The Battery

Plot synopsis:
After a zombie apocalypse has overtaken the entire New England area, two former baseball players, Ben (Jeremy Gardner) and Mickey (Adam Cronheim), travel the back-roads of Connecticut with no destination in mind. Their backstory reveals that they were trapped in a house in Massachusetts, along with Mickey's family, for three months. Mickey's father, mother and brother were killed before they figured out how to escape. Since then, Ben opposes sleeping indoors and the two have had many arguments regarding the matter. Ben has long adapted to their new lifestyle, which includes scavenging for supplies and constantly being on the move. Mickey, on the other hand, longs for a "normal" life. He refuses to learn basic survival skills, and constantly isolates himself by listening to his CD player with headphones on, burning through batteries.
At Mickey's girlfriend's now-abandoned house, Ben finds two walkie-talkies. As they test the walkie-talkies' range, they overhear a conversation between two survivors, Annie and "The Orchard", implying they belong to an organized group of survivors. Mickey eagerly contacts them and asks to join, only to be flatly refused. Despite Ben's advice, Mickey tries contacting them again several times, but no one replies.
The duo travel further and explore a house inside a forest, where Mickey proposes sleeping inside. Ben relents, presumably to ease his friend's frustration, but keeps Mickey's CD player for the night. That evening, Ben drinks, listens to music and dances, while Mickey speaks on the walkie talkie. Annie replies, this time firmly tells him to stay off the channel and stop contacting her group.
The following morning, Ben discovers a zombie tied up near the house and releases it in Mickey's room. He keeps the door shut while urging Mickey to kill it with the baseball bat he left in the room earlier. After the sound of the struggle stops, Ben opens the door, discovering his friend has successfully scored his first zombie kill. Mickey angrily attacks Ben and storms outside. As Ben tries to cheer him up, Mickey breaks down in tears, telling Ben of his conversation with Annie.
Killing his first zombie and getting turned down by a community seem to have changed Mickey. He starts heeding Ben's advice, learns to fish and spends much less time with his headphones on. As the two stop by the road to inspect a car, a man takes Mickey hostage with a knife, and orders Ben to give him their car keys. Ben tricks the man into letting Mickey go, then shoots and kills him. Immediately after, two other survivors arrive. The woman explains that the man stole the car from them, and says Ben did the right thing. Her companion Egghead refuels the abandoned car and they prepare to leave. Mickey, recognizing Annie's voice from the walkie talkie, calls her by name. Annie, not wanting them to follow her to her group, shoots Ben in the leg and throws their car keys into a large grassy area, then leaves with Egghead. As it is too dark to find the keys, Ben and Mickey decide to sleep in the car.
Their car soon becomes surrounded by zombies. As Ben cannot move fast due to his wound, the two are forced to spend an undetermined amount of days inside the car. They finally decide that Mickey should get out via the sunroof and try to find the car keys. When he returns, Ben finds out that he was bitten and is forced to shoot him. The movie ends with Ben talking to the walkie-talkie, claiming he will come and kill Annie to avenge Mickey's death. The mid-credit shows Ben has escaped the car and is walking down the road, with a horde of zombies shambling behind him.

Tags: psychological

Review:
The thought of yet another low-budget zombie movie filled me with dread, but I was hearing good word of mouth about Jeremy Gardner's $6000 zombie pic THE BATTERY, so I gave it a whirl at Amsterdam's Imagine film festival.
This is a double-pronged character/relationship study (which thankfully never degenerates into the bad soap of The Walking Dead) rather than an action movie and there isn't an awful lot of gore, so younger viewers with ADD might get fidgety.
Meanwhile they talk about lost relatives, family members, and (of course) former girl friends whose fate is uncertain.We see two very different characters, formerly working together as a so-called Battery (a catcher and pitcher couple in baseball), roaming from place to place, eating canned food, using empty houses for shelter when available (after being checked for zombies, and swept clear of it when needed), but otherwise having nothing useful to do other than practicing and quibbling.
If this is the future of independent horror, I got some serious renting to do.Gardner, who directed, wrote, and produced the film, stars as Ben, traveling down the back-roads of Connecticut with Mickey (Adam Cronheim), both of whom were once ballplayers.
