The concept of a man-eating plague of the dead is everywhere. From computer games to Manga, from festivals to classic literature mash-ups, no-one is safe from the ever advancing groan and shuffle. Nowhere has the morbid influence been more marked than in film. According to IMDB [internet movie database] there were 42 new ‘zombie films’ made in 2009 alone.

The film zombie is a product of imaginationand confusion surrounding Haitian folklore originating in Africa. Commonly understood as a phenomenon of the Vudon religion, Haitian zombification involves using poison or some other magic to induce a death-like state. Once revived, the ‘zombi’ body now existing without a soul, would become a slave. The distinction between a ‘death-like state’ and ‘dead’ blurred once zombie films hit our screens in the 60s (a distinction which seems trivial unless you’re on the wrong side of the zombie/non-zombie divide).

Although zombie films existed previously, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead is often seen as the first; true zombie fanatics even refer to the period of time before Romero as B.R. (Before Romero). Following this seminal film, the Zombie really took hold (despite limb breakages) and the 80’s in particular saw a stream of zombie films whose titles invariably included one or all of the words; undead, day, dawn, zombie, evil, land and return.

No doubt a fertile ground due to potentially cheap production costs, gory horror is a favourite amongst burgeoning filmmakers. Cue Mark Price who took this notion a step further making a 93 minute feature film starring Colin, a recently transformed Zombie, for just £45. Attracting attention in the industry and currently being distributed globally, Colin, is proof of the everlasting life of the eternally undead. Offering a zombie eye view of familiar apocalyptic terrain, Price combines parody with originality. We recognise the game but the rules have changed.

Along with customary shaky camera realism and fake blood spurting attacks, Colin’s zombie protagonist is an innovative twist proving there’s no excuse for blank remakes. And did I mention that he made it for £45? Although stagnation threatens any popular trend, zombie films can offer a fresh (yet decomposed) take on the perils of the undead. From ultra-gory Braindead to Brit comedy Shaun of the Dead to Romero’s last efforts Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead, those hungry corpses just keep on coming.

J: The main thing that caught my attention when choosing which films I wanted to see at NLFF, was the experimentation with perspective. Although he is not the first to do so, the fact that the director wanted to show a zombie-apocalypse from the perspective of a zombie was what drew me in. I admire what Marc Price did with such a small budget, however I think that aspect of the film was over-sold, as if to distract the audience from the elements that were lacking in the film.

P: It is a shame that marketing and media attention has been focused on the cost of the film – as it is difficult to fault the scale of any low-budget film, yet, there is something fundamentally missing in Colin. Despite the claims of a zombie perspective, there is much that distracts from our focus on the tragic anti-hero. The jumping timeframe, the implied but unexplained backstory and random comedic characters are at times impossible to keep up with. For a film that makes use of space and long soundtrack samples, it still manages to feel rushed and inelegant.

J: For me the main areas that were lacking were narrative/plot and character development. There were some potentially great storylines with Colin’s family and the vigilante group we encounter near the end of the film, but more often than not these scenes were over too soon. I can understand that this was done because it was more important to maintain the focus on Colin, but it cut off the narrative pace very abruptly at times.

P: Exactly. We feel sympathy for the lead, but stories and characters with much greater potential to engage the audience were left weak and unexplored or worse, ignored completely, after their initial introduction. The family is the strongest element in the script, but they are woefully underused, and the vigilante group would have made for an ideal set of characters as a counter to Colin, but they are left as caricatures, and instead could have formed the backbone of the story.

J: There was an inconsistency in the nature of Colin compared to the other zombies too! Frequent shots of groups feasting on human beings in aggresive, monster-like fashion is the traditional portrayal, however Colin seemed oddly to deviate from this, being more of an introverted zombie figure still partially in touch with his human side. If this was intentional, I don’t think it really works, as there’s a difference between showing things through the perspective of a zombie, and the zombie being the exception to the rule just to get sympathy from the audience. Sure, Colin did his fair share of feasting on human flesh too, but it lacked the survival/killer instinct that the other zombies seemed to have.

P: Most frustratingly, it’s those kind of script details that haven’t been thought through or edited out. In particular, the likelihood that in a city the best weapons accessible are garden shears or hammers requires explanation. Where are all the guns? Is all the ammunition gone? Also, playing with flashback and a reliance on visual metaphors like traffic lights changing, a road sign with arrows in two directions, and worse still, newspaper headlines, is amateurish and dated.

J: On a smaller note but still equally as important, the suspension of disbelief was periodically shattered due to lack-lustre and unconvincing screams from the victims of zombies, I think if I were about to have my limbs forcibly detached and gnawed upon I’d be emitting more than a sleepy moan.

P: Marc Price is a very likeable director, and hearing his meandering answers in the Q&A made me less critical than I was when the film ended, as it is clear that he made the film for all the right reasons: a love of the genre, an opportunity to use the skills of a collaborative and creative group of friends, a desire to demonstrate abilities in a low-budget movie that would translate into bigger budgets in the future – but what could have been an outstanding short film just didn’t stand up as a ninety minute feature.

J: Although it may not sound like it, overall I am impressed with what Marc Price did – give credit where credit is due. I just think there is so much further he could have gone. For an explorative zombie film, he did well to include all the elements of horror, suspense and personal conflict and his resourcefulness is very inspiring.

P: It is already successful and will be added to the bandwagon of recent zombie films, not as an essential British title, but as a notable curiosity. Arguably, it is the difference between a film that cost £45 and one that cost £1000. They’re both low budget, but in the latter, the film making is unlikely to be filled with distracting shakes and amateur production. With a script editor, a more organised set and no doubt, a bigger budget, Marc Price will make far better films than Colin.

That said, it seems a bit steep charging over 15% of the film’s budget for a ticket – I might go and see Avatar again, for better value…