OK, first off this is not a zombie movie. This is an 'infected' movie. Infected people act crazy and kill people....and infect people spreading infection. People say 28 Days Later is a zombie film - it's not. It's an infected film, just like this. For a zombie film see any of the dead series (inc the fine Zack Snyder remake).
With that out of the way, I heard about this film a couple of months ago and it sounded interesting. Just finished watching it and it's not too bad.
Brief summary - Terrorist attack takes place in America and a toxin is released which turns people crazy who then kill and infect others.
We've seen it done before. The key to this type of film to make it entertaining is to concentrate more on the characters and the situation rather than go for all out gore fest. This film does that well as we see the whole situation unfold through a radio host and his team who are on the air at night doing their show. There's a good sense of confusion as everyone tries to get to grips with what's happening and the characters play out how, if this was real, people might act.
It's not without it's flaws though. The acting for the most part is good - this film does not have a high budget - especially the actor who plays the main radio host, he was excellent. There are some shoddy acting moments which can be forgiven but slightly drag you back into the reality that you're watching a film. Production is 'ok', there are some issues with lighting and sometimes the soundtrack drowns out the actors if they are speaking. Overall though, given budget, I thought everyone did well and made an entertaining enough film.
The thing that kept my rating at mediocre level is that after a strong start to the first half - excellent premise for the film, good intro of characters and the situation, nice dialogue - it seems that the script (or maybe the choice was by the director) loses it's strength and runs out of ideas, deciding to fill the second half of the film with infected people, cliché scenarios/outcomes and.....a social message on America and terrorism. Given the type of film it was, I didn't need commentary.
If you're a fan of this type of film or a zombie fan (but they aren't zombies!) then give it a try. Better than some efforts that have come out recently.
Plot summary
Logan Burnhardt is the ego-king of the airwaves, but his unflappable persona is put to the test when a terrorist bio-attack unleashes a plague of flesh-ripping maniacs on Los Angeles.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
February 28, 2024 at 12:11 AM
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Not a bad effort....
Intense broadcasting...
Well, if you are in this movie for zombies, don't get your hopes as, as there aren't actually any 'stereotypical' zombies as in shambling, ravenous flesh-eating ghouls. However, the movie does have a strange infection that causes people to become feral and rapid, doing bodily harm and injury to others, much alike zombie behavior, yes. But not zombies as in the usual type that we are used to.
That being said, then I am not saying that "Dead Air" is a boring or not worth watching, because it is actually rather enjoyable. The storyline is good, fluid and fast paced, although the ending to the movie was rather cliché and predictable.
What makes the movie work so nice is the dialog, because there is a lot of clever banter throughout the movie, and Bill Moseley really nailed the role of a radio host quite well, and I was pleasantly impressed. I enjoy most of his movies, but he really pulled off this role quite amazingly well. And it was also great to have Bill Moseley and Patricia Tallman together again on the screen, although in very different roles from their last collaboration.
As much of a zombie aficionado that I am, then I enjoyed this movie for what it was, a sort of early-stage infection movie that could have lead to the zombie outbreaks that we are accustomed to seeing in the movies. The story was well executed, and it did bring up some rather interesting points about how mankind create things often used for destruction, as well as the destructive nature of mankind. Whether or not you pick up on these viewpoints (or even care about them), then "Dead Air" is good entertainment from start to end.
And amongst the callers who call Logan's show, there are some nice treats; they had some fairly great names adding their voices to the show, which was a subtle, but rather nice touch.
"Dead Air" is definitely worth watching for fans of Bill Moseley and for fans of a proper good suspense movie in overall.