sddavis63 From the very beginning of this movie I found myself wondering about the title of all things! "Rise Of The Zombies." It suggests that the movie is going to be about the beginnings of a zombie plague - how it happened, where it came from. But no. Actually, from the very opening scenes of the movie it seems pretty clear that the zombies have already risen! They're pretty much in control and there don't seem to be all that many survivors. Over the course of the hour and a half, we do find out that it probably started with an infected water system, and that it's pretty recent. One of the characters is pregnant, and she says she got pregnant at a party two months before. So, since people probably haven't been partying much since the zombie plague started, this whole thing must have happened in less than two months. But that's not the focus of the movie. Not at all. Those are just snippets of information that come out. So, yes, strange choice for a title.With this being set in San Francisco (although the plague seems to be worldwide, or one assumes that there would be rescue missions) what survivors there are have holed themselves up on Alcatraz Island. So that's a bit of a twist: a high security prison becoming a sanctuary. Unfortunately, it seems that even Alcatraz isn't a very secure sanctuary. Every now and then zombies come wading ashore and have to be killed. Now, I've never looked it up, but I assume that the water depth between San Francisco and Alcatraz is more than 6 feet (ie, more than the height of your average human being - or zombie - or it wouldn't have been much of a prison) which suggests that since the zombies don't appear to be the type to enjoy boating they must be able to walk a fair distance under water. OK. Why not. It makes it harder to find a real place of refuge, thus increasing the hopelessness that's always at the centre of a zombie movie.Aside from that little twist, though, there's not a lot of originality to this. The zombies are zombies. They're the undead, re-animated corpses controlled by a virus of some sort with a taste for the flesh and blood of living humans. Got it. Seen it many times.The cast features a collection of fairly well known faces, although mega-stars they're not. People like Mariel Hemingway, LeVar Burton, French Stewart. They're all in this. A couple of others. Faces and names you know, in other words. Unfortunately, though many of the faces are familiar, the performances weren't great. Hemingway was probably the most front and centre as a scientist who takes a group from Alcatraz back into the city to try to find the lab where an antidote to the virus was being worked on. She didn't really grab me. Burton was given the most opportunity for a character the viewer could sympathize with. He stays behind on Alcatraz while Hemingway's group goes into the city and others go off in search of rescue, and he keeps two living zombies (or is that a contradiction?) locked up to experiment on as he looks for a cure. The attempted heart-wrenching is that one of the zombies he has locked up is his own daughter. Still, I would have to say that my reaction to most of the cast is that they were less than convincing in their roles; unenthused about playing them perhaps? So, really, what you have here is a mediocre movie that adds nothing original to the zombie genre, and rather flat performances from the cast. Not a winner, in other words. (3/10)

Thom-13 I marked spoilers, but I can't actually imagine any comment could spoil this film. I watched it and it kept getting worse and worse and stupider and stupider which is quite impressive considering the starting point. Since, most of you won't make it to the end, there were a couple of humorous editing/writing/directing (not sure which) gaffes at the end. They finally reach this illustrious doctor they have been searching for and he lets them know there is a helicopter on the roof and they much go up. However, the helicopter is in a parking lot at the first level of the building. Watching the fight scenes is laughable, but not in a particularly good way. You watch someone shoot at center of mass and the head explodes. Then someone is frantically firing at all points from behind and between 2 or 3 other people. It was interesting to watch a film where the director decided acting, writing, editing and directing would have been a distraction to the plot. in the discussion of the film, there is a list of commentary on "What I learned from this film". Read that, it is much more entertaining than any aspect of the film. Even if you spend 90 minutes reading that.

rui-nunes21 Worst movie that i've ever seen. First time that i tried to watch it, i only saw it for 10 minutes, because it was very boring, but a days later i gave it a second chance, but i only watch it for 25 minutes, because i confirmed that it was very bad.The main cast is awful, the zombies and the special effects are very bad. I can't believe that this movie is from 2012, a movie from the 50's can be very much more real than this crapI love zombies movies and zombies tvshows, and this movie is by far the worst i've ever seenDon't waste your time watching this thing called movie

Gatto Nero I must say I was somewhat impressed by this little zombie movie. I was a bit hesitant about it being SyFy produced and all, but I'm glad i saw it. It's not a classic in any way but nice group of actors in it.The Butch-like manly Mariel Hemingway as Dr. Lynn Snyder was a disappointment. She seems not to be a good actor. At least in this film. her lines seemed forced and somewhat off delivered. She seems to have that 'Butch-like Lesbian thing going on so in a way she seemed natural as a scientist turned soldier thing.Big & funny intense Ethan Suplee as Marshall was somewhat miscast. he seems to large body-wise to be this religious/military guy who is 'falling' for Lynn. They have no chemistry whatsoever.The always great LeVar Burton as Dr. Dan Halpern was a treat. Made me think how he would have handle the Will Smith role in "I Am Legend". He did a good job here.Mr. Bad Ass himself, Danny Trejo as Captain Caspian did pretty good too. He even got to play a zombie! The beautiful Heather Hemmens as Ashley. Did an okay job. What I really liked was that for the 1st time I can remember a character in a zombie film just says "forget it it's not worth living anymore" and just commits suicide.The funny French Stewart as Dr. Arnold. His video feeds with the chimpanzee are the only humorous bits in the film!The serious Chad Lindberg as Kyle. He did okay also. i liked his scenes where he hated to kill his friend Trejo's Caspain but had to do it because Caspian was a zombie coming for him and when he gets to the so-called rescue Center in Petaluma by himself and discovers it's gone and taken over by the zombies.