From director Wolf Wolff(I'm not making this guy's name up, it's his handle I guess)comes another zombie movie whose epidemic derives from a virus which turns humans into hideously infected cannibals with superhuman power. In a country town of Landsberg is where the movie is set and it primarily focuses on a trio of friends, medical students who find themselves in a whole heap of trouble. Robert(Philipp Danne) is returning home to settle his genius scientist relative's estate once he dies of Alteizheimers. Eugene and Patrick(Nikolas Jürgens and Marvin Gronen)accompany Robert to Landsberg where they meet up with two girls, Robert's former flame, Marlene(Birthe Wolter), and her pal Vanessa(Anna Breuer). The pandemic is understood once Eugene discovers a lab behind a wine cellar door and Robert listens to the recorded audio comments of his grandfather's experiments on corpses and animals hoping to find out what causes the virus and how it spreads. Meanwhile, locals are growing skin infections and becoming bloodthirsty savages attacking humans they come in contact with. The scenes involving Robert's old nemesis, the antagonistic Bollman(who contacts the virus through the sausages cut from infected hogs used at his fast food stand, along with everyone else who eats from his establishment in town)hurling people in the air is unintentionally hilarious. Also a threat to the group, donut-eating policeman Lehmann who contacted the virus as well. The infected lose all since of control, behavioral shifts occurring as they become zombies. Holing up in grandfather's ramshackle mansion, it's highly questionable Robert or any of these kids will make it out alive through the night, defending themselves the best they can with whatever weapons are at their disposal, diminishing in number. Eventually containment is broken and the zombies are inside chasing after Robert and Marlene as they move up a seemingly endless staircase. The usual is on display here, zombies all over the place being blown apart or destroyed in various ways, axed, torched, and shot(gramps had a pistol, blowtorch, and shotgun which all come in handy when it comes to warding off flesheating zombies). We see the virus take over members of the group, methodically turning them into lunatics with mutated sores popping up all over their bodies, humanity(soul)gone, on the rampage, no one safe. Ends rather bleakly, with director Wolff establishing the true menace as crows(who contribute to one demise in particular) carrying the virus(from the outset, we see a flock of crows fleeing a city skyscraper traveling towards the same destination as Robert and his buds)from location to location. Can the virus be quarantined? That's left open for debate. Played almost completely straight, humor not emphasized exactly, except for a moment where a cell phone goes off in a zombie's hand.
Review of Virus Undead
