Zone of the Dead
Tags: violence

Plot synopsis:
In 1986, in Chernobyl a mass grave of bodies is discovered, resembling victims of the Plague. The Chief of Bureau (Eugeni Roig) arrives at the scene and is informed that a man cut himself on a corpse’s ribcage and died of infection minutes after. Seconds later, that same man rises up attacks them both.
Twenty years later, a local professor (Steve Agnew) is trying to catch a train out of Pancevo, Serbia, but finds that all railroads have been closed down as part of a military exercise. While he tries to make a call, a train comes in carrying a deadly biohazard agent monitored by a scientist in a hazmat suit, who asks for permission to pass through. Before he can, a trio of drunken off-duty soldiers emerge and harass the station guard taking his weapon and inadvertently rupturing the tank, releasing the chemical agent into the atmosphere. All the soldiers and the station guard are infected by the gas, becoming zombies but the professor manages to escape.
Meanwhile, INTERPOL Agent, Mina Milieus (Kristina Klebe) is tasked transporting a mysterious prisoner (Emilio Roso) is from Serbia to Belgrave, while under the supervision of Agent Mortimer “Morty” Reyes (Ken Foree), an ex-CIA agent and on the verge of retiring, along with his partner, Inspector Dragan “Dra” Belic (Miodrag Krstovic). While Mila is in awe of Morty, she is also nervous as this is her first assignment in the field. Marty assures her that she will be fine, considering this to be the easiest assignment he’s ever had.
The Chief of Bureau meets with the President and informs him about the accident at the train station in Pancevo. He discloses that the agent in the tank was capable of reanimating dead cells and advises that he not bother with evacuation, but contain the incident and let the National Guard deal with the rest.
Back in Pancevo, a young reporter, Jan (Marko Janjic) is wasting his time at a minor concert, and is eventually convinced by his girlfriend Angela (Ariadna Cabrol) to leave along with her friend, Jovana (Iskra Brajovic). At the same time, the professor is trying to escape the growing number of infected. He comes across another escaped felon, Armageddon (Vukota Brajovic) who states the End of Days has arrived, and has made it his personal mission to eradicate the zombies. The professor runs away and meets Jan and the girls, who allow him to come into their car,
The two INTERPOL vans arrive in Pancevo just as the driver, Petrovic hits a zombie. When they go out to investigate, several more arrive separating them from Agents, Bottin (Vahidin Prelic) and Savini (Zeljko Sesta). They attempt to contact Headquarters for backup, there is no signal. Upon finding the second van, containing the Prisoner, Morty finds Bottin and Savini are dead and more zombies are coming. The Prisoner tells them to shoot the zombies in the head, which proves to be successful, but they are quickly overwhelmed: Petrovic is devoured and Dra is bitten on the hand. With little choice, they are forced to take shelter in a nearby abandoned police station.
While reconnoitring the area, Morty and Dra find the professor, Jan and the girls, and bring them back to the reception. The Prisoner attempts to flirt with Mila, but she rebuffs him, although she is put off by how he knew she was a rookie. Meanwhile, Armageddon continues his rampage on the zombies, using multiple weapons at his disposal. He enters a local TV Station and broadcasts his declaration of the apocalypse to Pancevo, including the station. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Morty decides to activate the generator and find a way out. Dra is unable to come with him and has begun to succumb to infection, resulting in Morty freeing the Prisoner and taking him along. After turning the power on, several zombies break in and nearly kill Morty, but the Prisoner saves him. Dra subsequently dies and reanimates forcing Mila to shoot him. Jovana, driven insane by the turn of events, breaks down the barricade, allowing herself to be eaten. The professor also chooses death, by Morty’s gun, feeling that “there are worse things.”
The group escapes and heads towards the river through the train tunnels. The Prisoner reveals to Mila that he knows of the zombies because his father was one of them as a result of the incident in Chernobyl. He goes on to explain the President will most likely ‘cleanse’ the city to prevent the spread of infection. Upon arriving at the shipyards, they find a horde of sleeping zombies which are awoken by the Hazmat zombie. Morty leads the zombies away while the rest of the group makes for the boat.
Morty runs out of ammo and gets trapped inside a train, while Jan takes the boat and abandons Angela. Just as she is about to be eaten, Armageddon arrives and supplies the group with weapons; Mila with a rifle, and the Prisoner with a broadsword. The three proceed to kill the zombies, while Morty escapes the train, taking a gun from the Prisoner and helping them out. Armageddon finishes off the undead and the Prisoner decapitates the Hazmat zombie, apparently ending the threat.
Later, the President announces that he will cooperating with NATO to bring all those responsible for the bioweapon to justice, much to The Chief of Bureau’s chagrin. The President considers his decision to be “a necessary evil” and expects the Chief to resign, effective immediately. Mila allows the Prisoner to leave, despite having some ammo in her guns, showing respect for him. Morty congratulates her on her efforts, in spite of the mission not being completed, saying he messed up his first one as well. Milo asks who the Prisoner was, to which Morty replies: “Nobody Special.”
