the Dead", "I am Legend" and "Stake Land". Even the "Resident Evil" movies are kind of OK.

As for all these low budget zombie movies...NONE are worth a minute of watching.

After a zombie apocalypse, a man and a woman decide to flee the American mainland and sail to an island. When they arrive they find themselves being evaluated by a group of people already there on whether they should be allowed to stay or whether they should be killed. Since "Elvis" (Scott Peat) is a medic his services are in great need and so he and "Tweeter" (Marissa Miller) are allowed to stay. But they soon realize that there are a couple of big problems. First, a Dutch cruise liner has sunk near the shore and zombies are managing to make their way from it to the island. The other problem is a lack of food. At any rate, rather than give away the entire story I will just say that this is a standard zombie film. It is grim, with no humor to speak of. The acting is adequate. So too is the action and the gore. In short, it's not spectacular by any means but it is definitely worth a look for those who enjoy this genre.

"Dead season" was one of 6 movies from a Zombie-Collection. Most of them where just bad. When I started watching this movie as the last of the six (and a few month after the first) I was sure it will be boring and predictable. But I watched it till the end, what I didn't with some of the other 5. Acting was OK, most actors did a good job. The locations were used best possible. The story line is not overwhelming but OK. And there is a surprising turn or two. But that's it. The special effect, on the other hand, were a mess. Some zombies didn't look dead at all to me. There are people in the supermarket looking more scary. I've seen a lot of bad zombie stuff. In the end I have to say "Dead season" is worth 5 of 10 stars. If yo really need to see another zombie movie, why not picking this one for a rainy afternoon.

This was genuinely not that bad, the script wasn't too bad and the acting wasn't terrible either. It portrayed life in a land of zombies far better than many other zombie flicks have done, where tough decisions have to be made for the sake of survival. Picture the TV series LOST but with zombies instead of others and you might find some common ground with this film. I would genuinely give it a solid 6/10. My only major gripe was that these zombies kept "washing up" but had no bloating or anything to suggest that they have been in the water for days/weeks.

Would Recommend.

A lot of thought went into the script, and from the looks of it, a lot of love went into the production and performances of this way better than average zombie chiller. Suffice it to say that the story packs some real surprises, previously unexplored within the genre. The locations look sufficiently post-apocalyptic, and the humans appear to be honestly at the end of their proverbial rope. And that's a smart idea. Too many movies like this have a bunch of well-fed, good-looking actor armed to the teeth with seemingly endless supplies of ammo and enthusiasm. Dead Season does not disappoint. On the contrary, it serves up good scares, a good story and some good gore make for an nail-biting thought-provoking good time.

I don't want to be too harsh here, but it's so hard to hold back. First, I have to remember that: 1. There was a set budget for this film. 2. Indie directors. So here goes... As far as films go within the zombie genre, this was not the worst. It wasn't the best either. We're somewhere in the middle here. The acting, while not superb, wasn't all that bad. Story? Not so bad either. There were, as with most zombie films, some weak spots in the storyline and plot...but, I didn't sit down to watch this film expecting anything better. As with the majority of films we see in this genre, we get a demonstration of the best sides of humanity and the worst sides.

Typical catastrophic viral film with a typical ending in my opinion. There was an opportunity to this film to be so much more if not for the small budget it had. Is it worth seeing? Yes. Fans of the genre will definitely appreciate some of the points made in the film. I rate it a 7 out of 10 and I'm being generous since this was, after all, a low budget indie film.

For most of what counts as a zombie movie these days this gets a 6. As a movie I would give it about a 3. But I like zombie flicks! Usually most that I find on Netflix, Syfy or other streaming sites turn out to be pretty much garbage that I can't get much more than 10 minutes into. However Dead Season held my interest and offered a decent story, not completely horrible acting, and a plot that at least moved. It's a pretty scripted mix of most of the popular zombie takes you have seen. A little dawn of the dead, pretend the island at the end wasn't swarmed with zombies and the sequel had a lower budget! Then call them "Walkers", hmm. If you need a fresh fix this is not the worst place to look.

Dead Season works primarily because it looks and feels better than it really is...which is what keeps one watching. Kudos to the production designer, location scout, make-up/effects team, gaffer and the cinematographer for keeping this viewer's interest up in this combo apocalypse and zombie tale. Wherever they shot this, the landscape, structures, and particularly the camera angles, shot composition and eerie lighting lent credence to the narrative. Some decent gore and gross-out effects helped out as well.

I give it an 8 because of the visual effect of the movie which clearly had to make up for a pretty limited budget...and which succeeds in that regard. As low-budget zombie flicks go, that's actually saying quite a lot.

It's good if you aren't wanting a hero Could have been worse, or better. Personally, it would have been better with a female lead who was actually heroic rather than careless. It was as if she refused to believe that it is the deadliest situation the world has ever faced, getting other people killed with her thoughtlessness, from disregarding safety procedures to running, screaming, through gates not warning the guard who unlocks them that his friend running behind her is now a zombie. While she pretends to care about other people and hating the group leader for making cold, mean decisions, she lets someone take blame for her actions, and doesn't mourn the results of what she did. she repeatedly fails to care about other people herself. I suppose it's an interesting comparison about human nature, but with these kinds of movies I prefer a little more winning and less fail.