Wasting Away

Last updated
Wasting Away
Directed byMatthew Kohnen
Written by
  • Matthew Kohnen
  • Sean Kohnen
Produced bySean Kohnen
Starring
CinematographyAllan Fiterman
Edited by
  • Michael Schwartz
  • Emily Chiu
Music by The Newton Brothers
Distributed byLevel 33 Entertainment
Release date
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Wasting Away (also known as Aaah! Zombies!!) is a 2007 zombie comedy film directed by Matthew Kohnen and starring Matthew Davis, Julianna Robinson, and Michael Grant Terry. [1] The events of the plot take place from the zombies' point of view. The film uses color footage to show the action from the zombies' point of view in which they see themselves as normal humans and occasionally switches to black-and-white footage to show the zombies from the point of view of normal humans.

Contents

Plot

In a recording, a military experiment tests Serum XT1258 on a soldier, only to have him turn into a zombie and attack the surgeons. The remainder of the serum is transported away for disposal. However, the soldiers become lost and while they fight over the map, they accidentally run over somebody that had been following them. One of the serum barrels falls out, rolls away, and leaks behind a bowling arcade, contaminating ice cream. Tim, an employee, eats it with his friends: Mike, his crush Cindy, and Vanessa, Mike's ex-girlfriend. All pass out and reanimate into zombies; however they still see themselves as humans. Cindy gets a stomachache, and Vanessa and Tim are unable to call an ambulance because the phone operator speaks and hangs up too fast – everything in the normal world is sped up to zombies – but they simply dismiss it as faulty connections.

When they go outside to look for help, they bump into Nick, a military private who joins them to look for a working phone. When they stumble into a bar and are attacked by its patrons, they exhibit abnormal symptoms, such as increased strength and endurance. Nick then tells them about the serum, and he reveals he was also exposed to it. Nick suspects it has infected most of the population and the five of them are immune because all of them were infected while consuming dairy products, which might have neutralized the serum's toxins. Convinced the military will hunt them down to cover up the incident, Nick proposes they stay together to ensure their safety.

Nick unsuccessfully spies on Colonel South and Dr. Richter, the people responsible for the experiment, and later goes off to steal information about the serum. Cindy and Tim check on Cindy's family while Vanessa and Mike hurry for Vanessa's job interview. Tim accidentally kills Cindy's parents when they throw dynamite at him while he asks for their permission to see her, only for him to throw it back before it explodes. Vanessa presumably kills her would-be employer when she unintentionally scares him into his bedroom and catches him hiding under the bed. Meanwhile, Nick is captured and has his brain waves sped up to understand humans again. Colonel South then reveals the military is planning to eradicate the infected people. After he shows Nick his zombie self, Nick becomes enraged and escapes.

Tim, Cindy, Mike, and Vanessa reunite at the bowling arcade, only to be challenged to a bowling match by Tim's rival Danny and his team, who are all drunk; only drunken people see zombies as humans. Mike and Tim compete against them while Cindy and Vanessa keep them drunk to disorient them. All is well until they run out of beer and Danny's team sees they are truly zombies. A fight breaks out, and Mike is decapitated in the chaos, but his head remains alive. They kill Danny and his teammates when Nick shows up and assists them.

He then reveals the truth to them, and Mike comes up with a plan to defeat the military by infecting most of the soldiers at the headquarters. They gain extra allies by resurrecting the dead bowling teammates with the contaminated ice cream and pose as corpses in a disposal truck on its way to the headquarters. They are almost caught by Colonel South's containment unit, but Mike sacrifices himself to kill them by activating a grenade with his mouth. Once the zombies reach the headquarters, Nick offers himself to Colonel South as a diversion while the others infect the rest of the soldiers present. Furious, Colonel South has Nick taken in alive.

Tim, Cindy, Vanessa and the other zombies populate "Zombie Town", which is erected in memory of Mike and Nick. Colonel South and Dr. Richter plan to torture Nick for treason as a soldier, which he responds to by saying, "I'm not a soldier. I'm a zombie."

