What is a horror film to you? When does an action-drama become a horror film? Zombies almost always fit into the horror genre, but what do you think when the “zombies” are just disease infected humans? Think 28 Days Later or 28 Weeks Later. If you still count cannibalistic, virus infected human “zombies” as horror, then you can certainly tag along for the rest of this review.
Patient Zero is written and directed by Brian T. Jaynes, who has also directed Humans vs. Zombies and Boggy Creek. Patient Zero stars Brandon Slagle (The Black Dahlia Haunting), Amanda Phillips (Haunted High), Carl Savering (“Walker, Texas Ranger”), Larry Jack Dotson (The Reckoning), and Frederic Doss (G.I. Joe, Rise of Cobra). In Patient Zero, a newly engaged couple’s seemingly perfect life is shattered after an accident at their bio-engineering job. A once joyous day of wedding planning and break time sex ends with the couple trapped inside their job facility, where they must battle their way out against zombie-like coworkers and a special military squad sent to wipe out all contaminates – infected or not.
So, as I stated above, Patient Zero is definitely more of an action-drama with horror elements thrown in. The dynamic between the couple played by Slagle and Phillips, the suspense, the military aspect, and the flesh-eating infected all kind of culminate really nicely here. Although, I will say it is more action-drama than horror. That doesn’t mean the movie is bad by any means, just not a typical horror film where the majority of success is dependant on the level of violence and nudity.
I think the two biggest selling points Patient Zero has is the way it was filmed and the performance by Brandon Slagle. The movie is filmed and styled beautifully. There is one scene where the characters are crawling through a ventilation shaft and I’m watching it thinking, “That looks amazing!” And really, if I was impressed by a scene that takes place in a ventilation shaft, then the rest of the movie has to look good too! Great indie film making. Brandon Slagle’s performance is really cool here. His voice throughout the movie carries a strange tone that is right in between hostile and calming. It’s really different, a different kind of performance that you wouldn’t see in a horror film, or an action-drama for that matter.
Now, while I did like Patient Zero, it is far from perfect. Being that the infected people are being used for the marketing scheme (aka dvd cover, etc) I wish there was more scenes with them. I also wish there was a little more gore in their scenes too. My other gripe with Patient Zero is it contains one of my most hated horror movie clichés – the “I can’t!” I hate when women in horror films decide to stay put and give up and shout “I can’t! I can’t!” because they’re either too tired or too scared. Because if it were me, I’d just leave them there. I know it is a plot device used for dramatic effect (and maybe to increase your script page count), but it irks me.
All in all Patient Zero was a perfectly good movie. Lots of action, lots of drama (have I said that enough) and just enough zombie-ish elements to keep an average horror fan pleased. The film is currently available in some stores, but it may be a little hard to find. It was for me. If you see it, definitely pick it up…at least for no other reason than to get another Jackey Hall movie. She really is the perfect Southern Bell of horror.
