ma-cortes Manuel Carballo's new zombie movie plenty of thrills , chills , gore and blood . This zombie thriller stars a good cast such as Kris Holden-Reid , Emily Hampshire , Claudia Bassols , Melina Matthews , Barry Flatman and Shawn Doyle . It is set in a post-zombie world , a place where a deadly zombie virus has infected mankind , but a single cure has been found . As a treatment called the "Return Protein" can stop the spread of the virus if injected quickly after infection, but cannot cure it . With injections every 36 hours, the "Returned" are able to live as though they were never bit, despite the virus still coursing through their veins . When it is discovered that the protein stock is running low , chaos hits the streets. Returned who run out of the protein turn to zombies and disasters , protesters turn to killers as they try to rid the streets of the returned, and right in the middle of it all are Alex and Kate . With daily injections, the "Returned" are able to live relatively normal lives, but with brutal attacks at the hands of Anti-Return groups and rumors that protein stock is running low, the world is again on the brink of chaos . In the midst of this turmoil are Alex (Kris Holden-Ried) and Kate (Emily Hampshire), a young , successful and enviable couple that are hiding a long held secret – Alex is Returned . As death and fear run rampant , Alex's secret becomes known and when the retroviral drug is running out , then chaos and destruction burst .This zombie thriller ¨The Returned¨ from Spanish genre hub Filmax and being professionally shot by director Manuel Carballo . The film utilizes the opening credits sequence to address the conventions of the genre , only to completely move away from them for the rest of the movie . A mostly unnecessary flashback sequence—that is never returned to again until it's required to do some third act heavy lifting—gives horror fans what they come to expect from anything zombie related : blood , guts , screaming , gore , guns , more blood and horror as the dead become fearsomely undead . The Returned takes this idea , blows it up a bit, and then does something fairly intriguing . It decides not to be a zombie terror movie at all , in fact it is more a thriller than a horror flick . The main premise results to be the following : the viral outbreak that led to a zombie apocalypse has come and gone , and society is attempting to move forward . A cure of sorts was discovered that brings the recently infected back to normal, but the injections are needed on a daily basis . Nice acting from Emily Hampshire as Kate a leading doctor in the field of zombie virus' and Kris Holden Reid as Alex , a musician with a dark secret, he is a Returned ; both of whom must fight for a chance to live before he becomes a zombie . Javier Salmones cinematography is excellent , creating a frightening and scary atmosphere , he's expert on sombre photography . Atmospheric musical score by Jonathan Goldsmith fitted perfectly to suspense , action and terror . This is a Canadian-Spanish co-production between Ramaco Media and Filmax or Fantastic Factory . Filmax is run by the Catalan producers Julio Fernandez along with his brother Carlos Fernández , being a successful company in charge of production horror/SF movies such as ¨The machinist¨, ¨Darkness¨ ,¨Stranded¨ , ¨Faust¨ and ¨The nameless¨, among others . The filmmaker Manuel Carballo is a fine Spanish director , he began as a camera assistant for Filmax/Julio Fernández in ¨Rottweiler¨, ¨Romasanta¨ , ¨Beyond Re-Animator¨ and ¨Dagon¨ . Manuel Carballo has directed a few films as ¨El Ultimo Justo¨ (2007) , ¨La Posesión De Emma Evans or Exorcismus¨ (2007) and TV Series as ¨Trece Miedos¨ . Furthermore , he directed Shorts : ¨Diminutos del Calvario¨ and ¨Seiken¨ .

Argemaluco Filmax is a Spanish studio specialized in independent horror cinema, usually shot in English in order to increment the perspectives of international distribution. And even though I haven't always enjoyed Filmax movies, I have noticed a progressive increment in the quality of its productions. What takes me to The Returned, an entertaining zombie film which leaves aside the sub-genus clichés in order to explore the economical and cultural consequences of a "post-post-apocalyptic" world, in which society recovered itself from the crisis, even though the danger for it to happen again is there. And naturally, that threat promotes the prejudices and intolerance from some people who would prefer to isolate the "returned" ones in concentration camps... or even better, kill them before they spread their disease to other ones. That isn't a new idea; the films Les Revenants and American Zombie had employed a similar premise. But The Returned might be the one which has approached the metaphors about racism, paranoid analogies to AIDS and the references to the Holocaust with the most vehemence. Unfortunately, the second half of The Returned abandons the global approach in order to focus into the problems of a couple desperate to supply themselves of the anti-virus before the general population finds out about its impending shortage. The screenplay keeps being interesting, but it loses credibility due to two very forced twists (one of them is predictable, and the other one is absurd) and the hollow sentimentality of the conclusion, which feels absolutely artificial and prefabricated. Nevertheless, I think I can give a moderate recommendation to The Returned because of its unusual handling of the zombies, competent performances and Manuel Carballo's adequate direction. This isn't the best film produced by Filmax (I think that one would be REC so far), but I consider it a decent horror film.

chrismackey1972 This was a very unexpected take on the zombie storyline. I thought it was going to be a Direct-to-Video garbage movie. Instead, we got an original, well thought out movie that had a good storyline and good characters in the two leads. The acting was very good, as was the flow of the movie. I highly recommend the movie. I will say that the end when Kate finds out the synthesized version works, I kinda guessed that would happen. I loved that she was hunting Jacob and...whoever his girlfriend was. I would say it seems like a sequel might be in the works, but I doubt it, unless they called it something like The Hunt, with Kate hunting them down. Did Kate remind anyone else of Kate Mara? Anyway, good movie, and I was pleasantly surprised by the originality of it.I gave it an 8-star rating for the reasons posted above. I will say, this is not exactly a zombie movie, but more of what happens post-zombie outbreak.

ikeybabe This wasn't your typical zombie movie. There are barely any zombies in the movie, but that's all right. It was a good story with a few great twists to make it a very watchable film. The idea of a society with a zombie population kept in check with drugs - drugs that are running low - is thoroughly scary and intriguing. The story was solid and human because it showed what people will do when they are desperate and scared. The acting was really well done, too. My only problem here was with the subtitles: why was the nurse described as the "black nurse"? That wasn't necessary at all. And the final twist was a heart-breaker. *SPOILER ALERT* It reminded me of Stephen King's "The Mist." Overall, this was a really enjoyable, smart movie.