Cast

Release

Wasting Away premiered on October 16, 2007, at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival. [2] It was released on DVD on October 19, 2010. [3]

Reception

Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote that although zombie comedies have grown old, the film is "amusing and ingratiating". [4] Allan Hunter of Screen Daily wrote, "Matthew Kohnen's inventive, well-acted romp has cult potential written all over it." [5] J.C. De Leon of Brutal as Hell wrote that the film has "moments of amusing comedy", though it focuses too much on silly humor over horror. [6] Jodie Bass of Beyond Hollywood wrote, "This one really is destined to become a cult classic and rightly so." [7] Michael Rubino of DVD Verdict wrote that the film has a great gimmick but fails to live up to its promise, in part due to its budget. [8] Writing in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, Volume 2, academic Peter Dendle said, "Though decidedly risk-averse, Aaah! Zombies!! pursues a conceptually innovative angle with satisfying detail and persistence." [9]

Related Research Articles

<i>Day of the Dead 2: Contagium</i> 2005 American film

Day of the Dead 2: Contagium is a 2005 horror film written by Ana Clavell and directed by Clavell and James Dudelson, starring Justin Ipock, Laurie Maria Baranyay and John F. Henry III. It was unofficially marketed as a prequel and sequel to 1985's Day of the Dead. The film was released direct-to-video in the United States on October 18, 2005.

<i>Oasis of the Zombies</i> 1981 film

Oasis of the Zombies is a 1982 film directed by Jesús Franco for French producer Marius Lesoeur. Two different versions of the film were made, each featuring different lead actors.

<i>Shock Waves</i> (film) 1977 horror movie directed by Ken Wiederhorn

Shock Waves is a 1977 American horror film written and directed by Ken Wiederhorn. The film is about a group of tourists who encounter aquatic Nazi zombies when they become shipwrecked. It stars Peter Cushing as a former SS commander, Brooke Adams as a tourist, and John Carradine as the captain of the tourists' boat.

<i>House of the Dead 2</i> (film) 2005 American film

House of the Dead 2 is a 2005 American action horror film and a sequel to the 2003 horror film House of the Dead. It is based on the video game series of the same name and the 1996 video game. The film was directed by Michael Hurst. It premiered at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain on October 14, 2005, and premiered in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel on February 11, 2006.

<i>Burial Ground</i> (film) 1981 film

Burial Ground is an Italian grindhouse zombie movie directed by Andrea Bianchi. It is one of several films released under the alternative title of Zombie 3.

<i>Zombi 3</i> 1988 film directed by Lucio Fulci

Zombi 3 is a 1988 Italian horror film directed by Lucio Fulci and Bruno Mattei and starring Deran Sarafian, Beatrice Ring, and Ottaviano Dell'acqua. The film is an in-name-only sequel to Fulci's Zombi 2. The film is about a group of scientists at a top-secret research facility who are working on a biological weapon called Death One, which mutates and kills the living creatures and reanimates the dead. The weapon is leaked out of the facility, which leads to a spread of infection among soldiers and touring people in the area.

<i>Black Sheep</i> (2006 New Zealand film) Film by Jonathan King

Black Sheep is a 2006 New Zealand comedy horror film written and directed by Jonathan King. It was produced by Philippa Campbell and stars Nathan Meister, Peter Feeney, Danielle Mason, Tammy Davis, Oliver Driver, Tandi Wright, Glenis Levestam, Nick Blake, Matthew Chamberlain, Nick Fenton, Eli Kent, and Sam Clarke. The special effects were done by Weta Workshop.

<i>The Boneyard</i> 1991 comedy horror film by James Cummins

The Boneyard is a 1991 American direct-to-video horror film directed by James Cummins and starring Ed Nelson, Deborah Rose, Norman Fell, James Eustermann, and Phyllis Diller.

<i>Nightmare City</i> Film by Umberto Lenzi

Nightmare City is a 1980 science-fiction horror film directed by Umberto Lenzi. The film stars Hugo Stiglitz as a television news reporter who witnesses the collapse of order in a city overrun by irradiated blood-drinking ghouls. Victims of the ghouls rise from the dead to join the host, adding to the chaos.

<i>Ghost Brigade</i> 1993 film

Ghost Brigade is a 1993 American supernatural horror film set during the American Civil War and directed by George Hickenlooper. Starring Corbin Bernsen, Adrian Pasdar, and Martin Sheen, the film was also released under the alternate titles The Killing Box, Grey Knight, and The Lost Brigade.

