"I, Zombie" successfully pulls the zombie genre out of the clichéd assumption that the walking dead congregate in groups and enjoy their feasting on human flesh. Writer-director Andrew Parkinson takes a more sensitive route, presenting us with a likable young chap who, after an argument with his girlfriend, finds himself out in the countryside, where he is bitten by a feral woman. The rest of the movie, as the subtitle implies, is a document of his loneliness and pain as he's turned into a reluctant, decomposing killer. While the makeup FX are a bit rough in spots and some of the events become redundant, Parkinson delivers some disquieting imagery (including screwed-in metal plates covering up wounds) and invokes surprising sympathy for the protagonist's plight. Visually, the film possesses a look and tone akin to the work of Jorg Buttgereit ("Nekromantik," "Schramm"), and carries a similarly deeply felt effect.
Review of I Zombie: The Chronicles of Pain
