Dead Rising – Watchtower (2015)

Dead Rising – Watchtower: Directed by Zach Lipovsky. With Jesse Metcalfe, Meghan Ory, Virginia Madsen, Keegan Connor Tracy. An ineffective vaccine fails to stop an epidemic which is turning people into zombies. The survivors organize themselves to escape from the living dead.

“When a government vaccine fails to stop another zombie infection a man teams up with an infected woman to escape the quarantined area before a crazy man wanting to be king of the zombies expands the territory.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSonyu0026#39;s Crackle, all streaming online, on-demand in conjunction with Legendary pictures offer an adaptation of Dead Rising Capcomu0026#39;s best selling video game. Whatu0026#39;s clear from director Zach Lipovskyu0026#39;s offering is that itu0026#39;s no cheap cash-in. Opening with a cute cartoon explanation of the zombie anti virus Zombrex, weu0026#39;re the introduced to hordes of the dead, a creepy clown and policeman zombie within the first few minutes. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWith sweeping city scales and tight close ups thereu0026#39;s a sense of scale, urgency and panic especially with the impending military action. Jesse Metcalfeu0026#39;s Chase Carter is reminiscent of a mix of D.J, Cotrona and George Clooneyu0026#39;s Seth Gecko nonchalant delivery. Itu0026#39;s good to see one of the biggest 80s stars Virginia Madsen on the screen in the role of a troubled mother. With plenty of screen presence Meghan Ory is notable as Crystal Ou0026#39;Rourke and Bateu0026#39;s Motelu0026#39;s Keegan Connor Tracy is weighty in a small role as Joran.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSadly Dead Rising is broken up by satirical Robocop-like news reports and interviews featuring Rob Riggle and TV-like fade outs donu0026#39;t help the pacing. It has a C.S.I crisp look, while not filmatic it doesnu0026#39;t feel like DTV and has some great special effects. With slicing spinning blades, bats used as weapons and gun-play thereu0026#39;s plenty of zombie blood and guts on display. The second half during the night time scenes gets a little darker, no pun intended, with eerie dead girl characters, chainsaws, rough raping nomads, shotguns, nose biting, motorbikes and more explosions. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEven though Iu0026#39;ve never played Dead Rising its surprising how it captures the feel of at least the posters, clips and game adverts Iu0026#39;d seen and subconsciously locked away with Metcalfe striking poses of Carter in framed angles synonymous with the game series (think Prince of Persia).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDead Rising a.k.a. Dead Rising: Watchtower is a solid addition to the saturated zombie film market with well executed effects and action stunt set ups. Itu0026#39;s main issue by default and through no fault of its it own nor Lipovskyu0026#39;s or writer/producer Tim Carter itu0026#39;s all been done before. The game also apparently had a liable suit brought against it in 2008 for its similarities to Dawn of the Dead u0026#39;78 and 2004. Nevertheless, if Dead Rising had been released in 2006 the same year of the game release it may have faired a little better as while it is a good production it feels like itu0026#39;s covering old ground, zombies in general are not as fresh as they used to be, say in 1985. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHopefully it fulfils Dead Rising fans dreams but for the average viewer with nostalgic inducing cult films like Wrymwood and Bloodbath Bombshell injecting new life into the tired genre and big budget outings like The Dawn of the Dead remake and WWZ, Dead Rising feels a little too Resident Evil Apocalypse or TV pilot-like with its expensive C.S.I feel and odd set up for sequel ending. If a TV spin off is to come, Risingu0026#39;s well executed focus on violence would put it above Z Nation and debatably below The Walking Dead.”