Blah blah blah it’s another zombie film, who cares? Well, in the case of Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, you should, for Australian brothers Kiah and Tristan Roache-Turner have delivered a genuinely fresh and exciting and new zombie film. Have no fear, the undead aren’t fresh, they’re still as shuffling and moaning as ever, but they do have a new quality that gives them a smoking new style.
Our survivors are also an impressive ragtag bunch. There’s indigenous Benny who was out pig hunting with his brothers when the world changed. There’s broken Barry who witnessed his wife and daughter succumb. Then there’s his sister Brooke who is an impressive cross between Lara Croft and Alice from Resident Evil. Throw in a Biblical reference in the title, a mad scientist, awesome car chases and a whole new explanation for survival and Wyrmwood proves to be an astounding success.
Then there’s the action. Starting with the traditional small-on-large group zombie smash that many of its peers finish with, the film ramps up each major fight sequence to clever narrative-serving and adrenalin-packing heights. The Roache-Turner brothers literally bet the house on making this film. In the one day Friday 13 release prior to a hopefully well-earned online hit status, they deserve to win it all back and much, much more.
In the year we get the hyper-expensive Mad Max reboot, it’s great to see the genuine successor to George Miller’s original classic emerge to steal just a little of its thunder.
‘Wyrmwood: Road to the Dead’ Movie Times
