After their planet is ravaged by the undead, a group of humanoid aliens head to earth in order to prevent another apocalypse from rising. For a film billed as a horror comedy, it should not take the audience more than twenty minutes to realise that is the tone the film is going for. Based on a book titled The Dead Site, this film is an abomination of biblical proportions.
From the outset, the sheer lack of attempting to create a religion-based comedy movie without potentially offending members of the aforementioned religion is clear to see and makes for incredibly awkward viewing. Whilst on their way to planet earth, the aliens (whose names are entirely forgettable due to their ridiculous nature and lack of any real character building) perform some kind of sex pact, although even that is ruined by some of the worst sound design we’ve ever experienced. Nearly every line of dialogue in the first two thirds of Apocalypse Rising is muffled and clouded by either the obscenely loud background stock soundtrack or by the uncomfortable sound of characters performing the act of coitus whilst the plot is trying to be forwarded by poorly-written and cheap exposition. One shell of a character puts it best when he tells a scientist to “be quiet because no one cares”.
Towards the back end of this nuisance of a moving picture, it’s plain to see that the director Richard Lowry clearly ran out of budget (which was probably used on less than adequate zombie makeup) when royalty free-esque special effects are presented including a cardboard looking airplane falling from the sky. This was quite possibly the funniest section of the film due to its abysmal execution.
This isn’t just a boring, unfunny and messy piece of film, it can easily be considered highly offensive to those with any religious beliefs. The imagery and use of Christianity and Jesus is nothing short of ill-considered and nearsighted by Lowry and everyone else involved. Couple that with one of the most ludicrous instances of sex as a joke (when the antagonist of the film decides to sleep with a zombie until she is forcibly removed from the act), you have easily one of the worst films in recent memory.
APOCALYPSE RISING / CERT: UNRATED / DIRECTOR: RICHARD LOWRY / STARRING: JOHANNA RAE, SHIAH LUNA, JEFF CAPERTON / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
