Cowboys & Aliens may be taking over cinemas, but on DVD those in the Wild West have a plague of the undead to watch out for instead. Although the title is obviously there to tie into the big budget Daniel Craig flick, Cowboys & Zombies started out life as The Dead And The Damned, although to be honest, the new name is more apt.
The plot sees a bounty hunter enter a small Wild West town and buy a girl, with the rather peculiar idea that if he ties her up in a field, he can lure the man hes after. Oddly it works, but not in the way he expected, as rather than the savage Indian trying to kill the girl, he saves her. Elsewhere a meteor has landed, and when its brought into town and opened, it turns the local population into bloodthirsty zombies.
As the bounty hunter tries to bring in his quarry, he, the girl and the Native American must learn to trust one another as they take on the undead and try to survive in a Western world gone mad.
Theres little doubt that Cowboys & Zombies was made on the cheap, but it actually does pretty well with its very limited resources, especially for a period flick. The zombie effects and makeup are quite fun, and unusually for no-budget horror, stand up to full daylight filming. Also notable is that while not always 100% successful, some effort is put into creating characters with backstories and emotions. Although the handling of this is slightly clumsy (much of it is dealt with in one very long, very talky scene between the bounty hunter and Native American) its better than nothing and a nice touch for the kind of movie that usually dispenses with that sort of thing.
However it cant escape the one thing that screws up so many no-budget flicks, and thats bad acting. The film rests squarely on the shoulders of anti-hero bounty hunter Mortimer, played by David A. Lockhart, and while the character has the potential to be interesting, Lockhart simply doesnt have the acting chops to pull it off. Hes too wooden and am-dram, which quickly becomes irritating (he seems to mistake underplaying things with mumbling inexpressively) and it really drags down what is otherwise a fun flick. While the blood flows and theres a decent amount of gore, the bits in between get a little frustrating, largely due to Lockhart.
Sadly theres not much worth noting on the features front.
Overall Verdict: A fun period zombie flick in most respects, but some bad acting from the lead actor really hurts the movie. Just dont go expecting anything like Cowboys & Aliens.
Special Features:
Trailer
Stills Gallery
Reviewer: Tim Isaac