Written and directed by Jeff Barnaby
Starring Michael Greyeyes, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers andForrest Goodluck
Running time: 1 hour and 36 minutes

by Nikk Nelson

In a genre as crowded as the zombie movie, it’s rare these days to come across a work that isn’t completely reheated corn beef hash. Return of the Living Dead (1985) was one of the first movies I remember seeing at three or four years old. In the prologue crawl, it claims to be based on a true story—something my older brother absolutely delighted in telling me was, in fact, the case. For at least one afternoon, I was convinced that, right before I was born, a zombie apocalypse had only recently abated and there might still be more zombies out there, lurking. Needless to say, I’ve been a fan of the genre my entire life (and/or its terrified hostage). So, the relatively recent explosion of the genre’s popularity has aspects that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and others I’ve absolutely loathed. Only the first few episodes of The Walking Dead are worth a goddamn, in my opinion. Once Frank Darabont was gone, the show lost its soul, and it's been meandering ever since, much like an armless, jawless walker desperately needing put out of its misery. Still, its firm status as a ratings juggernaut opened the floodgates and streaming services, desperate for content, started greenlighting any project with the word ‘dead’ in the title. It’s almost as bad as the word ‘dark’.