FEST 037 - film review

Zone of the Dead (Zona mrtvih)

Directed by: Milan Todorović and Milan Konjević

Based on the patterns of zombie films, to which pioneers ( primarily Romero's films) refers to very often through the actors, situations and lines, the Zone, in our conditions, given non-existing Serbian film ascendants on which would this one continue, turns out to be quite a proper feature about the inconsiderate living dead. And all thanks to the rhythm of the film that occupies the attention of the viewer. Even those scenes which appear to be a comical intermezzo (the explaining of the tragic event which occurs when the work starts being more important than the woman), or much exausting and shivering pesudo documentary camera in the action scenes, cannot destroy that feeling


By MARIJA CVETKOVIĆ
from Belgrade, SERBIA


Zone of the dead was one of the Serbian specialties served at the 37th annual film festival - FEST. It is a film that talks about the living dead - the zombies, which arise when a tank containing biohasard substances breaks out in the city of Pancevo. The film was made during last summer, in Spanish-Italian production in English language, at one of the authentic locations of Pancevo's oil refinery installment, in the stench of amoniac, benzene, and God knows what else.

It needs to be said that the eco incident begins during the military excercise of NATO forces, and that it is triggered by the first bullet shot by the American soldiers. At the same time, transportation of the prisioners with super secret files, in which participate joint agents of Interpol of American and Serbian department, form a routine procedure turns into a slasher of upcoming zombies.

Based on the patterns of zombie films, to which pioneers (primarily Romero's films) refers to very often through the actors, situations and lines, the Zone, in our conditions, given non-existing Serbian film ascendants on which would this one continue, turns out to be quite a proper feature about the inconsiderate living dead. And all thanks to the rhythm of the film that occupies the attention of the viewer. Even those scenes which appear to be a comical intermezzo (the explaining of the tragic event which occurs when the work starts being more important than the woman), or much exausting and shivering pesudo documentary camera in the action scenes, cannot destroy that feeling.

The story about the agents is based on a training day of a young, inexperienced agent with a laptop (played by Christina Cleebe), and on the last asigment before retirement of the agent Reyes (played by Ken Foree, Romero's veteran). The third member of the cast, the prisoner (Emilio Roso), turnes out to be a good ally against the zombies and eventually earnes his own freedom, and by that, the rules of current law get put out of force.

In the final encounter, idyllicly slepaing zombies are awaken by the call of their ABH, primarly infected leader, in order to thurn the others left alive into zombies. But that few survivers turn out to be foreign agents, which perevent the further escalation of the zombie population in Serbia and the region.

Zone of the dead is a B category film, given its budget and the amount of time spent for filming it. So the demands for a high artistic sofistication here are not that important, given the frequent remarks on unequal acting expression and the pronunciation of the American-Spanish-Serbian cast. On the other hand, there are to many tributes to previously shot films with such thematic, which don't allow this feature to develope itself in a proper way, and it certainly deserves that. For example, tha parallel part about rapt monk who exterminates zombies seems as something new and fresh and it may hold a key to further development of the film. Because, it will be continued...


(Published: 10.03.2009.)