User reviews

Ok. Went into this hoping for the best as I like Anthony Michael Hall, Daryl Hannah and Shirley Jones. I also can accept that a 'TV' movie will be a bit more dialed-down to appease the masses and the censors. Which is the only reason I gave it 4 stars...I could look at Daryl Hannah all day. What I can't accept is complete, and utter stupidity on the part of the characters. That, and the fact that all of the characters were eminently unlikeable and irritating, from Shirley Jones' blind mother to the petulant teenage boyfriend to Anthony Michael Hall's protective father character, they all come across as utterly unprepared for something as mundane as an empty peanut butter jar... "WHAAAT? There's NO peanut butter ? How am I going to make a P&J without peanut butter????" From leaving perfectly working automobiles, wondering if they can 'hotwire' a car when one member's car is in their garage to taking shelter in a SEE-THROUGH flimsy plastic structure to the family looking at someone as if they had just massacred a village for locking a hysterical person in a bedroom, the movie just irritates to no end...well...there IS an end, fortunately. But it takes a lot longer to get there than the stated run time.

Made a full decade after Zombie Night (2003) which I'd consider one of the worst zombie movies ever made, the title is recycled and we're presented with another zombie piece.

I was conflicted what to expect initially, it's a Scyfy original and I actually think the Scyfy channel do horror quite well. However on the flipside it's made by the rather infamous The Asylum and they seldom make anything even remotely watchable.

So a zombie outbreak occurs, a town becomes panicked and crazed and we follow a group of survivors of whom you'll recognise quite a few.

Anthony Michael Hall, Daryl Hannah and Alan Ruck demonstrate here with their inclusion just how low their careers have sunk. Remember when Hannah was a prominent Hollywood star? Those days are well behind her.

Directed by horror legend Clu Gulagers son he does a decent enough job here in fact the whole thing has clear influences from both Romero and the Return of the Living Dead series (And in competent fashion).

It feels like an old school zombie movie and though it staggers in the centre it is actually better than you'd expect all things considered.

However, zombies have certain "Rules" present in their lore and here they decided to tweak a couple and that damages the movie more than I can express here.

Zombie Night would have been a passable affair if the writer hadn't decided to go into business for himself.

The Good:

Old school zombie movie

The Bad:

Some poor music choices

Zombie "Rules" changed

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

During the zombie apocalypse the police need to be vigilant with looters

Little known fact, zombies enjoy playing fetch

Warning: Parked cars can randomly explode for absolutely no reason

Zombie Night was always going to be one of those movies that people shouldn't expect that much from, but even when judging it for what it is you do want evidence of some sort of fun. You don't get that with Zombie Night, instead you get a complete failure on all levels with unintentional humour that gets more increasingly frustrating than anything else. The best thing about the movie is the make-up for the zombies, even when the least amateurish asset it still wasn't that good. With the rest of the production values you could tell that Zombie Night was made in a rush- especially in the editing- and with little signs of care or love. The dialogue is vomit-inducing in how inane it is, the timing is also sloppy and the line delivery flat. It does provide some unintentional humour to begin with but very quickly hearing so many what the...? gets frustrating, plus it does get needlessly convoluted at times. There is no real narrative to speak of, what there is shows lots of predictability, endless ridiculously dumb moments(the bunker and cemetery scenes for examples), no signs of life and the thrills, fun and horror elements are so empty and scrappily done with no signs of surprise that they feel non-existent. The less said about the dull and abrupt ending the better too. The characters are either irritating(Nana) or infuriatingly stupid(Karen), at no point do we root for them and their actions are so stupid beyond belief makes them even less likable. If there are any characters we do root for it is the zombies, unfortunately that is not saying much as they are under-utilised and personality-less. The actors don't or can't do anything with their characters or dialogue, very amateurish. It is ironic that the Oscar Winner Shirley Jones ties with Jennifer Taylor as the worst acting performance in the movie, and Anthony Michael Hall and Daryl Hannah are pretty much wasted. In conclusion, if you want any delights with Zombie Night you will be disappointed. It is not quite as bad as the abysmal Vampegeddon(doubt that many people have seen it and for good reason) but there is a big emphasis on the quite. 1/10 Bethany Cox

Zombies come out at night and two families must survive until morning.

