Philippines zombie movie.
I watched Day Zero. No, not the 2020 Iranian drama film Day Zero. No, not the Blip.tv series Day Zero. No, not the 2007 movie starring Elijah Wood Day Zero. No, not the 2021 documentary film Day Zero. Okay we get it the title isn’t unique. I’m talking about the 2022 Philippines zombie movie Day Zero starring Brandon Vera or as I like to call him; Vin Bautista.
Day Zero was directed by Joey De Guzman who looks like a child, and written by Ays De Guzman who I assume is related to the director. It stars Brandon Vera as Emon, a man doing hard time in Philippine prison when the zombie outbreak breaks out and turns the Philippines into a replication of an American Target during Black Friday, only with less cannibalism. Accompanied by fellow prisoner and comic relief character Timoy (Pepe Herrera), Emon sets out to find his wife Sheryl (Mary Jean Lastimosa) and deaf daughter Jane (Freya Fury Montierro).
I have no clue if actress Freya Montierro is actually deaf, but if she isn’t this girl has some real acting chops on her.
Thankfully for the audience, the zombie apocalypse brings ass-whooping back on the menu and Emon has enough food to feed the entire city. There are a lot of fight sequences in this film and several characters including Sheryl get a chance to act as the hand of God. The fight scenes are very well done and as always I will never not add points for practical blood effects. The makeup on the zombies is a testament to the talents of the effects artists, and as for the scenery itself? I feel like it was just shot on location in a really poor area of the Philippines.
The setting, which mostly takes place in an apartment building bereft of electricity, lends itself to cramped hallways, dark corridors, and living spaces littered with laundry airing out and dead bodies. Now the big standout in this movie and also the moment of sheer coincidence is in the premise of Emon’s deaf daughter. You see the zombies in this movie go idle after a while and are only woken by loud noises, which is great because Emon has been learning sign language to communicate with his deaf daughter. You can probably guess the scenes this premise sets up.
Day Zero isn’t perfect. For a movie partly dead set on doing its own thing, it does follow a lot of tired zombie tropes like the person who despite being well aware of the zombie apocalypse tries to talk sense into a loved one who is clearly a zombie. Or the one who gets bit and doesn’t say anything and becomes a burden. Or the person who refuses to let the group kill their loved one who is clearly a zombie. Maybe it’s because the rest of the film was so interesting, but I thought these scenes really dragged the momentum to a grinding halt.
Not only is the fight choreography well shot, it’s quite creative as well. At less than a half hour, Day Zero is definitely worth your time. You can watch the entirety of Day Zero on YouTube. Not on this website, though. It’s hosted by YouTube Movies & TV so you know it’s legit.
Rating: B+
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