Devil's Playground (2010)

I was really happy when the proper East End geezer joined the cast of EastEnders, I'd previously only seen two of his films, Human Traffic and Severance, with Halloween on the way I thought I'd try one of his horror films. Basically in the not too distant future leading pharmaceutical company Newgen Industries is in the final stages of testing its new "legal performance enhancer", RAK-29, testing has met with spectacular failure as the drug has caused physical and allergic reactions for over 30,000 test subjects, causing a media uproar. But the side effects worsen and test subjects become increasingly violent until they are nothing more than marauding beasts, and their bites are infectious, turning anyone bitten into flesh eating zombies like them. Dr. Michael Brooke (Del Henney) identifies only one test subject who has not turned into a bloodthirsty monster, pregnant woman Angela Mills (The Descent's MyAnna Buring), her immunity makes her the only hope to find a cure for the plague that threatens the world. Despite handing in his resignation to CEO Peter White (Colin Salmon), N-Gen mercenary and hardened killer Cole (EastEnders' Craig Fairbrass) is given the mission to find and protect Angela to bring her in for examination. Cole is joined by other survivors, including Joe (Danny Dyer), but Cole's mission becomes much more difficult when he is bitten himself, he injects himself with a drug that will slow the process of infection, but will Angela stay safe and sound to save the world from apocalypse. Also starring Jaime Murray as Lavinia, Shane Taylor as Geoffrey, Sean Pertwee as Rob and Mike & Angelo's Tim Whitnall as News Anchor. Dyer gets a little swearing as usual and acts a vague hero, but not much else, Fairbrass is tougher, and the other cast members do their stuff fine, the film certainly has a fair amount of blood, guts and violence to keep scary movies fans happy, but it is let down but a lacklustre script and a predictable story, a pretty pointless science-fiction horror. Adequate!

The plot: After a new, experimental drug causes people to turn into acrobatic zombies, a brooding bruiser searches for the one person who can provide a cure.Devil's Playground is a derivative and generic zombie movie, but I still enjoyed it. It's basically a ridiculous excuse to show lots of gore SFX and stunt work, the dialogue and acting are often cheesy, and it's undeniably a ripoff of modern "fast zombie" movies (especially 28 Days Later), but if you're in the mood for a B movie, this will satisfy you. If you're expecting it to be original (or even fast-paced), you're sure to be disappointed. It seems assembled from scenes of other zombie movies, but the scenes are competently directed, even if the dialogue and acting are occasionally a bit cheesy. It doesn't really have anything insightful or original to say, but it does manage to throw in lots of impressive stunts. If you're looking for a movie about flesh-eating acrobats, I think you'd have a difficult time finding a better one than this.It's difficult to recommend this movie, but undemanding genre fans may enjoy it, despite the flaws. It's worth a view if you don't need anything better than a moody atmosphere, some B movie actors, and a simple plot. It's no classic, but it's a cut above the typical direct-to-video zombie movies that I've been watching lately.

After watching some inadequate horror movies over the past couple of days, this was exactly what I needed - a gory, bloody zombie flick with all the trimmings. Devil's Playground takes place in London where a pharmaceutical company announces that they have stumbled across a new wonder drug that they describe as a legal "performance enhancer" (super steroids) which actually (to the embarrassment of the drug company) turns out to be a poisonous cocktail that kicks off a zombie outbreak which quickly sweeps through the UK.We follow a group of people as they try to survive by finding an area somewhere in London that is zombie-free. Now, there's a plot twist that's pretty much a blatant ripoff of 28 Weeks Later, but I chose to look past it because the character development was adequate and the storyline bumped along at an even pace.Oh, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention the zombies. Devil's playground follows in the new tradition of showcasing athletic zombies that have the same speed and the same appetite as Mike Tyson. Yes, the zombies you know and love from the Dawn Of The Dead remake and 28 Days & Weeks Later are back to hunt people down like a pack of bloodthirsty dobermans that haven't been fed for weeks.The movie doesn't quite live up to the standards of Dawn Of The Dead and 28 Days & Weeks Later, but it's well worth the time if you're in the mood for a zombie flick and haven't filled your blood and gore quota for the month. Two thumbs up, horror fans.

Zombie Pacur ? New enhancement drugs unleash a zombie plague the likes of witch you have never seen. The zombies in this movie do run, jump, climb up walls, bust down doors and jump Through windows, but hay I love zombies and bought it hook line and sinker. I do like my zombies to move at a normal pace and not any faster then 28 Days for sure. I have read about zombie fans who have to have the slow shambling zombies but I go by the idea of a fit recently dead person should be able to movie as fast as a normal person but in my zombie world you can not do super human feats just because you change over to the living dead. The lead actor (Craig Fairbrass) who I have seen in other films is a great tough guy and is for sure the man I want on my side. Good cast and there struggle to survive kept me smiling as the body count rose. Some nice gore and the fast pace of flesh eating make it well worth a look in my mind.