The Burning Dead (2015)

I wish I could say, I came up with that, but it's the actual German title this movie received. This might be the best thing about the movie, though to be fair, you should know this is low budget. Still we get better movies and better acting and better everything with similar budgets. Unless you're the biggest Danny Trejo fan, you might want to steer clear from this one.Though even if you are, remember: It's not really his vehicle, he just has a small part in it. The story or the idea rather is pretty out there, which makes it almost likable. Unfortunately too many things go south/wrong, that cannot be helped or overseen.

When abominations meet addle-minded, you obtain this piece of superlative schlock cinema. I'll get to the obvious flaws in basic physics in a bit, but suffice to say that if you are looking for a chilling horror movie, well, The Exorcist, The Shining, Spoorloos are all on that shelf.Our story begins as we see a cannibal in a top hat feasting on some fresh intestines, ostensibly with his former wife. Apparently the inhabitants were trapped here, under the majestic and august auspices of a dormant volcano, and ran out of food. The year is 1846. Fast forward a century and some years and we see the low-budget (with some heart) cast of characters. Everyone is in a panic because the old volcano is about to erupt again, but they have much to tell us.Mindy Roberts (Monique Plante), her daughter Nicole Roberts (Nicole Cummins) and Nicole's boyfriend Ryan Jacobs (Kevin Norman) are all moving out of the area with the help of affable Sheriff Denton (Thomas Downey). Thus comes exposition about the family unit and the estrangement of Mindy and her father Old Ben. Old Ben is stubborn and addicted to the Internet through his tablet. Meanwhile the top geologists in the area Dr. Stevens (Kyle T. Heffner) and his assistant Eve Jones (Julia Lehman) are discussing volcanoes, which brings me to my short (and obviously inadequate) physics foray: Lava can reach between 800 and 1200 degrees Celsius. The human body erupts into flames at around 800 and 1000 degrees Celsius. By this back of the napkin math we see that the Zombies could not exist! Not only that, but I have yet to hear of a volcano spewing green, purple, red smoke or magma as cruise missiles onto nearby buildings.That's the least of this film's issues, however, as the citizens of the area really should have all died ages ago. The sheriff runs around in circles, the protagonists abandon their cars instead of leaving town, the clouds of volcanic ash are barely acknowledged. It's a horrible mess of plot holes, schlocky effects and tugs at the heartstrings.That said, the hilarity of some scenes makes up for the overall lack of cohesion. The magma cruise missile, the overacting from the zombies, the stupidity of the rangers all give us an entertaining hour or so of B-grade cinema. I haven't even gone into the absolutely brutal and explotivie "blogger/photographer" at the start, who thought taking off her top would be the best idea when about to be engulfed in flames.See only if you are willing to park your brain for an hour or so.

I love zombie movies... However, this can't even be considered a zombie movie! The cinematography is absolutely horrible, the visual effects (or lack of) are a waste of time and the acting isn't even good enough to be called, "B Movie" acting! The whole synopsis is a joke. I will give the writer props for thinking of a new and inventive way of thinking about zombies but... The zombies appear when a volcano erupts green rocks. As the rocks hit the ground, suddenly zombies (if you can call them that) appear and rise from the ground. Danny Trejo has been in a lot of, "B Movies" some of which I actually enjoyed, but even this is beneath him. If I was able to rewind the clock and never waste my time watching this movie, I would.

Rene Perez's zombie/sci-fi flick "The Burning Dead" puts some heat into the zombie lore by mixing supernatural with the classic disaster flick. The story is a standard disaster, impending doom scenario that has become the norm for such channels as Syfy. And for all tense and purposes, "The Burning Dead" seems specially produced for the channel that has brought cheap, CGI entertainment to American audiences. The same dramatic stakes arise in the story as a family reconnects in order to see that all survive the coming disaster. The twist here is the added supernatural element in the form of a curse which has lava fueled zombies raining down on the cast and picturesque landscape. As ridiculous and beyond sci-fi as the story premise sounds, the concept translates into a entertaining, all be it cheesy spectacle. The acting is pretty much what you would expect from a flick like this, sometimes contrived, often over-the-top scenes of melodrama mixed with screams and amusing dialog delivery. If you have enjoyed or delighted in any of the "made for Syfy" flicks similar to this film then "The Burning Dead" will give equal bemusement. It is pretty much a cookie cutter assortment of CGI induced disaster action sequences and practical make-up effects zombies. A lot of the situations and dialog does seem far too familiar as with most of these stories, but like junk food, it is all about the melodrama and cheap theatrics. Overall, "The Burning Dead" will not pull in any new fans to this CGI infused genre, but it holds its own against anything Syfy or the "straight-to-video" market puts up next to it. Trejo fans may be slightly disappointed considering the limited part he has in the film, but the scenes that his character is in are some of the more grounded ones. I felt he was under utilized , but that is just my thoughts. For what "The Burning Dead" is, the film has some amusing, and entertaining moments. The zombies, when not drowned in CGI emptiness, fall more toward the "Zombi" style than the "Night Of The Living Dead" creatures.