Movie Review: Eyes of the Dead (2018)

As Eyes of the Dead begins we get to know our protagonist Eddie (writer/director Ben Samuels) intimately…because for the next hour and twenty minutes we will be seeing the world through his eyes…eyes that view his strained marriage, an errant, unscheduled drone spraying his crops, the arrival of mysterious agents, and the breakout of a zombie infestation on his property! Of course ol’ E-man’s family and friends end up holed up in his farmhouse as the shambling dead charge ever forward. Will they survive the onslaught or will they end up a feast for the flesh chewers?
As you can guess from the above; the basics of this terror tale are familiar…but the execution is anything but! Presented in a single take, real-time POV style that really throws your ass into the arcane action hot n’ heavy (it also never presents a distraction or seems like a gimmick…even though it obviously is)!
The whole affair comes off as a sort of non-playable first person video game, and it does a hell of a job immersing the viewer in the story line. Add to that great cinematography (that POV angle had me sweatin’ beastly bullets as the all you can eat shrimp seemed to be a tad on the no bueno side for your’s cruelly….but thankfully no puke was to come), well formed characters (the personal tragedy that causes the marital problems was suitably heart breaking and added a nice sense of gravitas to the flesh ripping going down), and some groovy gory practical effects and we have ourselves a rock solid zombie picture boils n’ ghouls! Also worth noting, there’s a pretty fun twist involved that I think adds even more emphasis to the story…but you’ll have to discover that for yourself should you decide to lay putrid peepers upon this one!
Eyes of the Dead does the near impossible; it takes the hoary ol’ zombie genre and breathes some dynamic new life into it’s shriveled lungs with a slick concept, great acting and camera work, and some decent effects to boot!I say set your eerie eyeballs on this one post-fuckin’ haste!