As they leave, Armageddon completes his prophesy, possibly answering Mila’s question: “And he shall raise his hands with the Sword of Vengeance. The Flaming Blade of the Lord’s Retribution. And his eyes were as a flame of fire… And he had a name written… which no man knoweth but himself.”
In the final scene, Jan has taken the boat up the river, only for it to run out of gas. As he heads to the cabin to look for more, the infected captain lurches out and tackles them both into the river.

Review: Ken Foree is an absolute legend and it's great to see him returning to the zombie horror genre.And now for the bad news, which is absolutely everything else.
Having read some good reviews on this film, I decided to give it a go as I'm a big fan of zombie flicks even bad ones.
It is not entirely without its saving graces: Ken Foree is as good as the silly, uninventive script and laughable dialogues allow; make-up efx are solid, but barely visibly because of the overuse of shaky-cam which spoils every action scene.
Many low budget zombie films are still effective, however, Zone of Dead isn't one of them and is poorly put together.
Directors Milan Konjevic and Milan Todorovic over use the shaky cam look and there's no getting away from Konjevic's sub-par screenplay.Kristina Klebe as Agent Mina Milius lights up the screen and of course there's Ken Foree but they can't save that poor script which is badly delivered by the majority of rest of the cast.It faults are to distracting for you to sit back and enjoy it as much as it may deserve.
OK, I get it: zombie movies don't need great acting, or a good story or decent camera work to be watchable or entertaining.
So I've come across my fair share of low budget movies and cheesy acting in my time, but absolutely nothing compares to this film.Straight up, I couldn't sit through the whole film.
The average guy on the street could give a better performance than almost every single member of the cast, with a few "yeah okay" exceptions.If you're a fan of zombie movies, don't rent or buy this piece of crap.
Don't let your kids and teenagers watch terrible, pompous remakes of old Romero classics, let them see what we saw all those years ago - a genuine attempt to make a compelling zombie film that fails terribly due to a lack of money and talent in every category.
It's not the best zombie movie ever made, not by a long shot, but I had a great time watching it.Ken Foree (from the original Romero's Dawn of the Dead) is one of my favorite horror actors.
And I liked Kristina Klebe very much as well - she's very good with the shotgun.The other actors are in the movie for the body-count, but this is a zombie movie after all - we need to have some victims, don't we?
The acting, direction and dialogue are rather wooden and stilted for the most part as with Romeros classics but that said it does give this film the look and feel of the originals and thus makes it an entertaining way to spend your viewing afternoon.
Plenty voiced itself positive on this new film, Serbia's first ever foray into serious horror territory, but also, some people are only too happy to level severe negative criticism based, it seems, purely on the fact that "Zone of the Dead" is not Dawn of the Dead, or Day of the Dead, or even Diary.Well, Milan Todorovic is no George Romero, but the more careful dissection of this film shows us he never fostered such intentions.
The acting is wooden and uninspired, the effects only so-so and the plot isn't very original at all.The lighting is also quite bad.I'm not sure what else to say about it except that the majority of the voters here must have been involved in the production because 5.9 is an unbelievably high number for this film.
People who worked on it and other Serbians are actually disliking IMDb reviews in order to make the film look not-as-bad as everyone claims.This film is the worst zombie related thing i've ever seen.
The plot is very Carpenteresque and pits a group of police officers escorting a prisoner against the zombie infestation caused by an ecological disaster.Zone of the Dead doesn't try to expand and bend the genre territory, it opts to be exploitation in the Italian sense and reminds of Italian exploitation films from the early 80s with Fred Williamson in charge.
Only this time, Ken Foree, the sole zombie film icon, is in charge and headlines this production.
It is very uncommon for Serbian cinema that the violence and zombie mayhem are handled quite well, and Zone of the Dead delivers the goods on the level of contemporary B-movie fare.
Special kudos go to Miroslav Lakobrija, this film's makeup wiz who did a great job with all kinds of bloodletting and zombie prosthetics.Ken Foree is quite solid in his first leading role in over 30 years and Kristina Klebe uses her opportunity to expand on the 'scream queen' reputation gained in Rob Z|zombie's Halloween remake.
The only zombies missing are those who rose form the grave.Zone of the Dead is a must for the genre fans, not just as a curio since it was made in Serbia, but also as a much needed shot of VHS era Italo influence exploitation that you may need in these ironic genrebending times.
It's very fast paced and exciting, just like a zombie movie should be.It is a story about a young Interpol agent Mina (played by smoking' hot Kristina Klebe of Rob Zombie's Halloween fame) and her assignment in Serbia.
