20140319: Horror Review--Infected

Infected

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2012, rated R, 94 minutes, action, horror, zombies.
2. IMDB: 2.9/10.0 from 756 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet...' and 12% liked it from 72 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.8/5.0 from 78,433 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Glenn Ciano.
6. Starring: Christy Romano as Kelly, Michael Madsen as Louis, William Forsythe as Dr. Dennehey, Tom DeNucci as Andrew, Johnny Cicco as Seth, Jeanine Kane as Angela, Tracey Sheldon as Hooker.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Louis and son Andrew attempt some bonding centered around deer hunting.  Dr. Dennehy is the local sawbones.  He's doing the same thing with his son Seth.


2. Things start to go to hell after one of Dennehey's patients (a friend's grandmother) bites him; the wound starts getting nasty.  Seth and Andrew bond over being embarrassed by their respective fathers, and over loving illegal firearms.


3. After granny goes missing, Louis, Dennehey, Andrew, and Kelly (the granddaughter) go looking for her.  The other youngsters get plowed, and Seth gets attacked by granny.


4. Things go downhill from there.


5. Will the authorities arrive and fix all this viral outbreak?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Terrible zombie film; two actors wasted.
2. One star of five.  Black hole for screenplay.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 5/10 Not so good.  There is too much fuzzy focus and failures with zooming.  Camera rotation I can always do without.  Zombie effects were on the poor side.


2. Sound: 3/10 The actors were usually miked OK, but not always.  The score/incidental sound varied between irrelevant to counterproductive.


3. Acting: 2/10 I've seen Michael Madsen give wonderful performances in several movies, but this was not one of them.  William Forsythe was a bit better (accounting for the two points).  The lesser players were just horrible.  Tracey Sheldon was pneumatic and decorative, but did not deliver lines well.


4. Screenplay: 0/10  Talking zombies?  Thinking zombies? A zombie who wins an argument with a normal healthy human being?  Zombies having telephone calls about uncashed checks and child custody?  ---  Horrible dialog.  Little internal logic.  A new Lyme disease that accounts for zombie behaviour?  I doubt it.