Ben uses them as a lighter form of escapism, cheerily dancing to Rock Plaza Central's "Anthem for the Already Defeated," making for one of the best scenes in the entire picture.The Battery works so well because it doesn't try to be just another film capitalizing off of the incredibly childish, overblown idea of a zombie apocalypse, which would be much easier to do in the wake of The Walking Dead and World War Z.
Despite placing emphasis on the undead, the film's focus is on the living, making for a very realistic, pragmatic take on a relationship that may come through during such an abhorrent event.With sun-soaked cinematography by Christian Stella, capturing the woodsy atmosphere and the sweltering climate of the wilderness and vastly open plains of grass and wheat better than any films I've seen in recent years and a soundtrack composed of delightful but not cliché indie rock tunes, aesthetically, The Battery has it all to a tee.
The final act takes place entirely in a van and is one of the most intimate, realistic exchange between two characters I've seen in a film like this, mainly because the conversations and exchange of thought it so typical and atypical to the situation.
Regardless, the film is wholly unpredictable and that's one of the highest compliments I can pay to a film.Stories like Ben and Mickey's are far more interesting than redundant survivalist drama in the wake of an apocalypse or a subversive yet lukewarm look at zombie romanticism.
Ben (the director, Jeremy Gardner) & Mickey (Adam Cronheim) are two ex pro baseball players who are eking out an existence while wandering a zombie infested America.
On they wander, smoking, fishing, playing catch and generally getting on each others nerves, as when one has survived a zombie apocalypse, one unfortunately doesn't get to choose one's traveling companion.And that's pretty much it in terms of plot as The Battery is more of a quirky, offbeat character driven road film than an outright zombie film, with the zombies themselves only very occasionally making an appearance.
It Puts Movies like World war Z to shame, and shows all you need is a great script a vision and a couple of good actors..
It packs more cleverness into each scene than most movies - including those with 10 or 100 times the budget - manage in their entire length.The story is deliberately slim: two average guys (who happen to be baseball players) wander the countryside some time after the zombie apocalypse.
I will admit that there were a few memorable and clever scenes.Despite this, as a whole the movie was a too-long series of montages set to too many hipster tracks leading to the final act, which actually displayed the potential for a story.I understand the budget was small, but that doesn't excuse the lack of story.
This is an independent, low budget movie that focuses not that much on fighting zombies but on two guys who wander around the post-apocalyptic world.
It's a cross between a road movie and a character study and I welcome that angle, rarely seen in a zombie movie - but however it fails to deliver.The main characters are not very interesting and most of the movie is spent on showing them arguing and doing mundane stuff like playing catch, fishing, eating, brushing teeth, smoking.
As those enticed by the sport of baseball will know well, a "battery" is the two person team of the pitcher and catcher, also known as batterymen or batterymates and so to is the source of the relationship between Ben and Mickey, two wandering souls in a world consumed by the zombie apocalypse.
The pitfalls of any micro budget ($6,000) flick remain, from having to skimp on makeup effects (which is still quite respectable actually) gore, the best props, ability to shoot scenes multiple times, etc all remain and with first time director-writer-star Jeremy Gardner at the helm, hiccups were to be expected.
In fact in spite of its budget The Battery employs a number of interesting approaches to the genre (if not every completely fleshed out) such as how to baptize the uninitiated into the art of zombie killing, how one might satisfy their "needs" in the situation and simply how two guys might actually react to the situation and where they (or at least one of them) might feel safe to sleep at night.
From its outstanding soundtrack to the realistic camera shots portrayed on screen in true masterful fashion by a director who truly understands how to capture scenes on camera and drown-out the usual traditional Hollywood tripe, The Battery aims to please and will leave you begging for more.It has easily placed itself into my rather strict standards for Zombie genre excellence, and is now one of my favorite films in the blink of an eye.Jeremy Gardner's performance in the film as Ben is what drove the film onwards and stopped it falling short.
Mickey's mentality is almost childlike, and at certain times during the film your left extremely frustrated with his character as a whole, and I found myself becoming less sympathetic to anything he does, which is a problem when it comes to the end..Regarding the main stars of the film, that is, the Zombies, they were certainly a pleasant surprise.
It truly is a masterpiece of cinema and for a budget of only $6k, it delivers much more than many of the studio blockbusters.As a zombie fan, it was a great take on the genre, focusing on the characters and their plight, rather than the gore and scares that most other films of it's ilk tend to.
