REVIEW: Ay Up Me Duck of the Dead

 Watch Ay Up Me Duck of the Dead… what a title huh? I don’t really understand it but it got my attention so in my list of short zombie films to watch this is my next one. This story tells of Barbara and Johnny, two regular people who start their day off normal but inevitably meet up and discover why there is nobody around the city. Soon, they must stand together if they ever want to make it out of the zombie-infested city and set aside their slight differences. The short wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either… it was average. I enjoyed watching it and it held my attention so I guess it accomplished what it set out to do.

The first thing that I immediately liked about the film was after the bar montage, the two characters are walking around the city wondering where people are and it’s a great homage to 28 Days Later and the remake of Dawn of the Dead. For having a micro-budget they really did a great job showing that loneliness and isolation. I’ll say this, getting a street that desolate is damn near impossible.

As simple as the story does sound, for the first half it was pretty standard and nothing new but when the second half came around… that’s when things got a little better. The montage of all the zombies walking around and attacking people was great and the little twist at the end was also nice to see. It was justice against a guy that I kind of liked but made a very foolish move.

I enjoyed the characters but probably not as much as the movie would like me to have. I think there could have been a lot more characterization considering one is a bit more uptight than the other, so that could have been played around with. Also, I’m not sure how I felt about the random and bland delivery of some of the humor. To me, it just felt a little out of place and didn’t fit the moment.

Overall, I think it’s the characters that need to have been worked on a bit and probably given some motivation but maybe I am being a little harsh on a film that might have been made for the fun of it. That’s why I think it’s a decent movie. If directors Pedram Karimfazli and Steve Best want to make a feature length zombie movie, they have what it takes but there is still much that needs to be worked on. I do hope they consider making a feature length. 

Watch the video below.

For more information check out the official website.