TheDeadHaveRisen

I love supporting independent filmmakers here at Gutmunchers. So when I had the chance to check out the short films of Mitch Csanadi of Dirt productions I was pretty psyched. He is shooting some really great stuff and I’m excited to have had an opportunity to cover it for the site. Now lets get onto the reviews.

The Dead Have Risen (2006)

The first of his movies that I watched is the short film The Dead Have Risen. This is a nifty little zombie movie that is about a normal guy who is off to visit his grandfather at the hospital. Only when he and his girlfriend arrive something is terribly wrong. See the dead have risen and the hospital is overrun. The rest of the short (only 30 minutes long) is the guy dealing with his girl getting bitten by a zombie, keeping them safely barricaded away from the growing legion of the dead and eventually getting away from the hospital.

This is such a cool little zombie flick. Unlike a lot of low budget zombie movies Csanadi has the good sense to scale the story down into something that the budget can support. Instead of trying to tell this enormous story on the small budget he focuses on the one character’s struggles over that first night. In making that choice he doesn’t have to try and use some bad CGI shots to show a city overrun or other such distracting nonsense. Instead he focuses on one man and what happens to him as he struggles to live thru the night. Because of this I found the story and characters to be interesting and engaging, which made the already short 30 minutes seem even shorter and left me wanting for more.

In addition to a great story that really grabbed me this movie also boasts some great work behind the scenes. The camera work here is incredible at times. There are some beautiful shots showing the characters sitting behind a barricade. The way it is set up and framed using the hallway and the plate glass windows in the background is just incredible. I’ve said before that talent shows thru regardless of a projects budget and I think this is the case again. This is hands down one of the best low budget zombie movies from a technical behind the scenes point of view that I’ve ever seen. Toss in the great story and you have a really wonderful effort.

3 ½ out of 4

Nothing Face (2007)

The second of the movies that I checked out from Dirt Productions is a little something called Nothing Face. Basically a guy goes to the dentist, gets a toy and gets hit by a car. After getting up he is carted off in a black van by some weird looking people and taken to what seems to be a mental hospital of some sort. Once there he is tortured in odd ways. Of course nothing is what is seems to be and there is a strange twist to the whole series of events.

This one is even shorter than The Dead Have Risen, clocking in at only 17 minutes. I’m not as excited about this one as I was the zombie film. While it Nothing Face has the same great camera work and has it’s own interesting unique look I’m not fond of movies that don’t have a traditional narrative. This movie is more “artsy” than I like and just didn’t interest me that much. That said there are some really freaky images in this one, which of course goes back to the look of the movie. I just wish the story made more sense than it does. Still being as short as it is and because of some of the freaky imagery I would say if you get a chance to check it out you might want to.

2 ½ out of 4

Overall while I’m not a huge fan of Nothing Face there is some talent here and I loved The Dead Have Risen. I can’t wait to see what director Mitch Csanadi and Dirt Productions have coming up next. Perhaps a continuation of the story you started in The Dead Have Risen? I highly recommend that everyone check them out at their website for more information.

reviewed by John Shatzer