Serum (2006)

Dr. K(David H Hickey)has been trying to master a formula that would end all disease and handicaps, but needs live donors to complete his work. His doctor brother Richard(Dennis O'Neill)has a son named Eddie(Derek Philips)who is accepted to medical school. Eddie has a girlfriend named Sarah(Lizabeth Cardenas)who is pre-law and plans to attend law school herself the coming fall. She and Eddie resume their relationship when Sarah calls things off with her current boyfriend who is also shagging the lady of Walt(Bill Sebastian;Eddie's best friend who recently paid for his cheating girlfriend's boob job). Eddie accidentally gets hit by a car and appears on the throes of death when Dr. K makes a suggestion to Richard..let him "recuperate" Eddie using his secret, illegal methods. When Dr. K applies his serum to Eddie horrifying results occur. Eddie's face bulges massive warts while he has also acquired a taste for human flesh. Many will die so that Eddie can feed this uncontrollable appetite he can't quench. Soon he may even pose a threat to his father and girlfriend..Eddie Monster must be stopped.Typically awful direct-to-video horror flick suffers from a severe lack of budget, acting, and overall talent. The premise, which seems like an interesting fright-fest, fails to deliver even as a zombie flick. The gore is limited with a few munching scenes but most of the violence occurs off-camera. The use of time to move the story along can really get annoying.

I've been deciding between two films ..it was this one and the "other" was yet another movie using the whole "re-animator" idea behind it .... well i chose this movie to rent because i have a theory that has yet to lead me astray ... that is this "if the movie has no scenes from the actual film itself on the back of the DVD case then its a piece of crap, so low budget they are embarrassed to have the movie on the back" ...and thats stood well all this time .... well i chose this film over the other one because it showed scenes from the movie on the back the other one didn't ...well d a m if i was surprised at the great ideas and potential behind this one ...that all fell short ... very short .... i mean the story line was solid crazy doc trying to save nephew and all that after a car wreck ... but the lack of gore was sad .... the lack of nudity where appropriate was also very sad ..... all and all i wonder if i should have taken the chance on the other film ..and now will i ? .. um ... no ... probably not only from the fear of the same thing happening .... and it being far worst than this ....(4), vocalist - GOD IN A MACHINE

"Serum" starts out with credits that are quite reminiscent of the "Re-animator" movies, and it owes a lot to them. The story is very similar; a mad doctor develops a serum that he believes will alleviate pain, sickness and death, but he's apparently not a big believer in clinical trials and so winds up with a brain-eating zombie on his hands in the person of his nephew. The zombie even looks like one of those from "Re-animator," and in fact some of the make-up effects in "Serum" aren't bad. Unfortunately, the script is pretty slow and unbelievable in quite a few places, resulting in a soap opera feel for most of the first 3/4 of the movie. For some reason, the director feels compelled to tell us the time of day every few minutes by flashing it in big white letters across the screen. I can't see why this was important, other than being an attempt to provide viewers with a sense of time passing; sometimes, that wouldn't be present otherwise as the plot plods along.There are a number of moments that just don't add up here. For instance, one victim is bludgeoned with a sledge hammer, but when we see the victim's head up close, there's no sign of that trauma. In another scene, a character runs down a fully lit hospital corridor (we can see the circles of light on the floor, in fact) with a flashlight in hand, looking for all the world like he's walking in the dark... but a moment later a second character walks down the same fully-lit corridor without one. These are just a couple of examples; moments of what look like directorial or editorial sloppiness crop up quite frequently throughout the movie."Serum" is better in some ways than much of what goes straight-to-video as independent horror lately. In terms of technical items — sound and photography, for example — it's got a more polished look than a lot of what lands on a DVD. On the other hand, there's still a good deal of wooden acting (particularly by one of the lead characters, the mad scientist himself!) and nonsensical moments that have nothing to do with suspension of disbelief and everything to do with writing and continuity. Maybe these are things that the people involved with making this film will eventually get more experience with, though. One of the problems with low-budget independent horror lately is that the filmmakers often set out to remake more popular movies that had bigger budgets, and that almost never works out. It didn't in the case of "Serum," anyhow.

I love movies but am not a big fan of horror films. However, many of my students love them and tell me I should see this one or that one, which I do from time to time. I watched "Serum" and was greatly surprised. Naturally, there was the gore and violence that I do not normally like, but the film also had a story, which was refreshing. The filmmaker created an interesting plot and took the time to develop the characters, which made you more invested in them. Obviously, it was a small budget film, but it didn't matter because you liked the characters and wanted to find out what was going to happen next. And, I thought the production value was better than many other independent movies I've seen.