By now, I think we all know to expect bad things from the SyFy Channel and the movies they show. And if you are familiar with the Asylum, who makes these movies, you know that they spare every expense in order to pump out low-grade, low-budget fluff. Some of it is entertaining (I confess), but none of it has ever been good.

Somehow they managed to get some real actors on board for this one. Not just one washed up actor (I am looking at you, Eric Roberts) but some decent names -- Anthony Michael Hall and Daryl Hannah. Alan Ruck may not have the name recognition, but everyone recognizes him from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" or "Spin City".

The most unfortunate thing is that the director is John Gulager, who is a legitimately talented man -- "Feast" was incredible, and I absolutely loved "Piranha 3DD". Somehow not even he could save this picture... how did they all get roped into working for the Asylum?

This movie was an absolute train wreck! When you start rooting for the zombies, that's how you know you could care less about any of the characters surviving. 

Their choice in characters... They picked the best not to star in the best? Is that what we do know? Anthony Michael Hall ... Loved him way better when he played the nerd and geek (Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles). It's as if he was money hungry so he played this role. Darryl Hannah... Way better playing Elle (Kill Bill Vols). And lastly Shirley Jones, who was given such a bad script that I was actually rooting for a zombie to kill her. Why would any of these actors even take an offer that had to deal with Syfy? 

I mean, what kind of movie was this anyways? This didn't even fit the cliché version of zombies nor the modernized versions! This movie got more and more frustrating as it went on. I strongly recommend not watching this movie, for life is too short for these types of movies to even consider watching.

Uncompromisingly horrific, unflinchingly realistic, and unrelentingly intense, this is one of the finest films of utter terror to have been produced in quite some time. Director John Culager has created a cinematic experience that relies upon an intelligent script, haunting imagery, and themes of family devotion to grip the audience like a vice. It is that caring and love that truly distinguishes this motion picture from the average horror film and gives it so much heart. These are people we care about and they are played superbly by a superior cast. Anthony Michael Hall is extraordinary as a father fighting to save his family as he struggles to retain his humanity. Alan Ruck and Daryl Hannah are also superb and their presence brings a great deal of gravitas to the film. Shirley Jones is stunningly effective in a moving role she gives incredible depth. This is indeed a difficult movie to watch at times for one can not feel themselves asking the most important question presented in this film,"What would I do?" Truly powerful cinema that uses the horror genre only as a pretense to broach existential and moral issues that Hollywood too often ignores. The difficult choices made in the name of survival are vital ones and they are explored as only director John Culager has the courage to do.

I must screw my courage to the sticking place on this one. Being a fan of everything else he's done, I was expecting quite a bit more for my money from John Gulager. (I paid for the TV I saw it on, the electricity it took to get through it, and the outrageous monthly satellite bill that brought it to me, so, yeah, I paid- out the f---ing a--...) I was expecting something along the lines of Dan O'Bannon's THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD: Gulager has in past instances shown that he's more than capable of rising to the Low Budget occasion (with everything else he's done)- but, this time around, for whatever reason(s), he simply didn't deliver. At the very least, I was expecting a cameo by his father (and it would've been extra cool if said cameo had been tied into his role in THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD). Again, no such luck. I'm far from consigning Gulager to the list of Has Been Directors: he has more talent in his little toe (left foot) than most directors (p)lying their trade these days. Maybe next time he'll come through for us.

Zombie Night (2013)

* (out of 4)

The Asylum are back and this time they're brought an Oscar-winner with them. The "story" is pretty simple as a zombie outbreak happens but the good news is that people just have to survive until the sun comes up. It turns out that these zombies are just out for one night so a group of people must try to survive not only the zombies but each other. ZOMBIE NIGHT certainly isn't NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD but I personally didn't expect it to be. You've gotta have rather low expectations when it comes to these films to appear on SyFy but there's certainly no excuse for a film to be this bad. There are all sorts of issues with this movie but the real criminal is the screenplay, which is just downright confusing and boring. The "plot" deals with about three different families who find themselves battling the zombies and then each other. I'm guessing this was originally meant to tell three separate stories and then bring them together (ala PULP FICTION) but it fails horribly. The entire film is just very sloppy in regards to the story and quite often you're sitting there dumbfounded trying to figure out what's going on and why so many humans are acting so stupid. Horror movies need characters to do dumb things but these here are just too dumb for their own good. The direction really doesn't add any excitement as the entire thing just has a rather slow feel to it. The shocking thing is that even the zombies are rather lame because they just don't have anything that sets them apart from the countless other films in the genre. The gore level is pretty high and there are a few nice death scenes, which at least keeps the entertainment going a little. Daryl Hannah and Anthony Michael Hall are the main stars here and it's nice seeing both of them even if their talents are wasted. Oscar-winner Shirley Jones (ELMER GANTRY) appears here briefly and even gets to spit out some blood. Rachel G. Fox rounds out the cast and is fun to watch. ZOMBIE NIGHT is about as bad as you can get but sadly it doesn't reach a "so bad it's good" level like many other films from The Asylum.

