Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012) - Watch the trailer on YouTube
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video © Abandoned Heart Films
The Rise of the Zombies (2012) is a fantasy survival horror film. The movie was reviewed by Kadmon.
Product: Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
Original title: Rise of the Zombies
Series: -
Setting: contemporary alternate / fantasy Earth
Product type: Film, Genre: fantasy survival horror, Features: sci-fi, fantasy , thriller, horror, post-apocalyptic, survival horror, creature - zombie, Style: ?
Release: Premiere: 2012.10.08 (Festival internacional de cine fantástico de Sitges), Release: 2012.10.27
Reviewer: Kadmon, Type: Male, 40s, Preferences: Immersive, logical story, consistent setting, prefers surprises to spoilers, prefers establishing elements before referencing them
Watched: very recent (2021.02), first time
Rating: Bad (1 out of 3 points), Enjoyment: Bad (1 out of 3 points)
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This is my review of Rise of the Zombies, a fantasy survival horror movie from 2012. It's about a group of people trying to find a cure in a zombie infected city. The Rise of the Zombies film is weak, I only recommend it to very dedicated fans of the genre.
Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
image © Abandoned Heart Films
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Review (spoiler-free) - Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
I don't remember if someone recommended the movie for me, or I've just run into it. Either way, as I like zombie stories, I've found myself watching the movie, without watching the trailer.
The Rise of the Zombies movie is about a group of people trying to find a cure in a zombie infected city.
The story is passable. The pacing is consistently slow. There are no character arcs. There were no major logical problems, just a lot of minor ones.
The story itself is not bad, it's just boring, badly written, with lazy special effects. There's no proper ending, it just leaves to viewer to imagine how things will work out.
The cinematography is okay, the movie is watchable. The characters visit multiple places through the story, so it's not monotonous, but I wouldn't call it visually interesting .
We don't really get to know the characters. The actors are acceptable.
The music (by Chris Ridenhour) is okay.
Rise of the Zombies is a weak, but watchable fantasy survival horror, that dedicated fans of the genre might enjoy.
My experience
I was not satisfied with Rise of the Zombies (2012). I prefer stories with well-thought, logical plots, and more intense action, and Rise of the Zombies couldn't deliver that.
Rating: Bad (1 out of 3 points). Rise of the Zombies is a weak, but watchable film.
Enjoyment: Bad (1 out of 3 points). Rise of the Zombies was weak, but I kept waiting for a sudden improvement that didn't happen.
Rewatchability: Low. I don't think anyone would like to watch this more than once.
Chance of watching it again: No.
Chance of watching a sequel: Unlikely.
Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
image © Abandoned Heart Films
Will you enjoy this?
If you like horror or action thriller movies (28 Days Later, World War Z), you might like the film, although there are not many action scenes or scary scenes in the Rise of the Zombies movie.
If you enjoyed other zombie movies from The Asylum, you might be interested in this story.
If you don't mind illogical elements in your movies, you can enjoy this.
If you prefer visuals over story, the Rise of the Zombies will be boring for you.
If you hate zombie movies, the title is probably a dead giveaway to avoid this movie.
Watching for plot points
If you are interested in zombie stories, it might be worth watching the Rise of the Zombies movie for the plot points, although reading the summary is probably just enough.
Should you watch this on your own screen at home, or is it worth going to the cinema?
The visuals probably look the same. Or maybe it's better if you watch it on a small screen.
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Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
image © Abandoned Heart Films
Review with spoilers - Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
I didn't like the Rise of the Zombies movie.
Cover
The cover of the movie is okay, it doesn't say much, but it doesn't spoil the movie.
The trailer
The trailer is okay, although it spoils some minor parts of the movie.
Promise of the first scene
We are going to see a zombie apocalypse. Most of the people we see will probably die due to the doctor's experiments.
Execution: I'm not sure I got what I was promised, but there were zombies, and most of the people died, so there was that.
Plot summary / Synopsis
There's a zombie apocalypse. People try to hide on an island, while a doctor (LeVar Burton as Doctor Halpern) experiments on the zombies. Zombies swarm the island, turning the girl of the doctor into a zombie.
The rest of the survivors (including Danny Trejo as Captain Caspian, Ethan Suplee as Marshall and Mariel Hemingway as Lynn Snyder) flee the island, leaving the doctor there, to complete his experiments.
They reach a city, and they split up. The first team tries to get a vaccine that was developed in the city. The other team just try to get to safety, but they get attacked, leaving only one of them alive.
The first team finds the research facility, but they cannot find the cure.
During all this, the doctor keeps researching the zombies on the island, until he gets bitten and dies.
When the first team gets attacked, they are rescued by the last surviving member of the other team. One of the team members confesses that she is pregnant, then commits suicide, because she doesn't want to give birth to a child in a world like this.
While driving through the city, they happen to find an other doctor (French Stewart as Doctor Arnold) who did the research. He has the vaccine. They get attacked, and the other doctor knows that there's a helicopter, but he can't pilot it. Luckily, one of the survivors is a pilot. Zombies break though, the pilot gets bitten, so they chop off his arm. They reach the helicopter, and the pilot takes off, even with one arm.
The setting
Rise of the Zombies is set on contemporary fantasy Earth, where zombies exist.
Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
image © Abandoned Heart Films
The zombies
They have human-like abilities, they are not fast zombies. They get slower as they get damaged.
Their bite turns a human into a zombie in 30 seconds.
There's a black goo that covers their tissues. This goo prevents their tissue from rotting. The black goo lives without the host. If they pour corrosive liquids on the zombie, the tissue of the host gets destroyed faster than the black goo.
The only thing that the black goo avoids are areas that touch electric instruments. Tasers take them out.
The lack of oxygen makes them hurt.
