Truly Dreadful Film

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Charming and brutal

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Being a huge zombie aficionado, I basically devour - no put intended - just everything that includes zombies. Unfortunately the zombie market is swamped with releases that are questionable and probably shouldn't have had seen the light of day.As was the case with "Infected" (aka "Infection Z"). And I assume that the "Infection Z" title is a bad attempt to cash in on the blockbuster "World War Z" movie. But regardless of the reason, then this movie was really not worth the effort.The zombies in the movie were far in between shots, and they weren't actually zombies as in the sense of being shambling and decaying. Well, it does make sense if this is the first stages of decay. But still, with the ridiculous sounds they were making, it was more of a spoof on the zombie genre than it was actually appearing as a proper, serious movie.And as hard as it is to take Michael Madsen seriously, then it came even more difficult given the horrible hat he was wearing just about 99% of the entire movie. That hat was just ridiculous to look at.The most uplifting part about "Infected" was perhaps that William Forsythe was in the movie, but it was hardly anywhere remotely near enough to make it worthwhile suffering through the entire movie. I did manage to stick with the movie to the very end, hoping that there would be just one moment to make it worth it, but there wasn't such an occurrence.The DVD movie I received from Amazon was titled "Infection Z" and it had a very apocalyptic image of a metropolis in ruin and flames on the back cover. This was the worst kind of misleading imagery ever. Because the entire movie takes places at an isolated homestead somewhere out in a forest in the middle of nowhere.What can I say about "Infected"? Well, stay well clear of it, or you might be infected with a bad case of boredom.

Zombie movies are the flavor of the moment and have been for a while now. At least one film featuring some variation of the walking dead is released a week. However, I wouldn't necessarily call the creatures we see in "Infected" traditional zombies.The "Infected" people in this never die. They get sick from exposure to Lyme disease by being bit by an animal or person who contracted it or ate something it was in, such as contaminated meat. The individuals who are infected don't just lumber around aimlessly. They actually resemble rabid animals, talk, and move rapidly.Although the zombies in "Infected" aren't typical, the set-up of the movie is. We have a group of people trapped in a cabin in the woods. They must fight off the diseased as they attempt to break into the house and eat every living thing inside. The characters end up having to make the choice to kill off their friends and relatives who are bitten and contaminated.Veteran actors Michael Madsen and William Forsythe take their roles more serious than they should for an independent horror film like of this caliber. The two of them give "Infected" a touch of class that elevates it above other zombie movies being released. Forsythe does ham it up a little and adds some campiness to the film. Madsen plays serious throughout the entire thing as if he's targeting an Oscar for his part.Christy Carlson Romano ("Even Stevens") stars as a woman concerned about her grandmother as she gets sicker from the mysterious illness. She's the focus of one of the most spectacularly gruesome parts of the film."Infected" as a whole isn't anything we haven't seen before. Sure, the main cause of the epidemic is unique. That doesn't change the fact that the gory details and the outcome of the movie remain the same as any other living dead flick. It will no doubt thrill viewers who aren't used to watching horror movies as well as genre fans looking for the week's zombie fix.

"Infected" is the standard virus related zombie flick of modern horror. The film is directed by Glenn Ciano who also wrote the story and screenplay for the movie. It deals with a father and son on a weekend retreat with loved ones at the precipice of a viral outbreak that results in aggressive flesh eaters. It stars Michael Madsen, William Forsythe, Tom DeNucci, Christy Romano and Kristi Lynn. "Infected" is a standard outbreak-zombie story that manages to tell a pretty good, entertaining nightmare scenario despite the fact that it offers nothing new to the genre. The acting is acceptable, although some of the cast have the cred to warrant a much better performance than they gave to this film. The biggest and most exciting aspect of the film for me was the title sequence with hottie-Tom DeNucci given us total porn fantasy in the tool shop. Man I could have watched two hours of him doing that! All that was missing was the cold water splash down after working up such a sweat. That sequence followed by the climax portion of the film where we return back to that swooning moment of the story really pleased me – a lot! (yeah I know-total perv here!) Anyway this doesn't negate the fact that the acting and story was pretty well written and directed by Ciano. The film did have very basic stripped down special effects which at times fail the film but for the most part they work just fine-quite frankly I am just thankful that the movie didn't rely totally on CGI! The character driven moments that are intended to build suspense and emotional investment for the viewer seems to fall flat at moments, coming across more as over-exaggerated. However for the most part the complete result of the films ability to hold my attention was executed. I never really found my thoughts wondering and I never became bored with the story. It is a really decent zombie outbreak film that also does nothing to detract from the genre that may seem over stuffed with the undead at the moment. I enjoyed the film, the action, the zombies, all in all the film is one of the better zombie flicks. I really liked the more stripped down, organic approach to horror that this film used to tell this story. Plus as I stated earlier that beginning sequence and end was hot! Wish there would have been more of that and of Tom DeNucci sexually exploited in the main portion of the movie but hey – it is horror not porn.

I have never felt the need to leave a review before but this is probably the worst film I have ever seen. The initial premise comes across as this could be OK, a bit cliché'd but an attempt to add a bit of originality to the origin of the outbreak.The effects are poor which wouldn't necessarily be bad but add the strange musical interludes which seem like an attempt to build romantic intrigue, throw in a new cliché every 5 minutes or so and you end up with a film that goes downhill fast and stays there.The final nail in the coffin of this awful film is to finish it off with a narrative that makes it feel like you have just finished watching a T.V. pilot.Some bad films are funny because they are bad, this one isn't, it's just bad.