Too much of everything

just watch it!

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

THE KILLING STRAIN is another garden-variety zombie movie, made at an independent level (and on the cheap) and shot out in the wilds of Texas. It's a pretty unconvincing and uninteresting little movie, content to plough well-furrowed fields instead of chronicling anything new, and is let down as a whole by the usual constraints of indie film-making.The main problem the film has is the derivative script which fails to give the viewer either an interesting storyline or likable characters. The amateur cast do their best but their roles are very ordinary with nobody standing out from the crowd. The special effects are limited and the zombies in the film are just your bog standard looking types with little to distinguish them from another hundred movies.In essence the film is a version of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, with various survivors holing up together in remote buildings to survive an onslaught of the living dead. If no other zombie movies existed then this one would feel quite exciting, but it's that over-familiarity that ruins it for me; to make a mark these days, a zombie film has to do something really special, instead of being merely ordinary.

You can tell right from the start that this is a low budget film, so if you're expecting top of the line acting, directing, and writing, then this just isn't for you. Remember Robert Rodriguez's low-budget flick El Mariachi? This movie's style reminded me of that one in many ways. This felt like a low budget attempt by passionate people doing the best they could with what they had and watching it from that perspective, I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would! In that vein, I think it has a lot in common with Romero's original Night of the Living Dead as well. Unfortunately, this felt a little like someone trying to remake it rather than do something original. If you love zombie movies like I do, then you probably won't see anything new, but I don't think you'll be disappointed, either.

I don't know what version of the movie you guys watched, this was the broadcast premier on the Chiller channel by the same name.The acting really wasn't that bad. The FX weren't really that bad either. It wasn't really exceptional, just what you'd come to expect from a mid/low level budget made for cable movie.You can't expect the quality of a polished production from some major studio, but this was much better than a lot of garbage that's been produced and then, somehow, actually gets aired.Yeah, there are a few of the maddeningly stupid plot devices to build suspense - let's go down into the dark cellar all alone, and if you hear a strange noise don't bother to tell anyone or call for help.There's the loudmouth bully, and the nerdy guy, and the chick who lost her family, and the sensible guy everyone wants to listen to. Nothing too revealing, but well played non-the-less.And you do notice one or two scenes that never seemed to be followed up on even though you knew something was supposed to happen with them. But nothing was so glaringly terrible that it would ruin the entire movie.Solid B grade movie with decent acting and storyline.

The Killing Strain is your run of the mill low budget zombie/virus movie. In all honesty the movie was not bad, it just was not good. There was nothing extraordinary to separate it from movies such as anything from the Dead Series by George Romero or even the 28 Days Later. So as you can already see the bar is set high to begin with. Yes, this is a low budget reflection of great movies in this genus, however; budget restraints aside there still was nothing that popped out at you and immediately or grabbed your attention. No amazing scenes of violence or compassion. Nor was the sub-standard acting done well, it was hard to tell if the actors played there parts purposely over the top, or was the acting that God awful again, hard to say. The pace of the movie was enjoyable at least they were no long drawn out explanation of what lead to this disaster. I just wish the Directors and writers would have taken the time to put a plot together that would take hold of you, instead we are treated to an ordinary run of the mill zombie-ish movie that will not differentiate it's self from over a 100 other such titles.