The message of the story
I'm not sure there's one.
The structure of the story
The scenes of the Rise of the Zombies film are played in sequence, following the same storyline.
There's no single viewpoint character.
It has the usual arc of the dramatic structure - introduction, action, resolution with a very sudden ending.
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Things I liked
- When a zombie bites the pregnant woman, they cut the baby out of her, and the kid seems normal for a couple of seconds before it turns. It was an interesting scene.
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How does it compare to the other works of the creators?
I haven't seen anything from the writers (Keith Allan & Delondra Mesa), and based on this film, I'm not particularly interested.
I haven't seen a film by the director (Nick Lyon). Based on the The Asylum budget, I can't really decide about his abilities.
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Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
image © Abandoned Heart Films
Analysis of the story - Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
I didn't like the story, the accumulation of problems prevented me from enjoying Rise of the Zombies.
Problematic elements
The prelude with the pregnant woman was unnecessary.
The doctor feeding the zombie girl part of his body made no sense.
The scenes with the doctor are mostly unnecessary any way. It would have been enough that he tells the team his results on the radio.
It would have been better if they would find the research doctor in the research facility, instead of just randomly blundering into him.
The one-armed pilot could be okay, but just after his arm was chopped off, I don't think he'd be able to drive a helicopter.
They seem to mix things up. A vaccine allows the body to defend against a later infection. An antidote helps against a current infection. When they get infected, the research doctor gives him a vaccine to cure them.
I don't like it that it doesn't have a proper ending. Any kind of resolution could have worked for me. If there were an ending, I would have given it a Weak rating, but this way it's just Bad.
Unanswered questions
Will they survive the helicopter trip?
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Possibilities of improvement
How it could have been better?
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Behind the scenes
Thoughts about the reviews of others
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Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
image © Abandoned Heart Films
Uses for the film - Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
Plot
- People try to get away from zombies.
Scenes
The zombie attack in the prison can be used to depict a zombie attack in a prison. Although I assume you could find similar, but better scenes in The Walking Dead series.
Designs
Scenario ideas - Role-playing game scenario ideas
Scenario ideas - Wargame scenario ideas
Zombie attack in the prison (solo game): The characters are in a prison when zombies attack. Set up a playing area with holding cells. Place the character models randomly around the playing area. Randomly determine a location, where the zombies break in. Deploy the zombie models there. At the beginning of the turn, the characters take their actions. At the end of the turn, the zombies attack the closest human, or move towards them. They can be pushed into holding cells, and closed inside. A character can hide in a holding cell. The zombies standing near the holding cells consider the characters in the holding cells as the closest human, so they won't move anywhere. The player wins if they kill all the zombies while more than half of the characters survive.
Get the antidote (solo game): The characters try to find a doctor, who has an antidote against zombies. Set up the playing area, with many buildings. Deploy zombie models randomly in the open areas. The first objective is to find the doctor. Mark every building. When you open a building, add d6 zombie models inside, remove the marker, and roll a d6. On a 1, you've found the place where the doctor hides. If it's the last building, then you don't have to roll, you've found the right building. Place a doctor model in a safe place in the building, or on the roof of it. Once you've reached the doctor, it joins your group. He reveals where the antidote is hidden - choose a random building, and place an antidote objective marker in the middle of it. The doctor also reveals a hidden escape route (a vehicle, or secret tunnel), in another random building. Place an escape objective marker in the middle of that building. At the beginning of the turn, the characters take their actions. At the end of the turn, the zombies attack the closest human, or move towards them. The player wins if they get the antidote, and leave the area through the escape objective. It's a draw if they don't get the antidote, but leave the area through the escape objective. The zombies win if they kill every player model.
Miniatures - 1/50-1/60 (28-32mm scale)
Civilians: Human-sized (S3) modern (advanced) human female / male civilian.
Zombies: Human-sized modern human zombies.
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Similar stories - Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
Movies
Doomsday (2008): People are on a mission to find cure to the zombie virus.
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Frequently asked questions - Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
Is the Rise of the Zombies film based on a book or comics?
No, Rise of the Zombies is not based on either books or comics.
Is the Rise of the Zombies film a remake or reboot?
No, the Rise of the Zombies film is neither a remake nor a reboot.
Is there a post credit scene in Rise of the Zombies? Does Rise of the Zombies have end credit scenes?
No, there's no post credit scene in Rise of the Zombies.
Where can I see Rise of the Zombies? What is Rise of the Zombies playing on? What streaming service is Rise of the Zombies on? Where can I watch Rise of the Zombies online? Is Rise of the Zombies available on Netflix? Is Rise of the Zombies on Amazon?
As of 2022.01.30, Rise of the Zombies is available on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Hoopla.
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Resources - Rise of the Zombies, movie (2012)
Information
IMDB: Rise of the Zombies (2012): Database article.
WikiPedia: Rise of the Zombies: Database article.
Letterboxd: Rise of the Zombies 2012: Database article.
Rotten Tomatoes: Rise of the Zombies 2012: Database article.
Creation
: Concept art article.¤
Reviews with no spoilers - Rise of the Zombies film (2012)
: Review video about the Rise of the Zombies film with no spoilers.¤
Reviews with spoilers - Rise of the Zombies film (2012)
: Review article of the Rise of the Zombies movie, with spoilers. Includes a very detailed plot summary.¤
Analysis - Rise of the Zombies movie (2012)
: Analysis video, explaining the finale of Rise of the Zombies.¤
https://awfulmovies.miraheze.org/wiki/Rise_of_the_Zombies
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Have you seen the Rise of the Zombies film? How do you like the movie? Would you recommend it to others? Do you know reviews or resources you'd like to add? What further thoughts do you have about it? Tell your opinion in the comments!
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