The Inevitable Zombie Apocalypse

What do you get from Severed: Forest of the Dead? Apart from starring the guy who plays President Roslin’s assistant on the new Battlestar Galactica, a fairly novel setting for a zombie movie (the forest!) and a new origin idea, not a whole lot. And even the novelties come with pretty severe caveats. The zombies here are created when genetically modified tree sap comes into contact with an open wound. It’s a fairly original but wholly retarded plot device. Explanations are overrated anyway. The lumberjack setting allows for a couple of creative, albeit barely shown, death scenes and it ends up feeling like a tease.  Once you get past the novel premise and setting and the familiar face what you’ll find is an uninspired, pedestrian zombie movie. The acting, direction and script are all mediocre, and the ending is pretty lame. It does manage to be moderately entertaining for its run time but it feels a lot like treading water. I mean, I don’t expect every zombie movie I see to blow me away, but it’s nice if they throw me a little bone here and there. This one simply didn’t and I was really disappointed they didn’t take better advantage of all those axes, chainsaws and wood chippers that were just begging to be used. Overall, not terrible, but not special.