DVD Review: Exit Humanity / Cert: 15 / Director: John Geddes / Screenplay: John Geddes / Starring: Mark Gibson, Jordan Hayes, Dee Wallace, Bill Moseley, Stephen McHattie, Brian Cox / Release Date: June 19th (US), July 2nd (UK)
With the bizarre influx of supernatural Civil War movies hitting the big and small screens, writer, director and editor John Geddes has created one of the better ones.
In Exit Humanity, the story is told in flashback mode through our hero’s journal (narrated by Brian Cox), Edward Young (Mark Gibson); a former Confederate soldier forced to kill his wife due to an unknown infection that turns the newly dead or those that are bitten into zombies.
Young documents his experiences through his journal describing how head shots with a six shot pistol are good for close range when encountering the living dead while a rifle is better for distance along with other valuable information to be passed on should anything happen to him. As his quest continues, searching for his missing son through the back woods of Tennessee, he sadly discovers that his boy has become one of the living dead as well. Forced to do the unthinkable, he places his son’s ashes in a jar, continuing his journey to a peaceful place of rest when he can scatter them.
Fighting his way through hungry zombies to his destination, Young joins up with Isaac (Adam Seybold) forming an uneasy alliance with him to find his sister, Emma (Jordan Hayes) who may hold the cure to the disease held captive by a renegade Confederate army, General Williams (Bill Moseley) and his outlaw soldiers that include an unbalanced medic (Stephen McHattie).
PartThe Road and part 28 Days Later, the movie is told with animated segments and chapters that move the film forward. As with many other Civil War/zombie films and the lack of why the living dead are roaming the countryside, this one has a believable explanation that is delivered by Dee Wallace portraying a mysterious, secluded woman in the woods, named Eve.
Filmed on a budget of $300,000, Geddes has created an interesting twist on the zombie genre and makes use of the forest filled landscape, never playing the film for laughs. The Civil war reenactment group featured in the beginning adds to the production value of the movie as well. Mark Gibson turns in an excellent performance as the brooding Young, as do the rest of the cast turning in solid performances.
Special Features: None
