In a day and age where zombie movies are a dime a dozen, filmmakers have to do something in order to stand out from the crowd. It's not enough to just show the walking dead running or lumbering toward victims and then eating them. There's only so many times you can be shocked by a flesh-eater getting plugged in the head with a rifle. George Romero, Danny Broiled, and countless other directors have already given us those moments hundreds of times over. Unfortunately, "State of Emergency" is another in a long line of films that brings nothing new to the table at all.
A chemical plant explodes outside a small town. The residents soon show signs of contamination and become ravenous animals with an appetite for flesh. The government closes off the town, leaving any survivors in the area to fend for themselves. Four people holed up in a warehouse must find a way to stay alive and keep the rabid mutants at bay as they await rescue by the military.
There's really not much to say about "State of Emergency." It's a fast-moving zombie movie where they have bloodshot eyes, growl, and attack people ferociously. The whole film is forgettable and gives us little to nothing to get excited about. You get mentally and emotionally numb after seeing dozens of these with the same basic set-ups.
Another of my complaints is that we get one zombie at a time in "State of Emergency." There's never a ferocious pack of them attacking anyone. One at a time they come out the grassy fields and attack one of the four survivors. It was as if the filmmakers were trying to save money on make-up by only showing one mutant at a time. Granted, the make-up looked good. It should have. There was only one person to apply it to at a time.
Now that I've completely trashed the film, let me give some positive feedback. There are a few moments of genuine suspense when you're waiting for something to jump out from behind or beside a character. The scenes of various mutants standing alone in the distance are also strangely disturbing.
Special features included deleted scenes and two featurettes. One highlights the visual effects and the other is entitled "The Making of 'State of Emergency.'" It's very short and consists of several clips of different scenes being shot.
"State of Emergency" is the type of movie you watch when you've ran out of all other options. If you're a zombie fan, it will temporarily satisfy you're hunger on a boring Saturday night. However, chances are you're not going to remember it in a week. You're definitely not going to remember it after seeing just the trailer for "World War Z."
"State of Emergency" is available now on DVD and as a Digital Download.
