Zombie Allegiance Tackles Human Horrors in a World of the Undead
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Zombie Allegiance is a spin on the zombie apocalypse with a decidedly different focus. Sure, there are zombies in the story, but the human survivors are the real stars here.
Written by James “Crypticpsych” Lasome
January 4, 2012
Release: December 6, 2011 (U.S. DVD)
Written and Directed by: Tony Nunes
Starring:
Brandon Luis Aponte as Josh Rowa
Rich Tretheway as Saul Carter
Jennifer Kimmerle as Jen
Stephanie Castaldi as Deanna
Michael Reed as Sean
It’s the future in the midst of a nuclear attack-caused zombie apocalypse. Saul (Rich Tretheway) is trying to stay alive in this new environment while helping any survivors he happens to come across. One day, while hunting for food, he comes across Josh (Brandon Luis Aponte), a former cop, and warily decides to bring him back to his house (where he already lives with George (Andre Boudreau), a man who believes himself to be President of the United States). Over time, the duo builds a rapport and trust, Josh becomes Saul’s right-hand man, and a new group of survivors joins their ranks. However, constant vigilance is required in a world like this where the threat of the undead is only matched by George’s continuing descent into madness and the rise of roving packs of other, vigilante survivors intent on looting the possessions and supplies of anyone they come across.
Zombie Allegiance is probably the exact opposite of what’s
usually expected in a zombie apocalypse movie. That’s not necessarily a
bad thing, though. For instance, while there are zombies in the movie,
they’re not as important to the story as the human survivors and the
challenges and obstacles they face are. In that way, it brings to mind
the original Dawn of the Dead’s ability to combine the threat
of
the zombie apocalypse with the
ADDED threat of the Tom Savini-led
group of biker-looters or The Mist’s
blend of a creature
attack with religious conflict. It also shares those movie’s subtexts
about human nature and the world as their respective writers saw it. In
the case of the Romero classic, it was about consumerism and class
warfare. In The Mist, it was about morality, mob mentality,
and religious fundamentalism. In Zombie Allegiance, it has
touches of some of those but more focuses on the dangers of unchecked
paranoia and insanity through the character of George.
As odd a performance as Andre Boudreau’s is, he’s also the most interesting and unique aspect of Zombie Allegiance as a whole. Sure, there are decent gore effects with effectively-realized zombie makeup effects. Sure, the survivors have to do battle with a group of invading, armed vigilantes determined to take the pseudo-utopia they’ve made for themselves. Heck, the survivors themselves even form relationships with each other and have internal conflicts. However, all of that has been seen before and doesn’t feel particularly “new” like the element of “George” is. Given the present volatile state of politics and the extreme opinions many have on a variety of subjects, it doesn’t feel like too great a stretch for a man as psychotic, creepy, and crazy as him to exist undetected in the world as it presently is, waiting only for some sort of cataclysm to spur him into a complete mental breakdown.
However, George is only a small
part of Zombie Allegiance’s
story. As such, writer/director Tony Nunes chose to focus elsewhere and
inadvertently ended up creating a movie that never reaches the level of
the films that influenced it nor stands on its own as a unique piece.
The reason Dawn
of the Dead, The Mist, and other
movies of their ilk work is because they had interesting characters
that somehow made apocalyptic scenarios like zombie hordes and
Lovecraftian beasties believable within the universe of their movies.
If a greater point was to be made about humanity, religion, or
consumerism, it was able to be done easily without sacrificing the
greater thrust of the film. Here, the characters have some decent
interactions, but the way that the zombies are made secondary to the
plot for much of the movie’s runtime robs it of a good portion of its
power and leaves the final product disappointing and wanting. A
“zombie” movie where the zombies AREN’T exactly one of the scary
elements is a dangerous proposition.
In addition, the film also feels abnormally pretentious because of a series of unusually out-of-place references. Characters are seen reading Paradise Lost, quoting Poe for no reason, or deciding, completely at random, to do a weird one-man performance of Shakespeare. Quoting famous works of literature does not make a movie “deep” or “impactful”.
Zombie Allegiance is not without merit as it is a perfectly watchable piece of social commentary on the world seen through the prism of the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse. The problem with the movie, though, is that the writer-director underutilizes both his zombies and his most interesting and unique character for much of the film. As a result, the final product feels like a pale imitation of its influences, not a work that can stand beside them in solidarity.
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