Reviews

Proving once again that great entertainment is not contingent upon money or the nebulous studio production system, Colin met and far surpassed my expectations for this no-budget zombie flick. In short, the story follows the eponymous Colin as he wanders the streets of Britain during the onset of a zombie apocalypse. Now, this film will NOT appeal to everyone, but to zombie enthusiasts, the initial hook of the zombie being the protagonist is enough to at least warrant interest. Where the strength of this film lies is in it's attention to detail, excellent minimalist sound-scape (you can more with a few echoing rifle shots and muffled screams than you can with a team of CGI lackeys) character development, and very creative ways of producing emotional resonance while remaining somewhat episodic. The scene where the girl winds up in the basement, I found to be truly chilling: we know what is going to happen to her but we never see it because the story drifts on following Colin to his next misadventure. We see the effects that Colin's transformation has on his family, beautifully shot, as if in pantomime, as Colin watches his mother, sister and brother-in-law cry, shout, languish, all which has no effect on Colin obviously, and we see it through his eyes. It's funny how easy it was to empathize with him, even though we see him cannibalizing his fellow countrymen, and giving chase to anything with a pulse, it forces us to see Colin not as a monster, but as someone that was once human, and even though he's a flesh-eating zombie now, there are some things so deeply buried in him that even death can't remove their significance. The story itself is told in a very clever way - you get the sense that Colin has a mission, but you really can't tell. He stops to ponder a street sign for several minutes - the audience wonders why. As with all great storytelling, the clues are trickled throughout, and we realize at the end that not only has the story come full circle - which in itself is a laudable narrative technique - but that Colin is in fact a somewhat tragic figure and the film structure locks him into a somewhat Sisyphusian role of forever trying to roll the boulder up the hill. Not only that but there was fairly decent gore. I gave it an 8/10, this impressed me way more than anything Romero has done since Day of the Dead, and blew the latest Hollywood crap-fest, Zombieland, right of the water. In short, Colin had everything - humour, horror and heartache. Any zombie enthusiast should actively seek out this well-written, well-directed, well-edited film.

Before watching this flick, I only knew that it fell within the horror genre and that it involved kids traveling across the outback. The disclaimer at the beginning of the film read something to the effect of 'based on true events', which in filmic terms means that at least one of the events contained within the film may have occurred in real life. Based on that, and the fact that the male is the only one left alive at the end - having witnessed nothing of the demise of the two girls - there is very little left to sustain the 'truth' of the film. But that's really besides the point. Or is it? The structure of the film suggests a pseudo-documentary approach to the subject matter: there are no subplots, this is strictly a documentation of events which might have taken place. So, bearing that in mind, the film unfolds as a matter of fact retelling of an event. It is a slow build, yes, but a patient audience won't mind. I enjoyed the pacing very much: most films worth their salt don't dive right into the action without sufficient foreplay, for instance developing subplots...which there is none of here. However, after watching the film, I couldn't help but feel a little ripped off: I thought that I had seen the last of plot less drivel parading through the theatres. This film was basically a far crueler version of 'Breakdown' with Kurt Russell, without any of the suspense that made that film watchable. The film seemed to have been made on the pretense that it was 'based on true events', which if it had been, would have been somewhat compelling when it came to the actual scenes involving the fate of the two girls. But the fact that those scenes were completely fictionalized really diminishes the overall impact of the film, having said that though the scenes are effective, albeit brutal and upsetting for the average viewer. So ultimately, at the end of the film I said: Wow, that was pretty sick and had an authentic feel to it. But what was the point? And this is my big problem with the movie: It had a big build up so that you cared about these people only to watch them ruthlessly tortured and slaughtered. In essence, it's trying to be a slasher flick and a credible re-enactment 'based on true events' film. However, the principles of both genres are strange bedfellows and result in an unsatisfying filmic experience. I would recommend 'In Cold Blood' for viewers wanting to see a real 'based on true events' movie, far more disturbing yet far less graphic, or 'Breakdown' for a similar premise handled with more narrative aplomb (not that it's a classic, but you get the idea).