If this movie had come out in the day of Evil Dead, I'm willing to bet a lot of horror fans would have forgiven its obviously substandard technical aspects. The almost uniform loathing of this little indie is no doubt a sign of how low a tolerance audiences have for truly independent films. Independent does not mean pre-sold to lionsgate, who agreed to fund a huge share of the budget therefore allowing the filmmakers to hire experienced DPs to shoot on brandy new Oakley Red packages. No, no. Often, this is what independent looks like, requiring us viewers to look beyond the technical and into the heart of the story.
On that note, Autumn has an interesting approach to the Zombie genre in that the zombies start out very benign and not much of a threat at all, becoming more and more of a danger as the movie marches on.
The "Live together or die alone" theme isn't so awfully new to this genre, but Autumn carries it well. Aside from the threesome we spend most of our screen-time with, the other characters quickly become foot-notes. It's almost jarring when they show up again just to illustrate that they ultimately died horribly. It made me wish the screenwriter had employed the good sense to trimming those characters and devote more time to fleshing out the core.
For me, that was where the true failings of Autumn came into focus. There was almost enough character development to elevate the movie above typical entries into the zombie genre, but not quite. It's clear that there is a great story with some really interesting character work laying beneath the veneer, but ultimately the A.D.D. inspired beat choices win out.
Still, I would watch Autumn if zombie flicks are your thing. There are enough twangs of originality to make it worthwhile.
On that note, Autumn has an interesting approach to the Zombie genre in that the zombies start out very benign and not much of a threat at all, becoming more and more of a danger as the movie marches on.
The "Live together or die alone" theme isn't so awfully new to this genre, but Autumn carries it well. Aside from the threesome we spend most of our screen-time with, the other characters quickly become foot-notes. It's almost jarring when they show up again just to illustrate that they ultimately died horribly. It made me wish the screenwriter had employed the good sense to trimming those characters and devote more time to fleshing out the core.
For me, that was where the true failings of Autumn came into focus. There was almost enough character development to elevate the movie above typical entries into the zombie genre, but not quite. It's clear that there is a great story with some really interesting character work laying beneath the veneer, but ultimately the A.D.D. inspired beat choices win out.
Still, I would watch Autumn if zombie flicks are your thing. There are enough twangs of originality to make it worthwhile.