13 Eerie (2013)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Crappy film

Absolutely the worst movie.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

People are stupid. Some people are very stupid. Usually, characters in horror films are at least slightly stupid, otherwise they wouldn't constantly get entangled in the mess that fuels the drama. But when the leads are six forensic undergrads who embark on a scientific expedition, you expect a certain degree of sense. Their project takes them to a remote island that was once used as illegal biological testing grounds for life-term prisoners. When we get our first glimpses of what remains of these prisoners, the effects are stomach churning.Also, the Canadian woods used as location used are pleasingly bleak and bathed in winter crispness. To their credit, the undergrads do many things right here; it's just that the walking dead keep on coming. There are many, many zombies in popular entertainment currently, and as is often the case, their ubiquity has reduced their effectiveness. Rather like the found footage genre, there are still effective stories to be told, but you have to search for them.I enjoyed '13 Eerie' a lot. Although it is all played straight, I suspect the effects planners had a great deal of fun conjuring up the imaginative ways in which people/zombies are impaled, stabbed, mangled and injured. The results are joyfully convincing. The ending is especially amusing – when the credits come crashing in, it's hard not to laugh out loud. Intentional horror is rare in these kind of films, and it works very well here.The zombie creatures are very detailed and suitably gruesome, but their torso/body-suits occasionally let them down, betraying a certain bulkiness or fold in the fabric. But they are a force to be reckoned with – they run, snarl and hiss, indicating their infection has given them a certain primal ferocity. On a personal note, I have watched a lot of horror films recently that have struck me as banal and formulaic and it made me wonder if I was becoming over-familiar, or tired of the genre. Luckily for me, an enjoyable experience like '13 Eerie' has restored my faith and enthusiasm.

13 EERIE is an odd little horror movie for sure. Shot out in the Canadian woods, it sees a group of forensic students travelling to a deserted island for a training exercise, where real-life dead bodies have been provided in order for them to hone their skills. Unfortunately, one of the bodies is no longer dead, and soon an aggressive zombie virus is spreading through the island.The title makes this sound like a supernatural ghost story but in fact its a grisly, gory effort. It starts out like the Christian Slater thriller MINDHUNTERS before morphing into a virtual reprise of the EVIL DEAD remake; even the zombie make-up looks the same as the demons in those movies. It can hardly be an EVIL DEAD rip-off - it only came out a month after the remake - but I'm sure the producers saw at least a trailer for EVIL DEAD and decided to copy the look. 13 EERIE is refreshingly old-school when it comes to the effects scenes, preferring to concentrate on old-fashioned prosthetics than the cheesy CGI usually found in such productions.The film isn't perfect, with some odd and unsuccessful choices made along the way; the decision to make the zombies growl like lions was a poor one, for example, and the abrupt ending is anticlimactic. But the copious and extremely unpleasant gore effects make it a stomach-churning thrill ride, and GINGER SNAPS star Katharine Isabelle makes for an effective and likable heroine. Watch out for Brit actor Nick Moran nailing a southern accent.

Overall a good zombie flick. Several forensic students go to a deserted former prison island surrounded by swamp land. Their professor is a jerk, and probably miscast- he came off more of a soldier than a prof. But the students are fairly typical college students. Then during their CSI type of investigation on the island they encounter... well, you know.The zombie makeup is an 8 out of 10. I was struck with the thickness of some of the half-body costumes, but overall fairly good.The gore is plenty in this flick. And there are some great comedic moments, when Larry the handyman guy and the prof are assaulted by 2 of the zombies.The tough chick is tough though we are not told why. Who cares? Some reviewers said this flick was flat. Not really- considering the spate of zombie low-budget flicks out there this is a fun romp.

Six forensic undergrad students agree to a competition that could land one of them in a training position with the FBI. They arrive on a remote island and are suppose to find planted bodies and collect evidence. Unfortunately for them this site was used as a biological testing ground on life-term prisoners. These burnt looking cadavers are among them and very much alive with revenge in mind. The relentless ex-inmates attack and devour a few students in gruesome fashion and they soon come back to life as the undead. What you have in this Canadian production is a semi-clever twist on the Zombie attack film. The isolation is there and the victims are made to fight for their lives. The good news is, Director Lowell Dean builds suspense well and delivers with some inspired and at times gory deaths. Katharine Isabelle is solid in the lead role and some great looking zombies deliver the goods. Fast paced and never boring, 13 Eerie will manage a few good scares and solid Zombie action and mayhem.