Eaters: Rise of the Dead (2010)
Distributor: Chelsea Films
DVD Release Date (UK): 13th June 2011
Directed by: Luca Boni & Marco Risto
Starring: Alex Lucchesi, Guglielmo Favilla, Claudio Marmugi, Rosella Elmi
Review by: Keri O’Shea
There must be a masochistic impulse lurking within me somewhere because a) I am very, very, very burned out on zombie films, and yet b) I actually requested the screener of Eaters: Rise of the Dead out of a selection of other, non-virusy -bitey-post-apocalyptic-scenario movies. Why do I do it? I suppose I’m always looking for the next Day of the Dead, always hoping that a once-beloved genre will rise again (heh) to impress the hell out of me. More to the point though, I’d say, is to ask why indie filmmakers in such significant numbers continue to make zombie flicks. Are they genuinely hoping to make the next DOTD? Are they fanboys/fangirls themselves? Are they swayed by the potential of the genre to allow for severe budgetary constraints? Or are they plain lazy? The fact is that there’s a real glut of walking dead indies out there that just keep on coming, for whatever reason, and the filmmakers have a real job on their hands to make their films workable, notable and likeable.
As for Eaters: Rise of the Dead, much of the plot will seem familiar to horror fans already, although first-time directors Luca Boni and Marco Ristori make a reasonable amount of headway with overlaying ideas of their own. We start out on the wrong side of the Great Epidemic, a virus deliberately spread by an anonymous religious megalomaniac calling himself the Plague Spreader: two zombie hunters, Alen (Guiglielmo Favilla) and Igor (Alex Lucchesi) are in the employ of a research scientist called Gyno (Claudio Marmugi) who sends them out to collect ‘specimens’ in return for their board and lodge. Also installed at their base is a woman called Alexis, Alen’s girlfriend as-was (Rosella Elmi): Alexis was initially infected with the virus and is still ill, but hasn’t yet succumbed to the final stages of the illness. Gyno suspects she’s the key to finding a cure, but to carry on his work he needs more zombies.
Alen and Igor head off on their rounds, meeting along the way: an erstwhile religious painter who uses undead body parts as ‘life’ models for his art, a group of neo-Nazis (who are possibly the campest Nazis I’ve ever seen since…well, the Nazis) and, eventually, other living humans who can shed some light on Dr. Gyno’s ‘benevolent’ experiments.
You don’t have to look far to see the Day of the Dead influence there, so I’ll cut to the chase and talk about what makes Eaters distinctive. The first thing I’d say stands out is the film’s Catholic connection. It isn’t all that surprising in an Italian horror film I know, and of course faith has figured in several examples of zombie horror down through the years, but Catholicism is tackled in a pretty overt way here. Even when the film is being questioning in tone, the Church provides context aplenty for the film’s plot. For example, the plague starts out by affecting women only: we see a news report lamenting the ‘zero birth rate’ before the disease goes on to cause more catastrophic, cross-gender symptoms. When things get desperate, we know about it because we’re told that the Pope has committed suicide (no other figures on the world stage are mentioned). Talk of the ‘annunciation’, ‘sin’ and ‘the inferno’ are in there too, not to mention a demented priest!
So we have a familiar scenario, we have an abundance of religious context…what we also have, actually, is a film with a pleasing aesthetic and a frankly knock-out score. A strong sepia tone is used here, draining the colour out of the film and going some way to belying the budget. The directors have also made sensible use of their special effects, mostly playing to their strengths by using shadow, angle and pace to avoid lingering on the undead long enough to find fault (bar for some close-up shots of some of the best SFX). There aren’t hordes of zombies/infected here, but those we do get to see look pretty good, with some well-executed gore. As for the score – created by Skinny Puppy’s Justin Bennett and Stefano Rossello of Italian industrialists Bahntier – this is stellar, both jarring and oppressive in just the right quantities. As in the glory days of 70s and 80s Italian horror, the score helps to bring the film together.
As to flaws…well, this film is slow. It’s very dialogue-heavy, often to the point of inanity (and Igor especially is peculiarly toilet-focused, using the world ‘asshole’ at every opportunity). All this conversation between the two main characters does little to move the plot forward, and doesn’t help the pace either. The guys ostensibly have one, simple enough task to do – collect some zombies, in a world overrun with the fuckers. This takes them well over an hour, and even then they don’t get it done properly! There is little in the way of connection between the different legs of their errands en route, either, and at times the film struggles to maintain cogency, especially towards its explosive close.
Overall, Eaters struggles with some familiar problems not helped by pitching straight into a saturated genre but there is definitely potential here. Don’t be afraid of Uwe Boll’s name being attached to this (as producer) because I think Boni and Ristori deserve some credit for this as a first, flawed but interesting calling-card.