Read the other negative reviews. This one is so bad it doesn't even deserve a review

Despite having a promising second string all star cast (they really must have needed the paychecks.) this movie is a steaming pile of plotless garbage. I was hoping it would be one of those "it's so bad it's good" zombie flicks, but it managed to be even worse than that. I wish I could say it's your typical, predictable zombie movies, but that would be an insult to all the typical, predictable zombie movies. The characters are the absolute worst, and the writing is so bad it's not even laughable. The only thing that could have saved this mess is if the Shirley Jones zombie had more screen time and managed to kill everyone else. The End.

I wasn't going to write a review but I just wanted to comment on what one reviewer said.

He said he only watched the first 15 minutes of movie then went on to mention about the car blowing up near the start, well that car was around 65 minutes into the movie no where near the start and obviously he watched more than the first 15 minutes if he saw that lol.

He also mentioned about he couldn't sit through 2 hours of the movies, well... he is right no-one could quite simply because the movie was only 85 minutes long lol.

Oh well, I have to say that Asylum do seem to make decent zombie movies probably because the other movies in this genre are usually very low budget and Asylums 1 million budget is one of the bigger ones compared to other Zombie movies so they tend to look quite good in comparison.

Anyway I do agree with one comment the reviewer made and that was Shirley Jones playing Nana was very annoying. Overall there was plenty going on in the movie, the Zombies were quite good even though the acting and story was little cheesy I was entertained.

That's another Zombie/Infected movie seen and added to my ever growing list. :)

3 stars for the gore effects, quite obviously the majority of the limited budget went into them. If the writers would have tried to make this a humorous affair, the appalling acting, script writing and storyline might just have worked. In fact, it could have been good if the film didn't try to take itself seriously. The film almost titters on the brink of humour before you realise it's a very serious affair failing badly.

Even Zombie fans should be upset with the film. We all know Zombies don't care, they just amble directly at their target. No moving obstacles out of the way or bypassing defenses or defending themselves from attack. All of which the Zombies do in this film... ruins the 'Mindless Zombie Killer' effect we all know and love.

In the end we are left with a film that has you thinking "that would have been funny if...." and "some of the effects are not too bad" and... "Wow ! I could drop a piece of paper in a cage full of Monkeys and find a better script written on it ten minutes later. Then hire the Monkeys to act it out".

Seeing The Asylum was behind this movie as the intro credits came on the screen, I must admit that my level of expectation went from hopeful to next to none. But still, I decided to watch this movie because it is a zombie movie after all.

And now about 85 minutes later, I must admit that I was genuinely surprised here. And I can honestly say that this is without a doubt one of the better movies to make it from The Asylum's drawing board.

The story here, is much like most other zombie movies. A strange phenomena takes place world wide and the dead are returning to life to feast on the flesh of the living. There is no explanation why or how this is happening. A small group of survivors have to make it through the night, as the number of living dead continues to rise.

The storyline was good and well executed on the screen, which is a definite thumbs up to The Asylum. This is the way to go. And the zombies in the movie were actually quite good. Not like most other low budget movies where it is just people with their faces painted gray, splattered with some blood and having their clothing shredded here and there. The make-up department had actually gone all the way in here. And it was nice for a change.

The cast was doing a good job as well, and personally I was thrilled to have Darryl Hannah in a zombie movie. And she actually pulled her weight quite nicely here, despite being in a rather unfamiliar environment.

"Zombie Night" is good entertainment and fun to watch for everyone who enjoys the zombie genre.

The ending, with the sunrise and all, well... I didn't personally care much for that particular direction in the zombie mythology. But hey, the movie still worked out nicely.

I am giving "Zombie Night" 6 fingers up out of 10. I can't give anymore as zombies ate the remaining four.