Pandemic (2016)

Dir: John Suits

I doubt that I'll ever tire of the zombie themed films (or television or board games) but will admit there has been a glut of poorly scripted, amateurishly shot and derivative gut munchers of late. And by saying 'of late' I mean the last decade or so. I initially passed on viewing PANDEMIC via Netflix's streaming service as I thought it was yet another found footage film made to cash in on the popularity of the zombie sub-genre. There I was one night, a few beers into the evening, looking for something to watch and I re-read the film's synopsis and decided to give it a chance.

An unknown virus has infected most of humanity. The infected deteriorate through five stages, from feeling weak and tired to brain damaged hyper violent flesh eater. After the fall of a New York base / research centre, Doctor Lauren Chase (Rachel Nichols CONAN THE BARBARIAN remake) arrives in L.A. to work at a facility investigating the virus and rescuing the uninfected. As facility head, Doctor Greer (Paul Guilfoyle SESSION 9) has no qualms killing the infected once they are no longer medically useful or making certain that everyone provided safety and security by the facility are productive members of the society. Leading Chase through a tour of the compound, he also is preparing her for a rescue mission.

Chase is assigned as medic to a rescue squad tasked with going into the city and locating a large group of uninfected. The squad is comprised of ex-con driver Wheeler (Alfie Allen GAME OF THRONES), Denise (Missi Pyle UNCLE NICK) the navigator and Gunner (Mekhi Phifer DAWN OF THE DEAD remake) the, er... squad gunner. Chase has a secondary mission that she keeps secret from the group. She's lost contact with her husband and daughter. Desperate to speak with them she scrounges for a mobile phone at every opportunity. Gunner also has something he'd like to accomplish outside of the mission. His wife, who was part of a previous rescue mission, is lost. The facility lost contact with them and no one knows their whereabouts or even if they are still alive.

It wouldn't be a zombie film if things didn't turn to shit for the rescue team.

PANDEMIC is not a true found footage film. It breaks the rules of showing only what can be captured by the recording devices in use by the characters early and often. Director John Suits (BREATHING ROOM) has stated it is a POV first person film akin to a first person shooter in the video gaming world. The shooting style works to some extent. The rescue squad wears hazmat suits outfitted with cameras so there's plenty of coverage but when it comes to the action scenes, ugh! I've played a number of first person shooters, everything from DOOM to QUAKE to COUNTER-STRIKE but I could not fathom what I watching onscreen during the more frantic POV scenes. I had no such issues while watching the POV sequence from the film DOOM but will admit to difficulty in tracking the action scenes in the POV shots from the mis-fire THE BROTHERS GRIMSBY.

There is a lot to like about PANDEMIC. The film is derivative but there's enough in the script to make it stand out a bit from the legion of other zombie films. Rachel Nichols puts in a good performance as the doctor with secrets and the love her character has for her daughter comes through.

Recommended for fans of the zombie.

**1/2 out of ****