Walking the Dead [DVD]

This could have been the horror movie of the year, with all it had going for it; an unusual and intriguing setting, a great concept and a twist in the tail that you don't see coming a mile off, and some really good shocker moments. The female lead is superb, and the child performers are good; the effects are well done, and the location is used to excellent effect. But in the end it fails to generate much tension or hold together, for several reasons. The makeup work could have been better, with the walking dead mostly appearing to just be having a bad hangover. The male lead, Ted Biggs, goes through most of the story with a knowing smirk on his face which is okay for the first part of the film, where he does not know or believe what is happening; but once he has been shown absolute proof, it becomes difficult to suspend disbelief when he continues to smirk throughout the most traumatic events. The music is patchy, at times brilliantly enhancing the mood and at others totally disrupting it. But the real problem is the scripting. The plot is garbled, taking the fascinating concept of the walker of the dead (who can raise corpses but is only supposed to do so in order to walk them to their homes for burial - an idea used years ago in Mr Vampire) and burying it under a jumbled mass of other ideas from daft to dull. There are pointless scenes involving the 'hero's' employer and an office boy back in the States; a gang of Chinese punks is dragged in and used in most cliched way possible. The villain, the demented chap with an axe featured so prominently on the cover, is blind, which allows for some creepy moments but which also begs the question of how a village-full of people failed to prevent him from murdering them all. Continuity is poor, especially in the scenes with the punks. There's a gaping plot hole so huge even the writer feels the need to refer to it without actually explaining it. And they can't make up their mind about the nature of the walking corpses; some of them are mindless zombies, some of them are self-aware, some of them appear to be vampiric. And the twist on top of the twist at the end, fails utterly because it makes no sense at all. So in the long run, while this film isn't by any means dire, it is disappointing. Worth a watch, there are some standout scenes and ideas, but I'd rent it if I were you.

I watched this movie on a lazy Sunday afternoon and I was quite happy with it. It deals with the undead theme but not in the Romero-like or Voodoo manner. In this traditional Chinese village, the zombies originate from an old tradition of "walking the dead", thus allowing them to return to their hometown and find peace in their grave.
Somewhere in this process things go wrong ... which is the theme of the film.
I was pleasantly surprised by the aesthetic aspect of this film - all is filmed in the narrow streets and the traditional houses of an ancient Chinese village, and the landscapes surrounding it. Not the trashy post-apocalyptic scene of most zombie movies. Well filmed and eery. Enough gore to satisfy zombie lovers.

I wanted a film that reminded me of the Forbidden Siren Games, and I almost got it....almost. This movie is far better than the actual movie of the games.
Walking the dead is set in a very lovely looking Chinese town, unusual in it's design, somewhat Western looking buildings with a Chinese twang.
Although low budget and not really that horrifying, I found this movie to be very enthralling. It's slow witted inhabitants, the remnants of a dead town kept alive with the practice of 'Walking the Dead'. Masters of this art are the only ones capable of this feat. The idea was that the dead would need to be taken home for burial so the master would 'Walk the Dead' back to their hometowns to their families. Things were taken too far here and an American reporter bent on regaining his reputation arrives to investigate the mysterious claims of a local who wished for the truth to be told.
So close to being a fantastic supernatural offering, let down by a low budget and questionable actors.
Cinematography is good and storyline interesting enough to keep me going, Walking the Dead is on me shelf with a 6/10.