Rent The Battery (2012)

Mom, are we there yet? - The Battery review by Schrödinger's Cake

I originally added The Battery to my watch list due to it being tipped as being “the best zombie movie for years” (tm). How could I resist that?

Once the film got underway though, what I found was an enjoyable low-budget film that wisely avoided splurging their funds on lacklustre special effects, and instead opted for the classic just-out-of-camera-shot approach to cracking skulls and blowing brains out. The main focus of the film however is the interplay between the two main characters, as they fight boredom and stumble from one zombie near-miss to the next.

It’s a bit slow in places, but on the whole it is beautifully shot and acted, and has a few memorable celluloid moments of truly insightful dark comedy. On balance, maybe not the best zombie movie of recent years, but definitely worth watching if you like such things.

Tiresome American movie - The Battery review by KF

"Labelled as one of the greatest zombie films in years" Who's the copywriter? Jeremy Gardner's mother? It's dismal, utterly dismal. No zombie frighteners, no humour , certainly no sophistication, and most annoyingly, no plot! Los of effing this and effing that though which for young Americans seems to pass for dialogue these days. American film making is clearly in decline.

The resilience of the living dead ... - The Battery review by NP

When you have the same person writing, directing and starring in a production such as this, it can often be an unrefined ego project, with no one on board to reign in the excesses of the ubiquitous creator. Occasionally, a very personal and very successful outcome can occur, such as is the case here.

Jeremy Gardner plays Ben, outwardly a stoner and a bit of a layabout, and inwardly - especially when the chips are down - a methodical thinker and unlikely to panic in frightening situations. In 'The Battery', frightening situations are the name of the game, and Ben is the kind of person you need around. That's not to say he's entirely successful in evading the mass hordes of the living dead who inhabit the world following some kind of apocalyptic zombie holocaust.

This film examines the often unspectacular, grinding reality of such an occurrence. It does so without frills and is all the more effective for that. Ben and Mickey have been thrown together and their relationship produces moments of bleak humour. This is tested throughout, but never more so than during the last act, when the resilience of the marauding antagonists is exploited in a gruelling manner.