Best thing you'll see all month: Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead

Title Best thing you'll see all month: Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead
Author Tom Chick
Posted in Movie reviews
When February 15, 2015

Oh Australia, you've done it again! Aussie zombie movie Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead is a revelation emerging from the shambling horde of me-too cash-ins..

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Have to check this out.

Tom, have you ever seen Wake in Fright (1971)? It's by the director of Weekend at Bernies (1989) and First Blood (1981), Ted Kotcheff. It's my favorite Aussie film besides The Road Warrior (1981) and Chopper (2000). It's a truly terrifying film!

Man, I've never even heard of it. I'm going to pretend you didn't mention Weekend in Bernies and I'm going to try to track it down. :)

I only mentioned it so you'll be truly baffled by the direction his career went after watching Wake in Fright (1971). As someone who's spent a lot of time in Australia, it really nails the drinking culture. I think you'll find a lot to like in the movie.

Wake in Fright is an incredible piece of 70s Australiana film-making - the 'kangaroo' sequence was from an actual cull. Its re-release was also a great story http://nfsa.gov.au/collection/...

Found it easily on Amazon Prime's website.

That's a great story!

All hail Brooke.

Pretty rough around the edges, but it may have helped set the tone. Great find Tom.

Thanks for this. The cover looked pretty silly, but it was very fun and surprising once it got going.

Dunno how I missed this movie five years ago - what a great zombie flick.

The sequel for this is out today and I loved it!

To give you sense for what they’re working with and how true they are to the look of the first movie, dig this promotional still they sent out with screener links:

It does look noticeably lower budget than their other movies, but that didn’t bother me in the least. The main cast is back, along with a couple of cool new characters. And they’re definitely true to the unique world-building from the first movie! Apocalypse focuses on a different lead this time, which I was skeptical about at first, but I think the decision pays off. He’s a great new entry for this storyline and it sets up some nice conflict among the characters.

Sadly, I’m not entirely sure where you’re supposed to watch it. Justwatch shows that it’s only available VOD at Spectrum, but that can’t be right.

-Tom

Yay excited to see this. When you first reviewed Wyrmwood I started it and just wasn’t feeling it then. A year or so ago I finally gave it another start and loved it. I’m going to have to go back for a rewatch though since I’m having a hell of a time remembering the details. I feel like a double header with Train to Busan is in order. Another great zombie flick I’ve been thinking about recently.

From some random news story:

I’ve seen another story talking about a “digital” release in the UK, but no indication what platform, so maybe just VOD for now.

I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as the first, and it got a bit too silly/tropey for its own good toward the end, but I do love a zombie movie with as much joie de vivre as this. Reminds me of the Crank movies in a weird way.

Looks like it’s available on IFC Films and AMC + via Amazon, (or just rentable on Amazon) and Apocalypse is available for rental on Amazon as well. Might also show up on Paramount+ at some point, as I’ve seen other Spectrum things show up there after a period of time.

I was moseying around the theater the other day waiting for my movie to start and I noticed a big-ass standee for a movie called Sting, which shows a giant spider leg next to a small dog for comparison. From the leg, you can surmise the spider would be about the size of a horse?

Anyway, that was interesting enough. So I took a closer look. Oooh, an R-rating. Even more interesting. Let’s see who’s making it: Kiah Roache-Turner, one of the brothers who did Wyrmwood! And it’s out April 12! And from quickly Googling Sting to verify the release date, I see from the other hits he’s recently signed on to direct an adaptation of a book about soldiers adrift in WWII fighting a Great White Shark.

The Roache-Turner brothers have had a bit of a rough go trying to follow up Wyrmwood, but if Kiah is moving on to do creature features, I’ll be there. I’m sure there are trailers for folks who want a little more spoilery info, and maybe one day the forum will get a Sting thread. But until I’ve seen it, I’m going back into info blackout!