The Killing Strain (2010) Reviews

• Actually a rather nice zombie movie...

  paul_haakonsen2012-04-06

  I picked up "The Killing Strain" from Amazon because of one reason; it is a zombie movie. I am a sucker for zombies, and just have to watch all that I can. When I received the movie by mail, I put it in my 'to-watch-pile' because the DVD cover looked sort of discount-like. So nearly two months pass by before I sit down to watch it. "The Killing Strain" really surprised me, because it was not the kind of cheesy, low-budget crap zombie movie that I expected it to be. There was actually good production to this movie and they had fairly good actors and actresses on the cast list. The story in "The Killing Strain" is as you have seen in countless zombie movies prior to this one. A strange infection is rampart, turning people into mindless killing machines - zombies, if you will - and the protagonists find themselves in the middle of the chaos. Yeah, nothing new here. But still, the movie was executed in such a manner that it managed to keep me entertained and watching. Being trapped in a farmhouse, again very cliché, there is a group of people coming together for survival, and of course personalities and tempers clash as not everyone is on the same page. And sure, the characters were fairly generic and cliché, but still it worked out well enough. There was one thing that I didn't really like in the movie, and that is the "28 Days Later"-style zombies that are fast, agile and running about. But hey that is all a matter of preference. And the movie was still great, despite the running zombies. The effects were good as well, and the zombies had great make-up. Now, you didn't really get the tradition guts, gore and gorging on intestines that you usually get in Romero's movies and such. But the zombies still had a great touch of being dead to the make-up and effects. I don't understand the low rating this movie have gotten, because I found it to be one of the better non-blockbuster-produced zombie movies I have seen in quite some time. As for the ending of the movie, well, I will not spoil anything by revealing it here, but that ending was so obvious, it could be seen coming a mile away.

• Not all that bad

  progman632012-02-04

  I don't know what version of the movie you guys watched, this was the broadcast premier on the Chiller channel by the same name. The acting really wasn't that bad. The FX weren't really that bad either. It wasn't really exceptional, just what you'd come to expect from a mid/low level budget made for cable movie. You can't expect the quality of a polished production from some major studio, but this was much better than a lot of garbage that's been produced and then, somehow, actually gets aired. Yeah, there are a few of the maddeningly stupid plot devices to build suspense - let's go down into the dark cellar all alone, and if you hear a strange noise don't bother to tell anyone or call for help. There's the loudmouth bully, and the nerdy guy, and the chick who lost her family, and the sensible guy everyone wants to listen to. Nothing too revealing, but well played non-the-less. And you do notice one or two scenes that never seemed to be followed up on even though you knew something was supposed to happen with them. But nothing was so glaringly terrible that it would ruin the entire movie. Solid B grade movie with decent acting and storyline.

• Virus/Zombie movie that stays pretty much middle in the middle pack, nothing extraordinary here.

  My_Opinion-245-9208012011-12-28

  The Killing Strain is your run of the mill low budget zombie/virus movie. In all honesty the movie was not bad, it just was not good. There was nothing extraordinary to separate it from movies such as anything from the Dead Series by George Romero or even the 28 Days Later. So as you can already see the bar is set high to begin with. Yes, this is a low budget reflection of great movies in this genus, however; budget restraints aside there still was nothing that popped out at you and immediately or grabbed your attention. No amazing scenes of violence or compassion. Nor was the sub-standard acting done well, it was hard to tell if the actors played there parts purposely over the top, or was the acting that God awful again, hard to say. The pace of the movie was enjoyable at least they were no long drawn out explanation of what lead to this disaster. I just wish the Directors and writers would have taken the time to put a plot together that would take hold of you, instead we are treated to an ordinary run of the mill zombie-ish movie that will not differentiate it's self from over a 100 other such titles.

• One of the Most Painful Films I've Ever Watched!

  amlahood2010-06-19

  Wow! I went to see the midnight premiere of this film in San Antonio, TX since a large portion of the film was shot on some land owned by my family, and several of my relatives played zombies. I am sorry to say that this film did not turn out into anything remotely resembling a polished, well-made film. Where to start? The acting was cheesy, non-fluid and everything about the film just felt forced. There was horrible timing issues (delayed reactions) probably due to poor editing in the cutting room. The acting was so bad, it borderlines on being funny, but there was such an obvious intent to be serious that it turns out to be just painful. The plot itself is pretty standard of zombie films, (of which I am normally a fan) beginning with an experiment going horribly wrong and the entire region (South Texas in this case) becoming infected. Eventually the entire crew gets stranded in a house, and just seem to stay there for the entire movie. It was quite boring, with the only interruptions being the anticipated attack on the house by zombies, and the standard searching for supplies to escape routine which you would expect. This isn't necessarily a bad thing if it is done right, like in Night of the Living Dead which kept a certain amount of excitement (albeit cheesy and over-the-top) throughout the whole feature. Instead, the whole thing felt more like a high school kid with an expensive camera,some friends and some money to blow to create a film, as opposed to a professional director and group of actors. Finally, the errors in this film were just too much to handle. The CG effects were laughable at best and entailed a still-framed picture with some fire and/or smoke added in for effect. In several of the scenes, you could actually see a loading symbol in the bottom right from the computer editing program which was never removed. But the worst part were the inexplicable UFO's which were shown on the horizon in a scene near the end of the movie. It looked like the whole thing was stolen from another film and then destroyed cars, fire and obviously fake mannequins with blood were just superimposed over the image. Add in a few plot holes (I don't hold it against them too much, it IS a zombie movie after all) and COUNTLESS continuity errors (such was firearms mysteriously appearing and reappearing with different people in different parts of the film) and you have a film which looked and felt like the group was making last-minute edits to the film up through the car ride over to the theater. Avoid at all costs!!!

• Fried cola!

  DoNotTrustImdb2011-08-26

  I love a good zombie film, great bit of escapism, most times it makes for good viewing, even the B grade variety are OK to watch for a laugh. But this horror of a film is as bad as a B grader will get! Where do they get these 2 bit actors from? no not the people that act the zombie roles. The blood and guts parts are OK, but that's where it stops, the acting is so poor it nearly turned me into a brain dead zombie! And damn that script is horrible, and yes the directing is not much chop either. Should you watch it? sure why not, but be warned it is crap, but it is a great film to remind you of better films from the past, or hopefully better one's to come. A very solid 1 out of 10