Dead Weight (2013)

All of the major cities have been overrun by cannibalistic infected in an apocalyptic viral outbreak in the United States. Charlie is one of many who have taken to the countryside to survive and reach a destination that is said to be safe. Joining with 3 others they travel to a place that promises this safety. Charlie’s motivations maybe a bit different to what he states though and keeps thinking back to before the plague when he had a life with his love.

Dead Weight is a non-traditional character driven post-apocalyptic infection / zombie film. There is talk about the outbreak and later the dead coming back to life but apart from this it isn’t focussed on within a normal horror setting. Charlie and the rest of the characters are developed through the story in their interactions with each other and the situations they find themselves in. For most of the film this is the main focus of the horror aspect as well, of surviving other people and an unseen menace, which is hinted at. Infected don’t come into play as a focus until everything comes to a head at the end. So in a big way this is survival horror road trip movie.

What I liked about this is you get a hint something is up throughout the film, that there is more than what is shown. Charlie gives off a certain vibe that grows throughout and for me made me ponder. Not to give too much away but quite frankly I did not like his character, he was a type of person quite different to myself. His motives back before the plague and after put me off him. This really works well!

A movie with a zombie menace one would think would have some zombie scenes with plenty of blood and gore, but no. The zombies are an unseen menace here. Blood is provided by the action of the human element and what man is capable of on his quest for his own goals. Violence provided at the end of the baseball bat and a person’s skull! There was no gore as such but then this was not what the filmmaker’s were going for here, the goal being the unveiling of human traits in our main character. Personally I was hoping for some form of man against zombie violence, gut munching gore and bloody violence but that is me. Mind you I don’t mind going into a more character study though….would have been awesome though, just saying!

The acting was good for the most part. My favourite part was when Charlie is interacting with two characters he meets about three quarters of the way through. Talking about what is going on and how it is played by all involved was well done.

Dead Weight is not for people who want to go into a more traditional infected / zombie feature that has the usually gut munching gore and bloody violence, it is more of a character study of a guy focussed on the past and a future goal and what he is will to do to achieve it. I felt that John Pata and Adam Bartlett achieved what they set out to do with Dead Weight! Quite personally I myself would have fleshed out there film a bit more with actual close encounters but I am sure these guys wanted this to play out the way it had. Both displayed a lot of talent with Dead Weight and look forwards to whatever else they hold in store for us horror fans in the future.