I had first heard of Turner Clay’s ‘State of Emergency’ a few years back and then it fell off the radar for me. No news on a release, no news on production, etc. Honestly I had forgotten about the film until recently we were asked about giving away a couple copies in a contact. Score! Not only was it back on but a slew of trailers and a review copy showed up on my doorstep. After a few years of waiting how did the film hold up?
Well this one isn’t your typical zombie film. While the plot isn’t too original the execution and focus on build up instead of gore and mass zombies was a nice change of pace. Most of the indie undead films that have been out as of late have been too fill of both so it was a nice change of pace.
The film opens with Jim (Jay Hayden) watching the madness of an outbreak that is the result of a chemical explosion that is decimating Montgomery County. As he finally decides to get the hell out of dodge he’s pretty much ignored by the military whose attention he tried to get for help. Unsure of what to do and thinking he will be out on his own he conveniently is contacted by a group whose taken refuge in a nearby warehouse that is full of supplies.
There he meets with the group and he and Scott (Scott Lilly) become the two leads with the rest of the cast really feeling either weakly written or just there as the background. I’m not saying that the acting was bad there just didn’t feel to be a focus on the rest or that there was any real connection to be made with them. That being said Jim truly is a normal guy you can get behind and root for. Honestly from near the beginning I really wanted him to be able to survive the entire film.
So yes you’ll be expecting to want to see how this group of humans survives the infection, other humans and how they get along with one another. It’s a good mix of drama, suspense, with a touch of horror mixed in.
As the area they are in is secluded you don’t have to worry too much about the zombies in the film. Let’s be realistic here we’re really talking about infected over undead. They are suffering from an infection that makes them very classic zombie feeling though aren’t going to be coming back from beyond the grave. The lower budget probably showed up the most here as those that were infected looked to have been done in CGI for head shots in a way that didn’t fit with the quality from the rest of the film. That complaint was in the minority though as the rest of the film though really did look great. Desolate location shoots, minimalistic scenes, I loved the visuals from the rest of the movie.
While this would fall into the indie category for zombie movies it’s one of the more enjoyable ones I’ve seen in awhile. It’s a character driven piece so don’t expect hordes of the undead and gore being up in every scene. It’s really more of a slow burn but one that fans of the genre who are looking for something with some build up should be able to get behind.
Available at Amazon.