Well what can I really say about this film that I haven't summed up with the vote, this film was awful, a real shame, I found this in the bargain bin at Asda and now I know why.I was originally excited to see Ken Foree return to a zombie movie role, but that excitement soon wore off, the acting from everyone involved in this movie including Ken was just wooden and without real emotion, there is no sense that they are trapped in a "Zone of the dead" The special effects are terrible, almost seeming that the budget was so tight after waisting most of it on beer for the zombie extra's, I think that the makeup effects make the "long dead zombies" look like white faced clowns with bust noses.I managed to watch to the end of this movie for the simple fact that I was hoping that it would get better and that I hadn't just waisted my £3, sadly this was not the case.
The acting was horrible; the effects were bad (even with the proper lighting) and the plot just lacked and lacked and lacked....and i enjoy a decent zombie flick from time to time; but this was terrible.
This film doesn't really waste any time getting to the good stuff, which, in a zombie film, basically means it's not long before all our actors are running about shooting shambling corpses in the head and arguing with each other.
You're thinking "But wait, there's been about a million of these zombie films out lately, and I'm sick of them." Well, you'd be right, I'm pretty sick of them too, but this one has Ken Foree in it?
BUT -yes there is a BUT here- if you're a fan of those bloodthirsty creatures called zombies, walkers etc and you love to see shooting, chopping and all the relevant stuff these movies produce and provide, you can gather some friends, make some popcorn, watch it and then, turn off your DVD and just forget about it..
The good thing about zombie films is that they're inherently entertaining.
I knew that it was a cheap and cheerful B-movie, I wasn't expecting too much from it, and I was fully prepared to disengage my brain and have a good time.It's worth noting that this is Serbia's first zombie film, although don't let that excite you too much; as with much foreign fare these days, it's content to rip-off American content, inevitably in this case Romero's dead trilogy (which is referenced at numerous points in the narrative).
I have a lot of goodwill towards Foree for his role in that movie, so I was even more interested in watching this as the credits rolled.It's not really surprising that this film doesn't turn out to be very good at all.
It's a classic B-movie in the sense that everything that takes place is familiar from other, better productions; one film that's content to rip-off rather than try its hand at something more original.
The story of a zombie outbreak is told on the cheap, as a group of rather uninteresting characters barricade themselves inside a police station and try to figure out what to do about the ravenous creatures outside.Sadly, the predictable storyline is made worse by the two directors, who seem unable to give their film any suspense or real drive.
The film also feels rather restrained, despite one or two unpleasant moments, and even Foree himself isn't very good; he seems tired and subdued, and he isn't a patch on the menacing character he played in Romero's movie.
Likewise, the majority of the film's fun action-packed encounters come from its two big set-ups as there's the assault on the abandoned police station with the other survivors there to help in taking out the creatures, assisting the barricades and generally making for an extra few bodies to pile up in terms of kills with the ravenous zombies breaking in and then taking on the group in a strong series of firefights that's highly enjoyable with all the bloodshed and wounds doled out in here.
Being filled with great-looking zombies that are suitably rotting and grotesque which makes them look all the better against the graphic, blood-splattered carnage, this film has a lot of positives that hold this up rather nicely.
(8%) After the first ten minutes or so this is a bit of a trial to watch, then the zombies show up and it gets a little better, and when Dawn of the dead legend Ken Foree makes an appearance you start to wonder if this could be something worth investing interest into.
Well sadly this isn't worth ten minutes of anyone's time; never mind 90, as this clearly made by annoying zombie movie fans is a huge waste of effort mainly because it's just so lacking in ideas.
Someone thought they were being oh-so clever when they cast Dawn of the Dead star Ken Foree in this zombie film and then had him reference his role in the Romero classic, when in reality this is one of the most embarrassingly trite things to do in a modern zombie film (along with calling a character Savini, which they also do here!).In fact, there is absolutely nothing innovative or clever about this sorry affair that trots out all the expected zombie movie clichés—which might not have been quite so bad if the film hadn't been performed by a bunch of untalented Serbians struggling with the English language and directed by a pair of horror rookies who clearly think that an excess of shaky cam makes a zombie attack more scary (and who also have their undead roaring like wild animals just to be sure) .Some reasonable make-up/gore effects prevent the film from being a complete waste of time, and a few unintentional laughs can be had from an out-of-shape Foree as he attempts to outrun the undead (even the slow ones—this film features zombies of all speeds) and struggles to squeeze his gut through the window of a railway carriage.3.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 4 for the blood 'n' guts..
If you don't value the precious minutes that this movie will take from your life, then go ahead-- watch it, but I warn you...The Best Thing About This Film Is: The end credits when they start to roll and you realize that the torture is FINALLY over..
Overall, the 15 minutes that i saw were so bad that i will forever remember this as the most laughable attempt at making a horror film that i have ever had the misfortune of viewing.Don't waste your time on this..