City of Rott is a 2006 American animated zombie film by Frank Sudol, who performed all filmmaking duties himself. The film uses 2D limited animation in a style similar to South Park. A sequel, titled City of Rott 2, was released in October 2014 through Amazon.com.

<i>Mutant</i> (film) 1984 American film

Mutant is a 1984 American horror film. It was initially released to theaters as Night Shadows, but it premiered on video with the Mutant title, which it has retained for all subsequent releases.

Days of Darkness is a 2007 American horror film written and directed by Jake Kennedy. Survivors of a zombie apocalypse, including a young couple played by Travis Brorsen and Roshelle Pattison, seek shelter in an abandoned military complex while they attempt to figure out what has caused the outbreak.

<i>Carriers</i> (film) 2009 American film

Carriers is a 2009 American post-apocalyptic film written and directed by Àlex and David Pastor. It stars Lou Taylor Pucci, Chris Pine, Piper Perabo, and Emily VanCamp as four survivors of a viral pandemic attempting to stay alive amid the looming threat of becoming infected. Filmed in 2006, it received a limited release in the United States on September 4, 2009, following Pine's breakout performance in Star Trek earlier that year. It received positive reviews from critics and grossed $5.8 million.

<i>Zombie Lake</i> 1981 film

Zombie Lake is a 1981 Spanish-French horror film directed by Jean Rollin and Julian de Laserna. The film stars Howard Vernon as the mayor of a small French town that is plagued by Nazi zombies who were killed by the town's villagers 20 years earlier. It was distributed by Eurociné.

<i>American Zombie</i> 2007 American film

American Zombie is a 2007 American mockumentary horror film directed by Grace Lee, written by Rebecca Sonnenshine and Lee, and starring Lee and John Solomon as documentary filmmakers who investigate a fictional subculture of real-life zombies living in Los Angeles.

<i>Descendents</i> (2008 film) 2008 Chilean film

Descendents is a 2008 Chilean experimental horror film directed by Jorge Olguín, written by Carolina García and Olguín, and starring Camille Lynch. Lynch plays a young child who attempts to cross a land divided by brutal fights between the military and roving zombies.

Virus Undead is a 2008 German horror film directed by Wolf Wolff and Ohmuthi, written by Wolf Jahnke, and starring Philipp Danne, Birthe Wolter, Anna Breuer, Nikolas Jürgens, and Marvin Gronen. The screenplay concerns a group of medical students and locals in a small town who suffer an outbreak of a mutated H5N1-like virus that causes people to turn into zombies.

<i>Range 15</i> 2016 film

Range 15 is a zombie comedy film. Released on June 15, 2016, the movie is a collaboration between the veteran-run, military-themed apparel companies Ranger Up and Article 15 Clothing, and stars many of their staff members. The movie was produced and directed by Ross Patterson.

References

  1. ↑ "Distributor's site with background information". Archived from the original on 2012-03-08. Retrieved 2012-06-03.
  2. ↑ McWeeny, Drew (2007-10-11). "It's ScreamFest Time In LA! THE SIGNAL, DIARY OF THE DEAD, INSIDE And More!". Ain't It Cool News . Retrieved 2015-02-25.
  3. ↑ Low, K. W. (2010-10-19). "DVD Releases – October 19th: It's a Rocky, Psycho Night of the Predators in Mirrors". Dread Central . Retrieved 2015-02-25.
  4. ↑ Harvey, Dennis (2008-06-19). "Review: 'Wasting Away'". Variety . Retrieved 2015-02-25.
  5. ↑ Hunter, Allan (2009-01-05). "Wasting Away". Screen Daily . Retrieved 2015-02-25.
  6. ↑ De Leon, J. C. (2011-04-23). "Play At Your Own Risk: A Netflix Advisory | J.C. Stumbles Upon 'Wasting Away' AKA 'Aaah Zombies!'". Brutal as Hell. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
  7. ↑ Bass, Jodie (2008-10-13). "Wasting Away (2007) Movie Review". Beyond Hollywood. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
  8. ↑ Rubino, Michael (2010-10-27). "Aaah! Zombies!!". DVD Verdict . Archived from the original on 2010-10-28. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
  9. ↑ Dendle, Peter (2012). The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, Volume 2: 2000–2010. McFarland & Company. pp. 17–20. ISBN   978-0-7864-6163-9.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.