VOD Review: Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (2015)

We love zombie movies. Risen from the dead or infected; slow-moving or quick runners; Romero style, Fulci style, or hell, even Danny Boyle style... there's just something about a world-gone-zombie that captivates us, excites us, and above all else, terrifies us.

As a zombie movie, Wyrmwood is pretty standard issue for the most part, although it does offer a few unique twists on the typical zombie story that make it fun in a way all its own.

No it's not perfect, and yes it's worth seeing. That's honestly the best way to describe this movie.

After a spectacular meteor shower leaves the world full of a strange, flammable gas, civilization is plunged headlong into Zombie Apocalypse! Anyone who breathes the gas turns into an infected zombie, unless of course their blood type is A-Negative. Then, they don't. But they do if they get bit. Or injected with infected blood. In one way or another, everyone is basically screwed.

WHO'S GOT THE WRONG BLOOD TYPE? THIS GUY!

Benny is an Aborigine who is on a hunting trip with his brother and friend (most likely poaching roos) when Zombie Apocalypse breaks out. Barry is a guy with a great wife and an annoying daughter, who is just living the good life when Zombie Apocalypse occurs. Brooke is Barry's sister, and she barely escapes a sexy photoshoot with her life when the zombie shit hits the fan... and then she gets kidnapped by a paramilitary group who want to do bizarre experiments on her. When Barry sets out in search of his sister, all of their paths cross, and their fates are sealed!

OH, THEIR PATHS WILL CROSS.

Will Barry ever find his sister? Will the guy in the yellow suit touch Brooke inappropriately? Will any of them survive Zombie Apocalypse? Far be it from us to spoil anything for you here, but yes, yes, and we'll most likely find out in the sequel. There almost has to be a sequel now, doesn't there?

WYRMWOOD: THE RISE OF BROOKE SOUNDS LIKE A CATCHY TITLE TO US.

For a movie that was shot on a minuscule budget on nights and weekends over the course of four years, Wyrmwood is a pretty impressive effort. You can tell this is a "smaller" movie, but it never really feels cheap; the Roache-Turner brothers stretched their budget and made the most out of it, and it shows on screen, especially in the bloody FX department. The headshots were plentiful, the action was over the top, and visually, this was a fun movie to experience.

It was also pretty neat the way that the filmmakers added their own little touches to the zombie sub-genre with this debut effort. We don't want to spoil those twists for you, but let's just say that they both involved blood, and both of them were really clever. In a sub-genre that doesn't usually stray all that far from the norm, it was things like that which made Wyrmwood stand out a bit more. That, and Bianca Bradey wasn't very hard to look at for 90 minutes. We have a thing for tough chicks, what can we say?

NOTHING GOOD IS GOING TO COME OF THAT.

If we have one big gripe with this movie, it's that the story doesn't really go anywhere. Zombie Apocalypse happens rather quickly, and a bunch of people are immediately forced into survival mode, and then a brother tries to reach his sister... and that's about it. We know that this is essentially a "road" movie, and the characters surviving is the point of the entire thing, but what about the endgame? I mean the endgame beyond finding people or just surviving. As a snapshot into these characters ordeals, Wyrmwood works very well. As a complete narrative that has a clear direction and purpose, it's a bit lacking.

We also aren't the biggest fans of the kind of humor found in this movie. The wacky, evil Doctor made us cringe with his try-hard quirkiness, and we would have preferred that they had just played it straight with him. Benny didn't really amuse us either, and we're pretty sure that he was supposed to.

All of that being said, for a movie with a small budget, Wyrmwood was an all-around solid effort.

SHE GONNA KILL SOMEONE.

"This morning I shot my wife and child with a nail gun. I don't know how to make that a story."

One day the stars will revolt and kill us all. Also, never piss off the edgy chick, and if you do, make sure you kill her.

THERE IS NOTHING BUT REVENGE IN THOSE EYES.

Even though some of its humor and quirkier bits didn't do much for us, we had a good time watching Wyrmwood. This movie is an action-packed, gory, Down Under fun jaunt into the world of Zombie Apocalypse, and it's just clever enough to stand out from that particular sub-genre's norm.

If you're a fan of all things zombie, then you really give this one a watch on VOD, or grab the Blu-ray when it comes out in a few months.

B-

Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead is available now on VOD.

We are now fans of Bianca Bradey, so she needs to be half-dressed and sweaty in some more movies asap.