Reading the reviews of this film makes me wonder if the writers we related to the filmmakers.As a lover of Zombie movies (especially the early 1980's Italian explotationers) I expected from the reviews a cheesy but entertaining film.Sadly i got a badly acted, weak plotted pile of Zombie droppings.The Dialoge is bad and mangled by the speakers, The Shaky cam is headache inducing (This is to overused in modern-films anyway!), The 'Zombies' can't make their mind up if they are Slow or fast moving...And so on and so on...Nice to see Ken Foree but one link to a better film (Romero's Dawn of the Dead) does not make a reason to watch this!
This movie drowns under formulaic plot points you will already be tired of if you've watched any of several (hundred?) zombie films released before.
I really love zombie movies, the good ones and the bad ones.
But if you aren't a zombie fan, then this movie is probably not for you.It has about as much drama as a Resident Evil video game, and the acting isn't much better.
The lighting is kind of terrible in some scenes, the camera-work isn't always consistent, the dialogue is cringe-worthy enough to be funny, the plot is asinine and the sound editing is poor.Now, if you're like me and you're in the mood to see a bada$$ movie with characters that don't make stupid decisions and instead decide to kick butt and take names, then you'll love Zone of the Dead.
Armageddon the "Lunatic" is fantastic and entirely refreshing to the zombie genre (if you're a fan of shooter games this guy will have you cheering from your seat) and the "Prisoner" is a dead-ringer for Rico Rodriguez from the Just Cause games (and he acts like Rico, too, which is awesome).
However, if you thoroughly enjoyed movies like The Horde, Dawn of the Dead, Escape from New York, Vampires, Assault on Precinct 13, The Thing or any other classic action-horror flick then you have to add Zone of the Dead to your collection.I hope the director gets a bigger budget and makes more movies like this.
I rly don't know what to say...this movie is just plain terrible.Dialogues are just plain awful,there is to much shaky cam every action scene is like an earthquake and etc.
Well, this movie have good intentions and manages to deliver a fairly decent entertainment value.As a zombie genre fan, I had to see this movie, and I am not disappointed that I did.
You got to love humor like that.The make-up and wardrobe of the zombies was quite nice, though I think glazed over milky white lenses would have been better, as it would have added that special zombie depth to the living dead in the movie.And of course, a Serbian zombie movie!
This movie could have been good, I wouldn't have been great though.It is a low budget film, had some good moments but a lot of parts just didn't make any sense.there's a lot of parts where, the 'super decorated' Mr. Know-it-All ex-military ex-CIA guy, seems like he does not know anything.
They decide that their only hope for survival is to make it to the river & steal a boat to sail to safety but with no ammunition the odds are against them making it that far...Also known as Apocalypse of the Dead this Serbian, Italian & Spanish co-production was written & directed by Milan Konjevic & Milan Todorovic who must take the blame for making such a piece of crap, even as far as low budget European zombie films go Zone of the Dead is awful.
Also keep watching as the end credits come up, after a minute or two there's an ultra low budget reenactment of the opening sequence from the classic Italian splatter zombie film Zombie 2 (1979).Besides being a terribly written film Zone of the Dead fails to deliver the horror aspects too, whenever there are zombies on screen the camera shakes about violently in a way that I just hate.
Forget about any scares or suspense as this thing is a real chore to sit through, it drags & is so blandly filmed in boring locations that I can barely remember it & I only just finished watching it twenty minutes ago.The IMDb says that Zone of the Dead had a budget of about $1,700,000 which I think is total rubbish, there's no way a film this cheap looking & badly made cost that much.
The legendary Ken Foree needs a better agent & is wasted.Zone of the Dead is awful, there's nothing else I can say as it has just about every zombie cliché in the book, is badly made & acted & has no sort of coherent logical story to maintain your interest.
Zone of the Dead is one of those terrible films that the only thing worse than watching it is watching it again....
The end of times apocalypse starts in Serbia with zombies just like the good book, and a few others predicted.
Great retro acting set in Serbia , lots of bad critics on here , I think they have only seen walking dead and the like.
A Low-Budget, Serbian Zombie Movie.
Anyway, for a low-budget, Serbian zombie movie this particular film wasn't too bad.
Having said that however, I should also point out that I enjoy movies in this genre and I appreciate it when the director (in this case Milan Konjevic and Milan Todorovic) tries to make a straight zombie movie rather than something supposedly humorous—or even worse—a film that tries to be "so bad it's good".
However I am a huge zombie fan and I haven't seen very many Zombie Movies that have not entertained me.Zone of the Dead is one of my favorite new zombie movies.
I honestly looked much better films than this, but this movie is not as bad as you wrote, because I watched much worse movies of this genre than this one.Movie has interesting scenes in which I enjoyed, that makes it worthwhile to look.