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Just when you think you have seen every type of possible scenario to stage a zombie movie in, something new seems to come along and prove us all wrong. But when you stage your zombie movie in an airplane, one has to question if the makers of the film are scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas, or more probable, ripping off/cashing in on last years terrible "Snakes On A Plane". This zombie "epic" at 30,000 feet started off under the title of "Plane Dead", but supposedly after "Snakes" was released, the filmmakers wanted to be more original and change the name to…brace yourself, "Flight Of The Living Dead". Oh, I got it now…a play on Night Of The Living Dead's title is better than ripping off the title of a half assed 'cult' film, right? And changing one word in Romero's classic should make yours "fly" too?

Dr. Leo Bennett is on the run from the CIA after creating a genetic virus. The virus makes dead bodies come back to life and the plan is to use it on battle fields as a way of combating enemies. In a way unexplained in the film clearly, Dr. Bennett has smuggled the virus onto a flight from LA to Paris in the form of an infected colleague who is kept in a container in the cargo bay of the plane. The flight becomes frightening to many of the people on board when the plane runs into severe turbulence, but little do they know of the danger that awaits them. As the turbulence continues, the container holding the woman crashes over and breaks open. The woman is surprisingly normal looking and acting, until a man hired to watch the container panics when he sees her and shoots her. The virus then takes over, regenerating her into the living dead. And then, you guessed it, all hell breaks loose.

It is very easy to be cynical when looking at the exterior of "Flight Of The Living Dead" for all of the above mentioned reasons and a whole lot more, but once I watched the movie, I must say, it wasn't half bad. In fact, I'll even say it was pretty damn good. Not by any means was this a great zombie flick, but if you're a zombie worshipper such as I, then you may enjoy this fun little popcorn flick too.

I'm not going to lie to you , this is a mindless zombie movie, but it's not a mind numbing zombie movie. The film does all of the right things at all of the right times once it gets going ,and it's easy to see that writer/director Scott Thomas' goal was to make a fun movie. There is no social relevance, no commentary on the air traveling business, nor any other type of underlying theme and any sense of logic whatsoever was left behind at the airport. It's corny, it's hokey, and at times it's so-bad-it's good, but the sole reason for this movie to exist is to entertain you with some blood thirsty zombies with no place to run to at 30,000 feet in the air.

One of the down sides to the film is the length of time it takes for the first zombie to appear on screen. My attention span is just fine, but come on…this is a zombie movie and at upwards of 35-40 minutes for the outbreak to happen, it does seem to drag on and on . The build up scenes aren't too interesting and also has some of the worst acting this side of the "From Justin to Kelly" movie. Some of it is so bad that it makes a soap opera look like Oscar material. There is one scene in particular where two female characters get into a heating argument over one of them being a complete bitch, that will have you almost in tears at how awful it is. During this build up to the outbreak, we are introduced to all of the colorful cast of to-be-victims that include a professional golfer and his wife who are at each other's throats over his celebrity status, a cop and a fugitive that are traveling together to the fugitive's next court date, oversexed jocks that insist on playing football on the plane, a girl who exclaims during the turbulence "cool huh?" with a bubbly chuckle, a guy and girl who go to the bathroom to make out behind their partner's back and the flight would not be complete without a Nun.

Once the carnage does begin, the movie takes a drastic turn for the better. Up until this point, I was wondering why I was wasting my time with this, but when the outbreak happens, the tone of the film gets to where it should have been from the start. You'll be surprised at all of the twists and turns that Scott Thomas was able to conjure up inside of a plane. It's easy to wonder just how interesting a zombie movie on a plane could be, but Mr. Thomas does a fine job with keeping the flow (and the blood) going at a good pace. These zombies are much like the ones seen in the Dawn Of The Dead remake and 28 days Later, where they hiss, are as mad as hell, and could outrun an Olympic sprinter. They bust through the walls, crawl through the vents and in an interesting scene, come up through the floor of the plane much like they would if they were rising out of the grave. There's even a gut busting scene that involves a toothless Grandma zombie trying to munch on a guy's arm to which he says, "She's gumming me to death!"

The effects are about 50/50. The airplane was, according to Scott Thomas, a 20+ foot model, but the surrounding are obviously CGI. The zombies themselves look pretty good…nothing new, but on par with most that we see in today's films. Brian Wade, a veteran in the horror genre, worked on the effects crew and brought a level of success to the film that probably wouldn't have been there otherwise. Gorehounds will also be happy to hear that there is plenty of nasty gore scenes in the film to satisfy.

Horror fans will also notice a few familiar faces while watching this movie. Dale Midkiff, most known for his role as the father in Pet Semetary, plays the short, but sweet role of Dr. Lucas Thorp, who's wife is the virus carrier. Erick Avari plays the role of Dr. Bennett, Raymond Barry plays one of the Captain's on the doomed flight and Richard Tyson, from Kindergarten Cop and the more recently Big Bad Wolf, play the funny role of the TSA air marshal.

Flight Of The Living Dead is a big, dumb fun adventure that most zombie aficionados will probably enjoy. Not a classic, but perhaps a cult classic, this movie reminds me of the type of film from the 80's that people still love to this day, not because they are "good", but because they are "cheesy good" if you know what I mean. So if you happen to check this out, turn off your brain, turn off your logic and enjoy the flight!
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T.T.F.N.
William Pattison
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