The Roache-Turner brothers have definitely endured a tough
road to complete their debut film, Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead. The film’s
production stretches four years, hitting a brick wall when the brothers ran out of
money but was kept alive by government funding and a small amount of cash raised through crowdfunding.
Unfortunately the film’s limited cinema didn’t gross enough to make back its
small $1 million budget with most people choosing to pirate the film and quickly earned the dubious honour of being
the most pirated Australian film. This resulted in a very vocal
statement from the director urging people to buy the film to help support the
filmmakers with the tagline “You Watch. You Buy. We Eat”. If Kiah and Tristan Roache-Turner are reading this review, they will be pleased to know I paid for my Blu-Ray copy of Wyrmwood. I also enjoyed it.
So what is Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead? Well as the director himself said, the film is a mixture of Mad Max and Dawn of the Dead. The zombies definitely mirror the likes we saw in Romero’s epic and some of the costumes wouldn’t be out of place in the wastelands of Mad Max. This is the film’s biggest problem since it does little to forge it’s own identity and borrows too many ideas from other’s people work (the steel blade Boomerang from Mad Max 2). Aside from the Australian accents and slang, there is little here to differentiate itself from the horde of zombie films that overcrowd the market.
So what is Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead? Well as the director himself said, the film is a mixture of Mad Max and Dawn of the Dead. The zombies definitely mirror the likes we saw in Romero’s epic and some of the costumes wouldn’t be out of place in the wastelands of Mad Max. This is the film’s biggest problem since it does little to forge it’s own identity and borrows too many ideas from other’s people work (the steel blade Boomerang from Mad Max 2). Aside from the Australian accents and slang, there is little here to differentiate itself from the horde of zombie films that overcrowd the market.
However I’m not suggesting the film is bad, no the film does exactly what it
says on the box. It promised me 98 minutes of low-budget, over the top, B-grade zombie
goodness and that's exactly what I got.
The movie’s protagonist Barry finds himself in the middle of the zombie apocalypse and on a mission to rescue his kidnapped sister from a crazed scientist. Who is no doubt the highlight of the film for being absolutely mental. We need more crazy villains like this in movies.
The film’s low budget gives it a cheesy vibe that will have you laughing at the over the top violence with splashes of tomato sauce and the so-so obvious dummies being hit by cars. The film has no shortage of blood with almost everything being painted in a new shade of red. Cars, computers, people, walls, nothing is safe from the splash back of all this mayhem that earned it an MA15+ rating. Oh, did I mention there’s a scene with a guy dressed as Ned Kelly killing zombies and a car powered by zombie breathe instead of petrol? The film is full of bizarre shenanigans like this and all you can do is laugh at it. Although some of the shaky camera work can be a bit distracting at times.
The movie’s protagonist Barry finds himself in the middle of the zombie apocalypse and on a mission to rescue his kidnapped sister from a crazed scientist. Who is no doubt the highlight of the film for being absolutely mental. We need more crazy villains like this in movies.
The film’s low budget gives it a cheesy vibe that will have you laughing at the over the top violence with splashes of tomato sauce and the so-so obvious dummies being hit by cars. The film has no shortage of blood with almost everything being painted in a new shade of red. Cars, computers, people, walls, nothing is safe from the splash back of all this mayhem that earned it an MA15+ rating. Oh, did I mention there’s a scene with a guy dressed as Ned Kelly killing zombies and a car powered by zombie breathe instead of petrol? The film is full of bizarre shenanigans like this and all you can do is laugh at it. Although some of the shaky camera work can be a bit distracting at times.
Overall, Wyrmwood is an unoriginal, zombie film that doesn’t try to break the mould. It just wants you to have some fun and will appeal to people who
love B-grade films with a touch of Australian flavour. Just don't forget to switch off your brain before pressing that play button.
RATING - 3/5
RATING - 3/5
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