Movie Review: Face of Evil (2016)

Synopsis: After serving in the Middle East, Jay returns to his hometown on Independence Day only to discover a mysterious "flu" is quickly spreading. When his friends become infected and turn into zombies, he teams up with his former sergeant, who believes the disease is the result of a government conspiracy.

Who's in it? The movie stars Scott Baxter, Chad Bishop, Jamie Bernadette, Janet Roth and James Hutchinson.


Review: I was in the mood for a horror film to watch with my wife last night and, after considering about a dozen other films, I wound up picking this one because the plot at least sounded somewhat different. Unfortunately, about 15 minutes into this film, it became pretty obvious it was a mistake.

As is often the case with too many horror movies/thrillers, the film actually had a halfway decent concept that was absolutely ruined by poor execution. Zombie movies are a dime a dozen but the idea of a zombie virus that is spread by the protagonist (who is only a carrier and can't catch it) was somewhat intriguing. It's just too bad the filmmakers screwed it up.

I think my biggest problem with this movie is it was difficult to tell if it was supposed to be a comedy or if the acting was just so bad, it seemed that way. Truthfully, part of me really hopes it was the latter because, since this movie ultimately turned out to be about a legitimately serious subject, post traumatic stress disorder, the former would be more than a little bit inappropriate.

Another thing not helping this movie is it did become very predictable. Basically, the film's surprise twist at the end was something I was able to predict before Jay (Baxter) even left his house. Once he met Sarge (Bishop), it was kind of obvious what was really happening.

Oh, and don't get me started about all the filler material in this movie, whether it was Jay riding in a car, having long conversations with unimportant characters, or listening to karaoke. The movie could have easily been about 30 minutes shorter if it wasn't for what seemed like a very deliberate effort to stretch out the runtime.

Final Opinion: As I said, good premise but horrible execution. It's just not a movie that is worth taking the time to watch.

My Grade: F

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Movie Review: Role Play (2023)

Movie Review: Mean Girls (2024)

Movie Review: Upgraded (2024)