Dead Again (2021) - Sean of the Dead, it isn't

I'm guessing the film-makers behind 'Dead Again' must be massive fans of the Simon Pegg 'Cornetto Trilogy' as it's effectively a cross between 'Hot Fuzz' and, of course, 'Sean of the Dead.' Sadly, it doesn't even come close to either.  It starts off really serious and you think you're going to be in for some world-ending, apocalyptic epic adventure.  You get quite the opposite.

A pair of police officers (who are the typical 'funny man' and 'straight man' or discount versions of Nick Frost and Simon Pegg) patrol a quiet little English country town where nothing out of the ordinary ever happens.  Naturally, the dead start to rise and cause all kinds of havoc, well, nearly.

Some films don't have a budget that matches their concept, yet can be forgiven because they have other qualities such as a good script which makes up for it.  Here, it doesn't have either and when it's not copying lines from 'The Thing' it's adhering to every horror cliche ever.  The two policemen are by far the best actors - the others aren't really up to much, but then the script is so clunky the poor actors aren't really given much to work with.  There aren't any actors you'll probably recognise (or certainly none that I'd seen in anything else!).  Plus the scenes just ramble on and on - whether they're supposed to be 'character building' or 'dramatic' (such as the longest and most boring chase ever through an empty house where the camera simply follows the victim for longer than you could ever wish for).

Also, the direction is weird with strange red filters (with a firework/sparkler at the top) on outside shots and then when they're not using cheap Instagram filters it's like the camera is over-exposed and really bright and overly vibrant.  Again, this all adds to the 'cheap factor' and when there are kills, don't expect any good gore.  They can't afford that.  Just the odd CGI splatter of blood for head shots.

Overall, it feels like a student film - and not a very good one.  It is short.  That's about the best thing I can say about it.

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