Dead Meat (2004)

Director: Conor McMahon

Writer: Conor McMahon

Composer: John Gillooley

Starring: Marian Araujo, David Muyllaert, Eoin Whelan, David ryan, Amy Redmond, Kathryn Toolan, Ned Dennehy, John O'Connor

More info: IMDb

Tagline: It's not what you eat, it's who you eat!

Plot: Helena (Araújo) and her mate Martin (Ryan) are traveling by car through the County of Leitrim, Ireland, when Martin hits a man. He brings the body to his car, and the corpse returns to live and bites him. Helena looks for help in a cottage and is attacked inclusive by Martin. Sooner she realizes that the place is infested of zombies. She meets the gravedigger Desmond (Muyllaert) and they cross the countryside trying to find a safe place. They meet another couple and they become aware that the mad cow disease has infected humans transforming them in living dead.

My rating: 5.5/10

Will I watch it again? No.

This low budget zombie flick has a different take on the zombie origin, starting it with an outbreak of mad cow disease in Ireland.  The Irish location shooting is a big plus for the picture as there are some lovely countrysides and old, dilapidated buildings that have been there for hundreds of years.  There are a few nice moments of John Gillooley's score and there are moments when this picture looks and feels like a big budget production, but those are only brief spots and we're soon reminded of the budget limitations.  It's not a bad film but it does drag from time to time in an effort to reach its 80 minute length.  There is lots of gore which culminates in a huge zombie attack at the end.  The final 2 or 3 minutes was nice when the cleanup crew showed up and forced the survivors into a truck.  There was some good tension there.  It's worth a look if you dig zombie movies and would like to see one that's not made by a major studio.