FILM REVIEW: LAST OF THE LIVING

Last of the Living

Released: 2008

Written & Directed by: Logan McMillan

Starring: Morgan Williams, Robert Faith, Mark Hadlow, Emily Paddon-Brown, Ashleigh Southam 

As a lifelong devotee of Zombie Cinema I have, sadly, become bored and unimpressed with the bulk of walking-dead movies that have infested the screen over the last several years. Most zombie movies nowadays are either noisy, trite attempts to “redefine” the genre (mainly by trying to “out-splatter” the next guy) or they are dull and self-important treatises on mankind’s follies and blah blah blah. The only truly great zombie flick of the last ten years was Shaun of the Dead; most disappointing, as far as I’m concerned, was Diary of the Dead. Which means, if even George Romero can’t do anything new and interesting with the subgenre, then you know it’s time to give it a rest.

So it’s with great pleasure that I can report that New Zealander Logan McMillan’s Last of the Living is a much needed shot in the arm. I haven’t had this much fun with a zombie flick in years!

Eschewing any sociological proselytizing, and emphasizing character rather than an overreliance on “ooh, look at what we can do!” goriness, Last of the Living cuts out the fat and gives the audience nothing but a great time at the End of Days. Pure, anarchic fun is the goal here.

Ash, Johnny and Morgan are three slackers sharing a flat after the world has been decimated by a plague. Zombies now roam the streets, but this doesn’t seem to matter much to our heroes, as they spend their days reveling in the leisure that the Apocalypse has bestowed upon them. They are more concerned with looting CD stores and trying to find any chicks that might still be alive.

One day, after deciding that the house they currently inhabit has grown boring, they begin a search or new digs to hole up in. That’s when they stumble across a female scientist who claims to have an antidote for the virus which ravaged the planet. Naturally, the boys are more interested in fighting over her affections, but since they really have nothing better to do, they go along with her on her quest to find a lab where she can concoct her antidote. Of course, things don’t go as planned.

Last of the Living plays fast and loose with genre conventions and gives the audience a riotous good time with clever gore gags and jokes that are actually funny. Each character is well defined and likable, even if not very bright at times.

Obviously the filmmakers and cast are having a ball here; their joy is apparent in every frame of the film and in every word of the script. They succeed by not trying to outdo the next guy, or by trying to convince us of their philosophical profundity. They succeed by doing what so many newer horror films (particularly zombie films) fail to do: entertain.

Succinctly put, Last of the Living is a blast! This is one infectious virus you’re definitely going to want to catch.

SHARP OBJEX Rating: 3.5 out of 4

Last of the Living will be released on October 20th, 2009, from Echo Bridge.

Last of the Living Trailer