Here’s another zombie movie, this one from Canada. The unique twist here is that the events are centered around a community of First Nations Indians who are all immune to the zombie virus. Of course they must still deal with the other perils of a full blown zombie pandemic. Unfortunately while there is some promise early on here and there is some attempt at a deeper theme, it suffers from a weak follow-through and ultimately feels like a comic book movie. Visually it even tries to look like a comic book movie with some animated frames to illustrate some scenes.
In the Red Crow Indian Reservation in Quebec, the first inklings that something is wrong is when a retiree sees the fish that he has caught and gutted still moving energetically. Meanwhile his son Traylor who is the local policeman has to bail out his sons from the town jail who keep getting in trouble. Another detainee has zombified and starts biting people and more outbreaks occur at the hospital where Traylor’s ex-wife works. They note however that while the people with Indian blood do get bitten, they do not become zombies. Six months later, civilization has completely broken down and the reservation has become fortified compound guarded by the immune Indians. They allow non-Indians to seek sanctuary in their compound as well but this policy angers Traylor’s trouble-making son Lysol who thinks this act of charity strains their supplies and puts them all at risk.
The setting and novel context of this being about First Nations Indians does in fact add some fresh air into this well-worn genre. I especially appreciate how the film moves along quickly past the early stage of the outbreak to focus on the post-apocalyptic community they try to build. Unfortunately they’re not altogether there quality-wise. The photography is excellent but much of the acting is unconvincing and some of the dialogue positively is cringe-worthy, such as when they try to sell the romance between Traylor’s good son and his pregnant white girlfriend. I’m also unhappy over how quickly and easily containment is broken in their nice, secure compound. Of course, we know that things can’t stay safe if we are to have a zombie movie and it’s just silly to rely on politely asking newcomers if they have been bitten when everyone knows the right thing to do is to give each of them a thorough physical examination. They even have a doctor on hand to do the job!
The film’s theme of reverse racism, in that Lysol opposes helping the white people because it puts their own people at risk, has some potential. But it goes nowhere with it and even delivers mixed messages as the white people do willfully put everyone in danger and mess things up for everyone. Apart from the one white girlfriend, no white characters get any positive development or participate in anything. Some of her comments about how she feels compelled to help other white people because being the only white person in a community of Indians makes her feel isolated has some promise, we don’t actually see her cultivate any relationships with any of them. Similarly Lysol is the villain of the piece, yet the film seems to glamorize him by giving him a very distinctive and menacing outfit, and putting him front and center.
In the end, this film aspires to be no more than a comic book action movie with Indian characters. It really loves showing the main characters taking out zombies with spectacular moves. It’s alright as light entertainment but it’s nothing really special.