Last Rites is set in Los Angeles & starts as a meteorite crashes down near a bridge where a group of homeless people are gathered, knocked down by the force of the meteorite hitting the ground the homeless get back up again but have been turned into flesh eating zombies. Meanwhile two cops are staking out a warehouse, a large drugs deal goes down & they call in backup to raid the place but the before they can reach the warehouse the cops are attacked by the zombies, all the uniformed cops are killed & the two detectives only just manage to make it into the warehouse. With two opposing gangs, two cops & hordes of flesh eating zombies outside the unlikely bunch must put their rivalries aside & work together in order to survive but as tensions rise inside the warehouse it might just be safer outside with the zombies...
Co-written, produced & directed by Duane Stinnett this cheap Night of the Living Dead (1968) rip-off might have been alright if it were not for the horrible character's that make it an absolute chore to sit through. Basically Night of the Living Dead with an urban setting in a warehouse with cops & black gang members to keep the tensions high & the arguments coming Last Rites sees this bunch of people trapped inside a warehouse deciding whether to wait t for help or make a run for it. The story is alright I suppose but what really killed Last Rites for me were the annoying character's especially Caesar who just had a huge attitude problem throughout, wanted to do nothing but antagonise & start arguments, swear & get other people killed. This character & the way he acts gets really annoying, you just want someone else to shoot him just to shut him up, the other character's fare little better with two bland cops, various black gang members who just swear a lot & try to give it lots of attitude. It becomes incredibly tedious to watch & as I said the story isn't bad, if the film was populated with more likable character's that you could emphasise with & root for then Last Rites might have been decent, as it is it doesn't so isn't.
Retitled to Gangs of the Dead for it's US DVD release & puzzlingly to 48 Weeks Later for it's UK DVD release the film is fairly colourless & a bit bland to look at but competent enough & the initial CGI computer effect of the meteorite crashing to Earth in Los Angeles is quite impressive. There's a bit of gore, a woman has her arm ripped-off, there are a few zombie flesh eating scenes & a scene in which a guy has his head ripped in half. There is one moment that makes no sense though, when Dick Weatherman & his girlfriend are attacked in his car why doesn't he drive away when she is pulled out & eaten? Why does Dick then get out of the car & just randomly run away? Wouldn't it have been better to drive off? The again, what do I know. I was attacked by flesh eating zombies I'd rather run than drive off in a nice fast car, I mean that makes sense right?
Filmed in Los Angeles the production values are decent, the special effects are alright & it's not the worst looking low budget zombie film out there. The acting isn't great, the character's who are all annoying anyway come across as even worse.
Last Rites is a decent attempt at a low budget urban gang Night of the Living Dead that gets a few things right but the horrible character's ruin the film as you just want to see them all ripped apart & eaten as soon as possible.
Co-written, produced & directed by Duane Stinnett this cheap Night of the Living Dead (1968) rip-off might have been alright if it were not for the horrible character's that make it an absolute chore to sit through. Basically Night of the Living Dead with an urban setting in a warehouse with cops & black gang members to keep the tensions high & the arguments coming Last Rites sees this bunch of people trapped inside a warehouse deciding whether to wait t for help or make a run for it. The story is alright I suppose but what really killed Last Rites for me were the annoying character's especially Caesar who just had a huge attitude problem throughout, wanted to do nothing but antagonise & start arguments, swear & get other people killed. This character & the way he acts gets really annoying, you just want someone else to shoot him just to shut him up, the other character's fare little better with two bland cops, various black gang members who just swear a lot & try to give it lots of attitude. It becomes incredibly tedious to watch & as I said the story isn't bad, if the film was populated with more likable character's that you could emphasise with & root for then Last Rites might have been decent, as it is it doesn't so isn't.
Retitled to Gangs of the Dead for it's US DVD release & puzzlingly to 48 Weeks Later for it's UK DVD release the film is fairly colourless & a bit bland to look at but competent enough & the initial CGI computer effect of the meteorite crashing to Earth in Los Angeles is quite impressive. There's a bit of gore, a woman has her arm ripped-off, there are a few zombie flesh eating scenes & a scene in which a guy has his head ripped in half. There is one moment that makes no sense though, when Dick Weatherman & his girlfriend are attacked in his car why doesn't he drive away when she is pulled out & eaten? Why does Dick then get out of the car & just randomly run away? Wouldn't it have been better to drive off? The again, what do I know. I was attacked by flesh eating zombies I'd rather run than drive off in a nice fast car, I mean that makes sense right?
Filmed in Los Angeles the production values are decent, the special effects are alright & it's not the worst looking low budget zombie film out there. The acting isn't great, the character's who are all annoying anyway come across as even worse.
Last Rites is a decent attempt at a low budget urban gang Night of the Living Dead that gets a few things right but the horrible character's ruin the film as you just want to see them all ripped apart & eaten as soon as possible.