UNDEAD: Aussie Zombie Flick Magic by the Spierig Brothers Reaches the States
Almost 2 years ago now, my film and television teacher tried to convince several of us in his class to come and check out a flick at the local Dendy cinema. The dendy showed low-budget and arthouse type flicks that weren’t big enough to make it to the likes of the mainstream cinemas. The movie was an Australian flick called ‘Undead‘, and I tagged along and was delighted with the subtle mix of a zombie flick with Aussie humour. At the schools award night later that year, the two Spierig brothers were invited along as judges, and they told a remarkable story about undead. They had made the film for a lowly $1 million, which for a feature film, is extremelly lacking. All the special effects they did themselves on a home computer, with some of the frames taking hours to render. They didn’t just direct, they did it all.
Fast forward to today. I just checked out the apple movie trailers site, and there was a new trailer for Undead. I laughed to myself that someone had reused the name, and was quite surprised to find the movie was one and the same. Undead is about to be released in the US by Lion Gates Films. The movie which I think 99% of Australia has never heard of, that didn’t show in 90% of Australian cinemas, is now going to be everywhere in the US. The new trailer makes the movie look a lot more action orientated then it is. The film is more action/comedy then it is action. Think Dawn of the Dead meets Shaun of the Dead.
To those in the US where the movie is soon to air who are reading this, go see it when it hits the cinemas. It’s a great piece of work, and strays beyond your typical Hollywood norms. To those in Australia, go and hire the DVD out from your local video store, I know the place down the road from me has a copy or two.
A few interesting facts about the film (shamelessly ripped from IMDB):
- Over 600 liters of fake blood was used for special effects during filming.
- Most scenes were shot in only one or two takes due to the budget.
- There were two months of rehearsals before filming began.
- The original screenplay did not have any swearing. Most of the swearing in the film was ad-libbed by the actors.
- The film was entirely funded by the directors and their family and friends.
- The directors (who are brothers) rendered most of the special effects on their home computers, taking nine months for post production
- The backup battery supply that powers the garage door during the escape in the van has the name “Spierigfilm” written on it - the name of the film’s production company.
I still have the original trailer from Australia mirrored HERE
The new International trailer can be found HERE
The official website can be found HERE
Follow latest news on the movie HERE
