‘Re-Kill’ Didn’t Deserve the Hate it Received Upon Arrival (Review)

Written by: Daniel Hadley

Directed by: Valeri Milev

Cast: Bruce Lock, Scott Adkins, Daniella Alonso

Re-Kill, which took forever to get released for some reason, is yet another zombie movie wading its way through the very over-crowded pool of zombie media. But it manages to set itself apart with a mockumentary style which works surprisingly well.

After eighty-five percent of the earth’s population is wiped out by a zombie plague humanity managed to regain control and now a paramilitary group known as R-division are tasked with wiping out any remaining zombies. In the movies universe Re-Kill is a reality TV show akin to Cops that follows R-division on their various assignments. Broken up with various satirical advertisements reminiscent of Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop and Starship Troopers, they promote healthy sex lives to increase the human population and drugs, which counteract the zombie plague presented by a quadruple amputee after a tragic zombie attack. Given that we’re supposed to be watching a TV show, they fit well and work to break up the action and they were a clever way to set up the film’s universe without the use of heavy expository dialogue.

After his entire team is wiped out in a pretty cool scene, Winston is transferred to division 6 and his new team head out on various assignments, all of which are heavy on intense action and zombie brutality, and much like Daylight’s End, the characters here clearly know what they are doing and the action is all the better for it. Again, like Daylight’s End it’s incredibly satisfying watching hordes of zombies turned to pulp via various automatic weapons.

Re-Kill got a lot of hate upon its release which I think is pretty unjustified. Some claimed it was nothing new, but to be honest if zombie movies were up to this calibre I’d probably let out much less of an audible groan when I hear that yet another one is being released. Seriously Re-Kill is a good time, and the mockumentary gimmick never outstays its welcome and the action never descends into nosebleed inducing shaky cam nausea. And when was the last time you saw someone fire an RPG into a cargo container full of zombies?

Performances are strong and the characters have enough depth that my heart sank a little when some of them were torn apart or mercy killed as is the zombie movie tradition. Not that any death is tear inducing but It’s always nice to give a damn when a character gets bumped off (or maybe it’s not nice, what a quandary). These aren’t the UNSC marines from Aliens but they’re a fun group.

If like me, you’re becoming a little tired of zombies, then it will be movies like Re-Kill that pique your interest again. And if you’re not tired of zombie movies then why wouldn’t you give this one a shot? And please don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a good undead massacre, I just wish they were spaced out a little more. But after seeing this and Daylight’s End I might just be a little more excited when the next zombie movie rolls around. It shouldn’t be too long of a wait.

Rating: 3.5/5