The world, in particular London, is going to hell in a hand-basket due to a blood-borne disease turning folks into raving, zombie-like lunatics…but unlike the myriad of other creatures exactly like these in this overcrowded genre, these fuckers retain some memories and skill sets.
Fortunately, the disease has been corralled in a quarantine zone…a zone in which resides Dr. Raynes (Robert Goodale), the asshole responsible for this whole mess, and the one voted most likely to be able to fix it! Enter Captain Marcus Stanton (Oris Erhuero) and his team of shit-kickers who are sent in to retrieve that egghead with the quickness! Will they have the stones to complete their mission and save the world, or will they lose their asses to a gaggle of marauding maniacs?
While there is plenty of derivative goings-on in Redcon-1; Director/Co-Writer Chee Keong Cheung still manages to tap a few new veins here and there; most noticeably in having the fury ensconced “zombies” have the smarts to plan devious counter-attacks against our para-military heroes. This is a fun conceit and adds some much needed originality to the production. Also in the plus column is the fact that this film certainly isn’t light on the action as the lion’s share of the runtime is comprised of non-stop battles of man against monster.
Speaking of “runtime”, here comes a major negative: at nearly two hours long this flick gets tiring and repetitive…which is a shame considering the wall-to-wall violence presented…and the set pieces on display are well shot and choreographed, there just could have been a few less of them to keep the momentum fast paced but not exhausting.
If you love 28 Days Later and want to see it get it’s rage zombie goodness mixed up right royally with an Escape From New York aesthetic, then give Redcon-1 a go; it’s an action packed fright flick for sure, it just could have given us a bit less to succeed a bit more.
