War of the Dead review

One of the highlights of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival was the debut of War of the Dead, a new zombie flick that was premiered along with the comedy zombie flick Deadheads in what was called ‘Zombie Appreciation Day’ by the festival that also marked the Zombie Walk that takes place in the city every year.

It was only fitting therefore that War of the Dead was shown given the fact that it has almost a decade of history behind its production with everything from the title and cast changing on a regular basis throughout filming.

Despite its start and stop legacy, Marko Makilaakso actually pulled off quite a feat with War of the Dead making a stellar debut in the horror genre.  The film itself takes place in 1941 set on the border ofFinlandand theSoviet Unionduring WWII.

It kicks off with a short prologue that shows how just two years prior to the actual film time line the Nazis had been capturing Russian soldiers and performing science experiments on them attempting to murder them and then bring them back to life.  As you might guess, although they gave up on their project, there were plenty of half-alive half-dead soldiers left behind.

After the prologue finishes the film jumps ahead to 1941 when a group of Finnish and American soldiers that are about to attack a Soviet Camp stumble into the land of the zombies and find themselves completely outnumbered and under siege at the old abandoned research camp.

Complicating the matter even more, these are not slow zombies or even regular zombies, but instead are professional soldiers that are ready to fight and are blood thirsty as they choose to tear into their victim’s flesh with their teeth over using guns.

In the first surprise attack the Allied soldiers quickly find their numbers reduced to just a few the survivors of course who happen to be the main characters.  Before long they are able to capture a Russian Soldier who upon meeting the zombies himself decides to switch sides and help the Allies navigate the terrain of the area and simply try to live through the night.

What is so wonderful about the entire film is that its structure is simple with all of the events happening in just one night adding to the thrill and emotion of the film.

Another great perk of the film is that it never actually gets campy although with a plot line that includes zombie Nazi soldiers it very well could of.  Instead, it remains scary and historical with excellent lighting and gore and little stretching of the truth outside of the original premise that the men have been turned into zombies.  In fact, once you accept the first fact as something that could have happened during the war it is easy to get swept away in the believable plot feeling a dark cold chill every time a zombie pops back up on screen.