History Has A Violent Way Of Repeating Itself
Starring: Mark Gibson, Dee Wallace, Bill Mosley
Director: John Geddes
2011 | 113 Minutes | Not Rated
“I have become a fury of death killing death” – Edward Young
For some reason I still haven’t gotten sick of zombie movies. I have seen too many to count, some good, many bad but I keep watching. Exit Humanity sounded like a fresh take on the genre with its post-Civil War setting and the idea that we are hearing about everything through a journal written by the man that lived it.
Six years after the Civil War, Edward Young (Mark Gibson) is forced to kill his wife after she became a zombie. When his son goes missing, Edward takes to the wilderness to find him.
The story isn’t told so much on screen as it is read from the journal of Edward Young. The visuals just go along with the narration. Without the narration, the visuals wouldn’t have told much of a story. It seems that the narration wasn’t a crutch as many movies have used it. The director intended for it to be told this way.
The movie is, sort of, broken into chapters of Edward’s journal. Between chapters there are short, animated segments made to look like Edward had drawn in his journal to go along with the writings he had done. The animation is pretty cool looking. My only complaint is that a couple of the big plot points are told in this format rather than using the actors that have been portraying the characters the rest of the time.
The actors all do a really solid job considering they are all basically unknowns. The cast is kept relatively small and everyone seems to be putting their full devotion into their parts.
And the devotion doesn’t stop with the actors. There is a lot of heart and thought and time put in to every aspect of Exit Humanity. Edward even yells toward the sky a bunch of times so you know just how depressed he is. It sucks to kill your zombie wife and zombie kid but Edward does it like a pro. Team Edward.
The sets and tone of Exit Humanity are phenomenal. I assume it was made with a pretty limited budget but you wouldn’t know it based solely on the look of the movie.
Now, the zombies are the classic, slow moving variety. So we know that the only way they are a threat is if you are surprised or outnumbered. As it turns out, the zombies aren’t the only thing our heroes need to worry about. Shocking, right. The zombie makeup and errrgghh, uuuhhhhh, mmmmmaahh acting is all top notch.
The biggest problem with Exit Humanity is that it moves at a zombie’s pace. It could have been whittled down to about an hour long. Too often I found myself checking the time or simply checking how much time was left of the movie. Not a good sign for an action or horror movie. I am stretching the very definition of action and horror by calling Exit Humanity either. Maybe I shouldn’t be reviewing movies that are more horror than action but I find the two genres crossing quite regularly. There’s an awful lot right with Exit Humanity but I could never get into it. I am sure some people will thoroughly enjoy it but I assume most action fans will not have enough happening to be entertained.
Exit Humanity is a very refreshing take on a zombie apocalypse. I loved everything about it and yet it couldn’t keep my attention. I can’t quite figure it out but I would definitely recommend any zombie fans to check it out.
Action Movie Fanatix 