Use of Budget
I could see a bit of improvement in this film as opposed to its predecessor. The filmmakers have gotten a little bit better at setting scenes, doing effect makeup, and not relying quite as much on over-the-top special effects to set the mood. However, they still have quite a lot to work on, such as lighting, white balance, controlling camera shake, and – most especially – creating a cohesive story.
I was willing to grant some leeway for the first part of this series, since it was a first attempt, but since a lot of the same mistakes were made in this one, I worry that these filmmakers are falling into the trap of “hobby filmmakers,” rather than attempting to hone their craft first before wasting more money on more sub-par films. I commend them for actually going out and making movies rather than just sitting around and talking about them, but more time spent on pre-production would certainly yield a better finished product.
Out on his own, Jared manages
to save a friend...
...But the battle against the
undead is far from over.
Lasting Appeal
I haven’t yet seen the third installment in this trilogy, but I already think these separate films would be much better if they had all been combined. There’s a lot of “dramatic padding” – lots of meaningless shots that only seem to serve the purpose of stretching the length of the movie – that, if removed, could probably make the entire thing approximately feature-length.
The 1969 version of The Italian Job suffered from a similar malady. Approximately a third of the film was wasted by establishing Michael Caine’s character as a notorious playboy, which left very little for the actual heist. While the ending was quite ironically funny – the boys got the gold, but wound up in a bus hanging over a cliff – the entire product was a bit of a disappointment. While listening to the DVD commentary of the film, mention was made of a hindsight idea to have the boys “rescued” by the mafia, only to be stranded up in the mountains and have their loot stolen. That would then give them the opportunity for some sort of wild and crazy scheme to get it back. While it’s certainly beyond my spectrum of experience to criticize more established filmmakers (not to mention that The Italian Job seemed to be a bit more of a cultural commentary than a heist film), I personally think the movie would have been better had it included this second part.
Overall Comment
While Living Dead Lockup 1 was all about evading zombie hoards long enough to escape from prison, this film allows its characters to go on the attack. They are gradually learning more and more about their enemy, and trying to find a better way to defeat and possibly cure them. But the battle is not over by any means, and there still remains work for the heroes to do.
The
author of half a dozen screen plays, two novels, and a proficient
camera-woman in her own right, Monika
DeLeeuw-Taylor is Microfilmmaker's lead writing analyst and
one of our top film reviewers. When she's not writing a critique for
Microfilmmaker, she's writing screenplays for Viking Productions.
