Horror Palace

Movie: Exit Humanity Year: 2011 Studio: Foresight Features Director: John Geddes Stars: Bill Moseley, Brian Cox, Mark Gibson Language: English Length: 108 Minutes Sub-Genres: Drama / Western / Zombie

Plot: As the American Civil War concludes in 1865, Confederate soldier Edward Young begins to see something even scarier than his Union enemies in the wooded battlefields: walking corpses. When Young returns home to discover his 11-year-old son is missing, he begins to search for him across the zombie-infested countryside, while keeping a journal of his account of the living dead phenomenon.

Review: Many horror fans are purists and don’t appreciate the blending of genres that’s become so commonplace today. I’m closer to the purist side of the spectrum myself, so I was surprised that a zombie western that’s primarily a drama appealed to me. I attribute this to how well made the film is. “Exit Humanity” is a good-looking, well written period piece inhabited with the flesh-eating dead. Except for the “period piece” part, that’s all any zombie fan ever wants anyway.

Consider an early scene where Young’s Confederate soldiers are warring against the Union army in the woods. Even though he’s amid the horrors of war, something even more terrifying catches Young’s attention: a seemingly unstoppable ghoulish-looking man charging toward him, barely acknowledging the gun-fired body shots he’s taking from Young’s gun. Here the protagonist fights a literal monster for the very first time, and he behaves accordingly.

Contrast the scene described above with other modern zombie films where the actors confess their awareness that they’re playing in a zombie movie by referring to the monsters as “zombies.” I hate that. So many zombie films today regard their monsters as merely an atypical occurrence on an otherwise typical day. But in “Exit Humanity,” the characters behave as though they are genuinely freaked out by internalizing the fact that dead people are not only moving but trying to eat them.

Think about it: The reason why “Jaws” is a great title for the book and the film is because the characters never refer to the shark as “Jaws.” The moment a film becomes self-reflective is the same moment that the spell is broken for me.

Just to be clear, I review films like “Exit Humanity” with the hard-core horror fans in mind. So, you should know that this movie starts out as a period piece with zombie elements mingled in. And then at that point, the film’s tone shifts into a western, then a romance, and the zombies are almost forgotten about altogether. (And this doesn’t have a horror movie type of ending, either.) I suspect this problem with the changing tone of the film happened at the script level, where the lead character takes on other missions and objectives during the movie (such as keeping a promise to a loved one, or helping a friend in need), because there’s no single objective that the protagonist is trying to accomplish throughout the duration of the film.

“Exit Humanity” has some artistic merit, as well. For instance, particularly in the beginning of the film, there are animated graphics inserted from time to time as transitions. Some of the animations are better than others, but I suspect this decision was made of necessity, as a shorthand solution to cut down on some shooting and special effects costs. Creative choices like these graphics are often the result of some kind of limitation or restriction.

Horror actor favorite Bill Moseley has an antagonist’s role in this film, but his performance is fairly tame by Bill Moseley’s standards. Indeed, all of the performances are quite good, including the lead, Mark Gibson, who resembles Kiefer Sutherland and plays Edward Young convincingly.

The first 30 minutes of “Exit Humanity” are heavy-laden with voice-over narration (by Brian Cox), which is usually indicative of a problem at the script level, but for the first part of this movie, our protagonist is the only speaking character. The journal is the device used to sustain such lengthy narration, and it works.

Overall, “Exit Humanity” is a well written, smart and artistic film. It depicts the story of a believable, struggling character and his grief and pain, mixed with some zombie attacks and kills. The zombies look fine, with black and lifeless eyes, but we don’t see them as often as we do in other zombie flicks. As is the case with many zombie movies, the film itself isn’t actually about zombies.

As a film critic and a lover of the cinema, I have to admit that “Exit Humanity” is far better than I ever could have hoped for. It exceeded my expectations for a zombie film set at the end of the Civil War. But taking into account its genre-blending and how it might hold up for a horror purist who’s looking to watch a good horror movie, it’s a good movie, yes, but not a good horror movie: 5.5 out of 10 — Rental. “Exit Humanity” is currently new at Redbox as of this past Tuesday, June 19.

To hear horror movie reviews from Jay of the Dead and his cohorts, listen to Horror Metropolis.

Reviewer: Jay of the Dead Date: 06/22/2012 Rating: 5.5/10 Recommendation: Rental

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