Leofwine_draca
DEAD KANSAS is a very low budget science fiction horror movie with a post-apocalyptic setting. It was originally released as a series of web episodes which gives the story an episodic feel. Unfortunately, as with most independent fare being made today, the whole thing is too cheap to be taken seriously. The worst thing about the extended filming schedule is that the lead actress changes around the halfway mark, which is pretty much unforgivable in a production like this. Me, I would have given up with it, but instead they recast and soldier on.The good news is that the second actress is better than the first. Otherwise, we're in a world which attempts to mix Romero-style zombie horror with some MAD MAX-style criminal gangs. None of it is very convincing or indeed credible. The performances vary by cast member. It's not the worst film I've seen, but very far from the best.
Theo Robertson
I recently got a private message from someone asking if they'd seen their film DEAD KANSAS , "it is the first zombie film to use Point Of View (POV) zombies - in other words, the camera is the "zombie's eye" in some scenes." . Actually this isn't true because a while ago I saw a short film featuring a zombie apocalypse where a human witnesses a zombie attack , gets bitten and they become a zombie where the human beings are now the antagonists , the title of which escapes me .Nevertheless I wrote back I'd be happy to review though warned my reviews are always honest . Unfortunately I've got to keep to my word and say I did not like DK one bit I noticed there's a large number of external reviews from other sites and the vast majority of them seem rather kind , possibly because they don't want to upset the feelings of someone who has gone to the time and trouble of politely asking reviewers to take a look at their movie . It's obviously a project made out of love and hopefully the crew had a lot of fun making because as a neutral viewer I didn't have much fun watching it . The budget is non existent which isn't a criticism but this means you've got to cast mainly amateurs in key roles and they're just not good enough to carry the film . In fact in one bizarre segment the female lead turns in to a completely different actress reinforcing this is some modern day Ed Wood type production . This puzzled me so much that I had to check the trivia section to find out what was going on and found out several interesting things about DK . One is that it was originally envisaged as a short film , then blossomed in to a web series and eventually got re-edited in a near feature length film . The filming took place over a period of months which along with the lack of budget explains its disjointed car crash like quality . I hope I haven't reduced to tears the production member who asked me to review their film but I'm afraid I didn't like it . Sorry and please don't hate me .
Woodyanders
Director/co-writer Aaron K. Carter thankfully eschews the expected in-your-face graphic gore in favor of putting a welcome and refreshing emphasis on the human element instead. Indeed, the tender scenes between the sweet Emma (a sturdy and appealing portrayal by Erin Miracle and Alexandria Lightford) and her protective religious fanatic father Glenn (a fine performance by Aaron Guerrero) possess a surprisingly significant amount of substance and poignancy. Moreover, it's Emma's dedication to and concern for her father that in turn gives the narrative its key moving impetus. Carter warrants extra praise for keeping the zombies largely off screen throughout (although there still are a lot of nifty zombie black and white POV shots), with the one lone instance in which the viewer does see a zombie clearly packing a devastating emotional punch due to this commendable sense of restraint. The stark simplicity of Carter's no-frills style eschews fancy fireworks in favor of basic human drama, thereby ensuring that this picture never gets thrown off track by any needlessly flashy razzle-dazzle. The sound acting from the capable cast helps a whole lot: Besides the sterling work by Miracle, Lightford, and Guerrero, there are also spot-on contributions by Michael Camp as antagonistic troublemaker Jebediah, Kevin C. Beardsley as Jeb's scruffy brother Zeke, and Joe McQueen as the helpful and heroic Skinny. Veteran character Irwin Keyes has a nice small part as a kindly giant. The strong underlying theme on loyalty further enhances the overall exceptional quality of this well above average little sleeper.
Chris Mackey (guestar57)
Stars: Irwin Keyes, Joe McQueen & Erin Miracle.A Aaron K Carter film.We thinks this was a web-series then turned into a feature.The only reason to bring up is lead actress was switched mid-production and ,Yes,There is a resemblance ,But their interpretation of the daughter/heroine is vasts worlds apart.The father figure was awesome and character was allowed to grow and comes to conclusion.The ROTTENS,We assume are undead and we know this because their Point Of View is in black & white when attacking.The lead human bad-guy , we decided is a Bam Magera 'looker' with Some Joe Cocker,Travis Tritt and Lou Gramm from Foreigner nuances.Dead Kansas is scary in a Walking Dead way and yet Erin Miracle gives it this B-Movie feel with her outfits and endangered scenes.