20140405: Horror Review--Germ Z

Germ Z

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2013, NR, 84 minutes, horror.
2. IMDB: 3.6/10.0 from 382 audience ratings.  Estimated budget, 500,000 USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No reviews yet...' and 0% liked it from 13 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 2.5/5.0 from 1,025 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: J. T. Boone, John Craddock.  Written by J. T. Boone.
6. Starring: Marguerite Sundberg as Brooke, Michael Flores as Max, Mark Chiappione as Stu, Beth Pratt as Karen, Zoe Miller as Steph, Bernard Setaro Clark as Davidson.


2. Setup and Plot
1. A meteor crashes into a satellite, which falls to Earth.  It releases a germ which causes cannibalism in its victims, including military responders and locals alike.


2. Parts of the satellite crash in the countryside in western New York.  Local firemen investigate, and find gooey stuff on satellite pieces.


3. About 25 minutes in, the first zombie appears.  Sigh.  There are lots of zombies who meet their ends from shotgun blasts at close range.


4. Will the outbreak be contained?  Will any of the early characters survive?  Will any explanation be given other than 'stuff happens?'


3. Conclusions
1. The 500,000 USD budget was not money well-spent.  I would only watch this again if I were paid a considerable amount of money.
2. One line summary: Space borne bacteria yield ultra-fast zombies.
3. One star of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 5/10 Occasional exposure mistakes, too many doses of shaky camera, way too much of the idiot biking in the woods while listening to her MP3 player.  Blood effects range from poor to terrible.  A woman barfs inside the deputy's cruiser, mostly onto the inside of the windshield.  In one shot it's yellow; in the next it's blue, but still yellow on her mouth.  The end credits were badly done.


2. Sound: 4/10 I could hear the dialog; this was a mixed blessing.  The music was very amateurish.  The plus 4 was mostly for the song during the end credits.


3. Acting: 0/10 Marguerite Sundberg, Michael Flores, and Mark Chiappione were irritating on the one hand, not interesting on the other hand. The actors who played the military were the worst.


4. Screenplay: 0/10 Close to the worst example of unrelenting bad dialog I've seen in the last year.  None of the characters were worth caring about.  The involvement of the military was of some importance at the beginning, then was dropped.  The ending was not much of an ending.