Dead Rising: Watchtower - a successful game movie

  With all of the different zombie movies and TV shows being produced, most people would over look a movie adapted from a zombie video game series. Especially when it doesn't have a theatrical release, but Dead Rising: Watchtower isn't a movie to be overlooked. 

  Movies made solely for the internet have a stigma of being badly made and having poor quality, but with the help of Legendary Pictures Digital this movie managed to break the stereotype and prove itself to be a film you would actually want to see on the big screen. 


  The Dead Rising game series is a violent, gore filled zombie-fest, each game is set in a location this is suffering a zombie outbreak and you play a protagonist that fights their way to safety, the story lines usually feature a conspiracy that 
points to the government or the military causing the outbreak in the first place. The game series is labelled under the sand box game genre which means your actions in the game affect the ending. The entire game series had positive reactions from its target audience, so it makes sense they would attempt to capitalise on movie profits. 

  The movie is set in the Dead Rising universe and references the game and even has the original game protagonist Frank West (Rob Riggle). The film revolves around a reporter Chase Carter (played by Jesse Metcalfe) trying to get a lead on a zombie virus outbreak but instead gets trapped in the quarantined zone as the outbreak spreads. The virus begins turning people after the anti virus called "Zombrex" no longer has any effect on bitten survivors. Chase meets up with other survivors including Crystal (Meghan Ory) who is only person who has a working supply of "Zombrex". This development leads to the a conspiracy that the outbreak was planned and Chase plans to survive the outbreak and expose the set up to the world, so he forges weapons from household objects and fights through hordes of zombies and crazed raiders, all whilst trying to keep Crystal alive.


  Through out the movie the characters are well developed and you really gain sympathy for them due to the situation they are in, the best example is Chase Carter because he starts out as a typical pushy journalist looking for a story, but as the movie progresses he becomes a likeable character. 

  Most internet movies usually look amateur or just look like they were made on a small budget, Dead Rising: Watchtower on the other hand has high production value, with professional camera angles, authentic set design with locations that look like they've been ravaged by a zombie outbreak and panic induced chaos. The movies atmosphere builds up a sense of urgency at steady pace that pulls you in as a viewer and compels you to watch, the atmosphere of the film also comes across like a comic book movie would, by throwing you into a universe where zombies are now a common phenomenon.

  This film is filled with references to the game series but none of them are more obvious than having Frank West in the movie. In the the first Dead Rising you play as Frank West trying to survive a zombie outbreak in a shopping mall (George A. Romero didn't sue them shockingly). Rob Riggle portrays the live action game character but in this he's out of the zombie killing game and is now a published author of zombie survival book and he is being interviewed by a news anchor woman as the movie progresses, each scene with him in is hilarious as he is constantly at odds with the anchorwoman and keeps irritating her with his simplistic and violent comments and its all done a satirical manner. They also reference the game series with games creative and innovative weapons they use in the film including buzzsaws attached to sledge hammers and weedwackers connected to hedge trimmers. 

  Many critics today think that zombies are no longer a genuine threat and they don't scare anyone, well in Dead Rising they come in vast numbers, they not like Romero zombies that shuffle slowly but they not fast REC zombie either, DR zombies keep a normal scary pace and they ridiculously strong and can chew through limbs, so having chainsaw near by helps. This movie does manage to make the classic zombie a genuine threat again. 

  This film really does rise above the label of "internet movie" and shows itself as a film that can be taken seriously and be classed as one of the better zombie movies in the last five years, with all of the other zombie franchise out there this film really is a breath of fresh and can be watched by both horror movie fans and gamers alike.