War Z Day One

When attempting anything "Zombie", it's hard to steer clear of the usual tropes and re-occurring themes, which is why it's become a fairly tiresome genre. BUT, every once in a while, just when you thought you'd had enough, ya get sucked back in.

The format is that of a web series with each episode furthering a narrative surrounding a small group of characters as they make their way through the beginnings of the Zombie Apocalypse.

The series is aesthetically campy and fun to watch. It knows not to take itself too seriously, but it's not an exercise in comical escapades either. While much of the Zombie content found youtube can seem a bit lumbering and tedious to watch, this was one web series I found myself enjoying all the way to the end. It's a rare thing... considering I usually find myself not finishing even single episodes of other shorter web series out there.

It might be because the writing was actually good. Whereas other Zombie shorts and web series may use action, the same tried and done zombie-vfx and other shenanigans as a foundation to capture the attention of the viewer, this was surprisingly more dependent on plot, dialog and good pacing to reveal an actual story— go figure.

A low budget series can only render up to a certain level of production value, so don't look here to find the next world war Z, I am legend etc... Instead come for a fun, well written, solidly acted zombie story that actually deserves your time and rewards you with something that's genuinely fun to watch.

Infestation:Day One is well written and flows with decent production value. This movie is not your average cheesy Zombie flick with horrible one-liners and a ton of action to masque the faltering storyline. This film is also not your shoot'em up Zombie killing movie like Zombieland or Shaun of the Dead. Svetlana Titova and Michael Welch took time in dialogue and narrative to put together a suspenseful dramatic thriller that is typical of movies like World War Z or Walking Dead. Other reviews seem to concentrate on the imperfections of this vision however many tend to forget the campiness and horror of such low budget films like Paranormal Activity or the original Evil Dead. This movie falls within that category. In this particular story, you are drawn into the characters' world and the protagonist's obsession for conspiracy and information on the apocalypse.

Director Svetlana Titova captures the audience through her visual storytelling of these average joe's, who are put into a situation that is the stuff of nightmares. The audience will be drawn into its realistic feel, similarly to the movie Cloverfield, where they are involved in the characters' journey through the film and take part in the decisions they make, for better or worse. The use of confrontation is used skillfully, not blaring throughout every single scene which gives you an appreciation for the actions that the characters' would take. Everything is frighteningly realistic, from the dialogue to the acting in the film. The chemistry between the actors increases the suspension of disbelief that the story is happening and can happen to you.

My advise is to watch this series for yourself rather than read these reviews and decide for yourself. Industry professionals love harping on the quality but never see the story for what it really is. If you give this movie a chance you will be pleasantly surprised.

I love good zombie movies. Especially good low budget zombie movies. Infestation does not disappoint on both counts. Despite the low budget the film is smartly written and well directed. This is more of a drama than an action film but it works. The tension rises throughout the movie and then gets punctuated by some good zombie action scenes. The zombies look good and when they show up they keep the story going.

The dialogue is good and the writer doesn't go for cheap one-liners like so many other horror films do. The characters actually sound like real people talking to each other. I didn't notice the dialogue that way I have for other films.

As I have said, there is not a ton of action in this film but what action there is comes across very realistically and not overdone. There is a lot of hand-held camera work so the film has a documentary effect to it.

Overall, this was well written and directed. I would have liked a little more action but still a movie that I would recommend.