I also think that the lower budget went in it's favour, it wasn't ruined by an over-abundance of special effects and I strongly believe that the essence of the movie would have been ruined if it had been produced by a big studio.Having seen many low budget badly acted zombie films, I was expecting much the same from this.
David Gordon Green had recently said that he would welcome a remake of his Prince Avalanche as a horror movie;well, that is the case here, although I do not think there was enough time between the two productions to say that it was intentional.The similarities are many, but I think that Prince Avalanche had many more ideas and, naturally, a certain style and philosophy, of a very accomplished director.I'm not going to criticize the Battery through such an uneven comparison, but I have to say I was little impressed by the potential of the movie.It is supposed to be a cult and artistic take on the zombie filmography, but I think it is less clever, inspired and different than it looks(or wishes to look).In fact I found it so flat that it made me feel bored many times;In the Horrorant film festival in Thessaloniki where I watched it, it won the jury's prize for best movie, and I think that was unfair for other much more accomplished movies that were shown(my personal preference being the Schism).Overall, I would say that I have high expectations from low budget movies, as I do not think that the money spent is always a good guarantee of the final result(of course it helps, but there are directors that made much better movies when their budget was low).I understand the limitations, so I do not condemn the film and maybe in the future the director turns up with something great but for the moment I take The Battery for a half-amateurish effort(in a bad sense)with little true inspiration and potential.Real low budget indeed!.
While this is obviously a low budget movie with mostly two characters on display (and their interactions), it does have a lot of punches along the way.You could ask if some conflicts were necessary, but you can never truly know how you'd react to a situation like the one those two friends find themselves in.
I mean there HAD to be a payoff or something to make anyone think that this was a good movie.I love horror, I love Zombies, I love well made independent horror films, but this>?
It's a giant cliché, like the entire zombie genre is infested with clichés due to overabundance, but Jeremy Gardner (writer, director and lead protagonist) somehow still managed to deliver an extremely atypical film that hardly features any violence, massacres or even chaos.
The result is guaranteed to be more organic than say a vampire saga; the makers didn't have to worry about the whole chronicle, it was enough for them to place themselves in the zombie world for improvised edges of life to follow.They don't bother with a story of explanations or longwinded scope, far more effective to convey the collapse is for one of them to simply turn on the car radio and get nothing but static.So this alone ensures it's interesting to watch but inbetween these moments of survival, there's empty time that has to be somehow filled and leaves room for an artistic self to come to the fore.
And so while the limitations of the zombie world guide them to pluck some worthwhile scenarios, this artistic self that bridges them (and is about youth languishing with nothing to do) is merely cute.Every so often a different song plays over a montage of them sitting around or walking, probably the same indie songs the filmmakers like, lazy after a while because it's a short-term music video effect.
That was just so stupid.While "The Battery" offers absolutely nothing to an audience that crave proper zombie make-up and the obligatory gore, then it is disturbingly difficult to find anything worthwhile spending 96 minutes on suffering through this lack-of-zombies movie.The only thing that "The Battery" had working in its favor is the acting talents of both Jeremy Gardner and Adam Cronheim.But all in all, then this movie is not really worth suffering through, and if you do, then it is the type of movie that you watch once, then bag and tag it to let it collect dust on the movie collection shelves.This was a major disappointment and a slap in the face if you are a zombie aficionado like me..
I like those things myself, but I also enjoy getting caught up in slower paced movies that keep you interested in the characters who are in a tough situation and seeing how people react differently in those situations.
Ben (Jeremy Gardner) and Mickey (Adam Cronheim) survived the zombie apocalypse with a little luck and lots of patience inside a house surrounded by the undead.
If you like indie music and watching a couple of bros trying to coexist in a zombie apocalypse, then this is your movie.
I'm not against low budget films, in fact some of my favourite films were made on little funding (Clerks, Blair Witch Project, Friday the 13th to name a few), and with a small budget Jeremy Gardner funded, wrote, directed and acted in this indie flick about two friends stuck together after the zombie apocalypse.The story has a quick introduction, two buddies on the same beer league baseball team, join together wandering the around in the New England wilderness, trying to avoid zombies, and generally moving around a lot.
