I was promised and delivered a private screener for a film called “ZombieCON Vol. 1”, which follows cosplayers inadvertently starting the zombie apocalypse through unconventional and having to follow the topical tale of survival. From the first look alone, it had mockbuster glazed all over it and it did its job of piquing my curiosity.
Consider my curiosity met; not great but intriguing enough to where I might want more.
Kyle Valle brings sheer, unabashed DIY craftsmen brandishing energy to his devices, determined not to overstep whatever boundaries he sets himself in, but still coked up on enough adrenaline and zest to power twenty-seven city blocks. His understanding and cautious affirmation of his own limitations as a director doesn’t brush aside the choppiness that comes with a low-budget outing but the control he exhibits is one of refined practicality.
I’ve grown an affinity towards small-scale production designs the older I’ve gotten because depending on the project and the creative behind it, it’s a sign to help think outside the box and get more creative with the use of environments. Can’t say the production design here utilized every setting to maximize the potential of this story but the efforts to make this world feel lived in were very much appreciated; the cinematography is giddily lo-fi from the first frame to the last, making use of every distance metric, aperture setting and zoom-in among other features to best accumulate for the atmosphere and environment they helped create and while the editing has some itchy trigger fingers in regards to placement and timing, it mostly compliments the found footage stylings for the imagery to a fault.
And that carries over to the otherwise loose pacing, taking the manageable 110 minute runtime and placing such a lull over the proceedings that certain events drag on.
Even with the costuming supposed to look second-rate and pedestrian on purpose, it also wears its passion on its sleeve like a fine-tooth comb, dedicated work on the makeup is remarkable and the few brief glimpses of special effects we see are so Cartoon Network-coded in the cheesiest of fashions. That being said, while the tone is just hokey enough to juggle the supernatural survival tale and personal drama on a tightrope, tension is clearly an afterthought as I never once believed the group was in any danger, Rob Valle’s atmospheric composition is par of the course for the genre, sound design could be better balanced and as much as I really wanted to get into the action sequences, they’re the only parts where I struggled to make sense of what was happening.
Spending all day gushing over the production is tickling my brain, but I can’t go without praising the cast because they’re surprisingly authentic. Characters they’re stuck with aren’t the most refined and the dialogue is pretty residual and basic but the chemistry they all share coalesces neatly with the storyline and does improve their performances the closer we get to the end; Erin Áine gave out the best performance by far and debutant Manny Luke, being stuck with the only character in this ensemble meant to be unlikable by design to set up for a redemption arc later, tries really hard to sell his initial frustration.
The familiarity of this zombie apocalypse premise isn’t lost on me: normal day-to-day proceedings, weird out of place event that signals the start of the outbreak, formation, travel to safe spot, more shenanigans, fend off the zombies, the whole kit’n’kaboodle is here and accounted for. But even with the few synthetic bells and whistles they attached to give the movie a little pop, it’s nice to see a collective group of people shouting their love for the zombie genre and cosplaying in general from the rooftops with no shame, not actively playing the formula by ear but also not going so far out of left field, it breaks the immersion (ok, maybe a little). There’s something absurdly realistic, hilarious and sad about this story kicking off with West Side Story Sharks vs. Jets levels of acrimony, highlighting the intensity and serious commitment some people take cosplaying before delving into using that love as an armor against something you’re constantly vulnerable against; it just isn’t enough to take away from how thin the story ends up being beneath that.
As an equal parts satire, sci-fi and raggedy survival tale, it delights in having as much fun with the premise as it can but with it all being obviously hamstrung by the budget constrictions and limitations, imagination is strictly limited and doesn’t offer much laughs.
I do get somewhat of what the movie is going for: not just that being an asshole (whether for a discernible rhyme or reason or not) can make you just as one-track minded as the literal brain-eating zombies but how utterly pointless having such a petty or competitive drive can make a person’s life. Hate is a virus, ever so contagious, evasive and easier to digest especially when you disguise it as a labor of love for something you actually care about and when all that negativity bubbles back up and bleeds into your work, eventually, things get complicated. Its most reliable strength though is capturing the essence of being an outcast and the profound sense of found family forged within communities that celebrate individuality, more specifically putting a spotlight on cosplay culture with a number of nods to the fandom that convention enthusiasts can enjoy. And gradually letting those two halves inevitably coalesce,m when the zombies start coming in is when the film feels the most alive.
Once again, yet another movie dives into and makes better sense of its depiction of fan culture more consistently than 5CREAM tried to do.
But my god, are the rules established in this universe strung together by scotch tape and prayers. People can either get turned or just fight off an actual bite to the neck, not to mention the implications behind that like ‘What was the story behind the wish-granting rock?’, ‘Is this a Monkey’s paw sort of thing?’ or how can one even fight off a bite mark and get supercharged? There are a lot of unanswered questions that were clearly left on purpose for the sake of, what else, a potential follow-up; the Vol. 1 is a dead giveaway they intend to make more of these but as of right now, the lack of explanation ultimately reduces it to just a mere gimmick.
I’m well aware this is just me overanalyzing the hell out of the plot contrivances when the movie’s zany nature made it very clear I’m better off not even trying: I just can’t help questioning the things that I see.
A low-budget passion project put together through sheer adoration and passion for the genre alone, this is a movie that was never going to be a masterpiece but did it need to be? Pacing might be loose and the subversion of genre norms can only take it so far but if you can get on the film’s wavelength regarding the themes of found family among outcasts and the true cost of unnecessary hatred, you only just might remain mildly entertained.
