DAYS OF DARKNESS (director/writer: Jake Kennedy; screenwriter: Joey Gaynor; cinematographer: Brandon Trost; editor: William Daniels; music: Jamey Scott; cast: Tom Eplin (Chad), Sabrina Gennarino (Lin), Travis Brorsen (Steve), Roshelle Pattison (Mimi), Bryan Rasmussen (Slasher), Chris Ivan Cevic (Simon), Eric Stuart (D.J.), Marian Tomas Griffin (Kylie), Ashley Elizabeth Pierce (Jane), William Cannon (Herbert), John Lee Ames (Trent); Runtime: 84; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Tom Eplin/Kurt Anderson; Lions Gate Home Entertainment; 2007)
“An apocalyptic film for those who like to pleasure themselves with bad moviesabout flesh-eaters.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
An apocalyptic film for those who like to pleasure themselves with bad movies about flesh-eaters. Its director is former advertising executive, the London-born Jake Kennedy (“Penance”), who co-writes this low-budget trashy derivative genre film with Joey Gaynor. It’s brutal, repulsive, unfunny and dumb–in other words, it’s your typical mainstream zombie flick.
A comet crashes into the planet causing a plague by spreading dust throughout the atmosphere, as the dead rise from their graves and the living are infected by the comet dust that transports parasites that have the ability to transform people into flesh-eating zombies. The survivors observe that the infected have their genitals removed and are replaced by a birth sac containing, if you can believe, an alien-human hybrid.
We witness at an abandoned military fenced-off compound in the remote desert a number of varied survivors trying to stave off hordes of attacking zombies locked behind the fence and yearning for human flesh. The leader of the humans at the compound is the bully rancher actor Chad (Tom Eplin), who is leader because he’s the one armed with a high-powered rifle. Simon (Chris Ivan Cevic) is the sincere gay survivor tormented because back in civilization he witnessed his male marital partner and adopted daughter eaten by the zombies. Lin (Sabrina Gennarino) is a tough as nails military careerist, trying to keep the boisterous group together. Steve Turner (Travis Brorsen) and his girlfriend Mimi (Roshelle Pattison) are lovebirds, just returning from a camping trip on the deserted military grounds, hoping to marry some day. Kylie (Marian Tomas Griffin) is a retired porn star who is over-protective of her spoiled teenage daughter Jane (Ashley Elizabeth Pierce). Trent (John Lee Ames) is bible-spewing quote machine bugged-out fundamentalist preacher, convinced God has brought on the plague to punish mankind for their sins. Trent’s brother Herbert (William Cannon) is locked in the basement because he was bitten and has become a zombie. Slasher (Bryan Rasmussen) owns a used car dealership and D.J. (Eric Stuart) works there as a salesman, and the subdued black muscleman seems as lost as I am in this lemon car of a flesh-eater cheapie flick.
REVIEWED ON 1/27/2013 GRADE: C-
Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”
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