State of Emergency - Expected more

I read some of the other reviews for State of Emergency and was pleasantly intrigued. All seemed to talk about it having less gore and more story. And I'm cool with that. As a fan of zombie films in general, I've seen gore in all its forms, so a film based around a decent story would also suit me.

It's about a viral outbreak which turns most of a town into zombies (or perhaps I should say `infected' as they run and behave a lot more like the creatures from 28 Days Later, or Dawn of the Dead 2004 edition).

Sadly, I couldn't see much evidence of a story. The first quarter of an hour has no dialogue. We just follow our hero after his girlfriend has died (somehow) and now he's left creeping around a barn and, on the few occasions he encounters a zombie, he always manages to drop or leave behind his weapon (really bugged me!). However, he's saved when he hikes across a field and takes refuge in a warehouse with three really boring and unlikeable characters. Once inside, they spend their time watching zombies standing there in fields (I didn't get this bit!). Not only that, but his previous girlfriend may have only been dead a few hours, but - by an amazing coincidence - one of the other humans is a suitable girlfriend replacement.

It's a short film and kind of feels like it's set at the same time as 28 Days Later, or rather Dawn of the Dead 2004 (but minus the budget of either). There's the (seemingly obligatory) CGI blood added to the few zombie deaths we see on screen.

It's not a bad film. I just didn't find it as good as some of the other reviews were making it out to be. Ironically, people don't seem to like the ending. I thought the ending made a nice change!

5/10 a hard trek, a bit like unicycling to Mordor and back