I won't spoil anything, but I will say that if you've seen a few zombie films by this point, you won't see much of anything new, but you will have a gem of a movie with its own particular personality, which creates a story about a unique bond between two characters whose only common interest is baseball.....and surviving.
So if you like drama, indie films, hipster music, walking, deep- thinkers, and the typical zombie grind, this movie's worth checking out.
Well it's not I could have gone to the park and watched two tramps having a chat and it would have been far more interesting and funnier and way more scary.dull story,characters are just annoying at one point you are just watching a man smoke a whole cigarette on his own in a car.I spent all my time thinking something good would happen soon I was wrong .to sum up 2 boring guys who don't even talk to each other much spend a lot of time together doing very little and the soundtrack witch is a big part of the film as one of the main characters spends most of his time with them on his head starts to be more like a poor music video than a film.
Where as many low budget zombie films have poor execution or find it hard to meet expectations, trying to be bigger than they are or come across pretentious The Battery knows it's limits and is self aware.
Want to see a movie about two guys trapped in a car with the zombie apocalypse going on outside?
Even more amazing, he did it on a budget that would barely cover a cast dinner in Hollywood, $6000The movie is very slow which admittedly is painfully slow at times and heavily relies on dialogue so if that's not your thing than you may want to skip this one but if you don't mind or are a fan of excellent script writing and dialogue driven plots, then this movie will one of the best low budget movies you will ever see.The acting is alright but I have to say, Jeremy Gardner who directed and produced, "The Battery", was absolutely phenomenal in his role as Ben. His solo performance along with the great camera work in the last 10 minutes or so will leave you speechless.
Made on a meagre indie budget, The Battery is a character study of two guys on the move following a zombie apocalypse.
The movie follows two baseball players, Ben played by Jeremy Gardner (who is also the Writer, Director & Co-Producer) and Mickey played by Adam Cronheim (who is also the Co-Produced).
I had the pleasure of seeing this film at the Dead by Dawn festival in Edinburgh, it won the audience choice award and deservedly so because it was the highlight of the weekend.The Battery tells the story of Mickey and Ben as they trek across New England during the zombie apocalypse, but rather than being just another run of the mill man vs the undead story this film explores the relationship between two very different people as they try to come to terms with the world they now find themselves in.
So Low-Budget, but full of fresh wind – Jeremy Gardner's Zombie Drama THE BATTERY reminds of the debut of a certain Mr. Romero.Two guys, Ben and Mickey, as different as they can be, in a Post-Apocalyptic Journey Through the abandoned Woods.
After finally checking it out today, I decided to write a review about it not only because I like zombie flicks in general but because I think a $6,000 low budget movie like this deserves some resonance from its fans.The setting in the Battery is such that the two main protagonists Ben (Jeremy Gardner) and Mickey (Adam Cronheim) find themselves traveling the rural areas of zombie infested New England while being well equipped with food, water and other necessities.
The editing is well done for a low budget flick and ties the funny, thrilling and heart-wrenching scenes together seamlessly.The Battery won some prices on indie festivals and, in my opinion, deserves a place in every personal zombie movie library.
With its nice shots, strong soundtrack and relatable characters this stands as one of the better zombie films even though I fear it might not be for everyone due to its slow pace and lack of action.
The story focus on two baseball players: Ben (Jeremy Gardner) and Mickey (Adam Cromhein) living in a apocalyptic zombie world, just looking to survive.
Had me laughing so hard!Incredible soundtrack, matching the always listening to music on headphones Mickey, everything here was really different from the stuff you usually see in all zombie movies.9/10.
So this movie centres more around the relationship between the main characters rather than a Zombie kill festival.
For a 'zombie' movie, there's hardly any gore.Two baseball players named Ben and Mickey wander around during the apocalypse, scavenging for food and supplies.
It's zombie apocalypse time yet again in a film that at least tries to do something a little bit different.
Then, they find themselves running across a band of not-so-friendly survivors who live in a place called "The Orchard." After Ben is shot in the leg by one of them, he and Mickey find themselves trapped inside a car at the side of the road with a swarm of zombies crowded around outside.Based on the reviews on here, this seems to be a 'love it or hate it' type of film for most viewers.
A different kind of indie zombie horror that's more of a character study and a road movie than a generic shockfest.
A huge chunk of the run-time feels like someone's home movie of their vacation to the zombie apocalypse.