The Plague
| Title: | The Plague |
| Director: | Emir Skalonja |
| Writer(s): | Devon Metzger (contributing writer), Emir Skalonja |
| Cast: | Nicole Skalonja, Rich Ruiz, Joshua McDonald, Devon Metzger, Adam Litton, Jason Snug... |
| Genre(s): | Zombies, Survival Horror |
| Release Date: | 2016 |
THE PLAGUE (2016)
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“…Love Canal, Niagara Falls, NY
Originally planned as a model community in the late 1890s.
The neighbourhood saw a rapid decline until it was bought out by THE HOOKER COMPANY in 1940s and became a dumping ground for toxic chemicals
In the late 1970s, Love Canal received national attention when the outbreak of numerous health problems began due to the disposal of 22,000 barrels of toxic waste.
In September 0f 2016, a group of mercenaries was hired to “clean up” the area…”
***
Six people find themselves trapped in Love Canal, Niagara Falls, an old toxic waste site, and witness the first hours of the plague that brings the dead back to life.
The Plague Official Synopsis
Emir Skalonja first came to my attention here at Extreme Horror Cinema with Fester back in 2015. Emir then got busy with a couple of films and a Youtube serial, The Undead, which has gone through two seasons.
Now Emir’s love for the zombie genre with The Plague.
Six people are in the town of Love Canal for three very different reasons…fitness, cure and death!
Brother and sister go out there for a run. Little do they know soon enough they won’t be running for fitness!
Man and woman hit team are out there testing their pistol before the hit. They will return to dispose of the victim’s body.
Two mercenaries are there to do the governments dirty work. Destruction of those returned from the dead has taken it’s toll. One has completely lost it and turned to his own twisted belief in Christianity.
Viewer gets a run through of what to expect from each character and their interrelationships with those close to them. Each finds out their own way the hidden deadly secrets of Love Canal.
The Plague in the tradition of George Romero is a commentary of human life and society as a whole. Destroying each other and the planet. On greed and the destruction it causes. This is mainly commented on at the end while our survivors travel through the land after The Plague as really taken hold and destroyed civilisation.
Zombies, gut munching and a government covert team out tho keep things hush.
So obviously there will be special effects gore and bloody mayhem!
There is! But also here is where my main criticisms lie as well. They are NOT terrible issues at all, just more of a gore hounds wet dreams not fully exposed.
We get snippets of what could be. There is a lovely zombie head stomp with all the gooey matter splattering out. You kinda see the boot stomp down and you do see meaty bits splat nicely across the bitumen. But full exposure would have been great…fucking amazing! But I understand though, maybe Sean Patrick Saramak felt he hadn’t reached the competence to pull the stunt off, to create the effect needed for the full head stomp. Think that is fair enough. Not everyone would go fuck lets use a paper maché head and just go for it…as I would have.
Another is I just felt more blood could of been used, as in German Splatter amounts of blood.
That’s me though. They ain’t huge details and I am sure most others watching this from the point of horror and zombie love would not mind at all. We do get some nice bites, intestines and whatnot. Oh, and I THINK they used squibs for the gunshots…maybe.
Not really for gore hounds who live 24/7 fucked up gory shit! Everyone else into underground / indie horror should appreciate what is on offer. Personally I am both; love total fucked up gore blood fucking insanity and love horror in general. Just sometimes a little goes a long way.
Woulda been luvly with the full head squelch and torrential blood….just saying!
Another perspective…budget of approximately $1000.00, they did an awesome job with what they had!
Loved the look of the actual footage, kind of a washed out look. Sometimes it was even more so and looked great, like watching some 70s zombie insanity.
The Plague is a slow build with it’s introduction to it’s six characters. Around the 30 or so minute mark things start really turning south as the undead rise up to feed on the living. We get the flavour of Romero with social criticism on greed, religious extremism and callousness to human life. Emir has an eye for certain things which I appreciated. Certain times he really hit it right on the mark visually! Both Emir Skalonja and Sean Patrick Saramak have done so damned much since Fester growing as filmmaker and effects artist. The Plague was a worthy watch for someone who loves the zombie genre as I do.
Be awesome as fuck to play a zombie or victim getting eaten alive in a Underground / Indie zombie film!!!
