Terror Z - The Day After - DVD

Content: The semester is done! A good reason for Taylor (Kayla Ewell) together with her boyfriend David (Richard Kohnke) and the friendly couple Brice (Ashlee Brian) and Naomi (Brittney Alger) to go to the fancy summer house of the heavy rich parents of Howard (Michael Welch), where he is already waiting for them with his girlfriend Sharley (Sarah Butler). It's just supposed to be a relaxing party weekend. And although there are little tensions between some of them, the plan seems to work out as well. But then scary news reaches them: terrorists are about to attack the Gulf Coast. Allegedly, missiles are already on their way. Unfortunately, this horror report turns out to be reality and one of the missiles hits near the summer house, of all places. This infects the people in the area with a virus that turns them into murderous zombies. For the six college friends, if they want to survive, they now have to make it to a rally point on the roof of the university, from where the military would take them to safety. But they have to get there first...

Terror Z - The Day After begins as if director Christopher Rosevelt copied the dramaturgical setup straight out of the horror movie manual. Six joy, all very clichéd stereotypes, meet for a weekend in a somewhat secluded location where, of course, there is no cell phone reception and no television, despite a certain amount of luxury. The tensions that arise in this clique seem very contrived and unoriginal. However, as soon as the horror descends upon the protagonist, the entertainment value also increases significantly. Even though Rosevelt doesn't deliver any dramaturgical masterpieces and some of the effects are rather poor due to the low budget, he still manages to build up some really decent tension.

He succeeds by trying to bring a new side to the currently overused zombie genre. Aside from the fact that his zombies should strictly speaking be called infected rather than undead, Rosevelt gives them a very interesting trait: they stand around completely motionless until they hear a noise. Only then do they transform into extremely fast and dangerous beasts. On their way to the saving roof of the university, the friends have to maneuver as noiselessly as possible through infected people who are sometimes standing very close to each other - and this really holds very high potential for tension.

The violence itself mostly takes place off screen. Now, you might think that a zombie flick wouldn't work without gallons of blood and masses of gore. But even this decision proves to be absolutely successful, especially in one scene, where the soundscape alone and Sharley's face, marked by fear and guilt, convey more horror than not really convincing gore effects would have managed.

Terror Z - The Day After is certainly far from being a masterpiece. The first twenty minutes in particular are just too poor for that. But alone the attempt to wrest a few new sides from the genre and not just rely on striking gore effects make the second half of the film really worth watching. At least until the end, where it seems Rosevelt just didn't know which resolution to go for. The path he chose is just confusing and doesn't work by any stretch of the imagination. However, the bottom line is still a decent: worth seeing!

Image + Sound: Sure, the film looks and sounds like a typical low budget home theatrical premiere and is more in the good mid-range in terms of technical quality. But the DVD's picture has good overall sharpness, with even the smaller details rendered well, especially in the brighter moments. The colors seem a bit artificial, as they are very powerful at the beginning and are then noticeably reduced as soon as the horror really kicks in. Atmospheric it is, however, by all means. The sound is okay, with the dialogue in the German language version sounding much more central than the English soundtrack. But at least there are also a few neatly mixed sound effects, through which especially in the last third comes some movement in the surround area. Good!

Extras: In addition to the trailer for the film and other program tips from the provider, there is on the DVD still a short look behind the scenes (15:37 min.) in the original English sound without subtitle options to see.

Conclusion: Terror Z - The Day After is indeed stuffed with clichés and wooden characters. Still, after a rather sluggish start, this zombie apocalypse is thoroughly entertaining and even a wee bit suspenseful. Craftwise director Christopher Rosevelt reveals quite potential, which is, however, especially in dramaturgical terms still expandable. Nevertheless: an entertaining genre contribution that strives to also offer a little something new and which presents itself on the DVD in decent picture and sound quality. Worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp