Plot
On a flight from Los Angeles to Paris, a
scientist on the run from the CIA is secretly transporting a body
infected with a genetically modified virus in the cargo hold. The plane flies through a violent
thunderstorm and the container carrying the body is damaged, allowing the
infected zombie to break free and start spreading the virus to the other
passengers. With no way out of the plane, the survivors have to band together
and fight for their lives.
Review
Zombies on a Plane would be a more
fitting title as this highly entertaining film takes it's cue from Snakes on
a Plane, just replacing the snakes with flesh-eating zombies. And it works
brilliantly, perhaps even more so than Samuel L. Jackson's tad-disappointing box
office hit. I would just like to say that this was in production before the
other one so there's no real sense of copying, just major similarities. The plot is simple - throw a bunch of characters onto a plane
and unleash the zombie hordes against them. Before you can say "fasten your
seatbelts" this flight has already taken off. Well maybe that's a bit of an
overstatement
because the good stuff doesn't kick in for a long time. Yes, a few dudes get
eaten in the luggage compartment but it's not until around the fifty minute mark
before the zombies break free of their confinement and let loose the dogs of
war. But once they do, expect everything and anything!
I'd love to fly on one of these planes. They
always seem to be half-empty so you've got plenty of leg room (a must-have when
you're a 6ft 5in guy like myself) and they've also got hot-as-hell stewardesses
who wear short skirts and continually flirt with any single male passengers. I'm
not trying to pick faults with the script but everyone on the plane has some
sort of social problems. There's the prisoner and his escort. You've got
cheating boyfriends and girlfriends. There's a world-famous golfer with his
sick-of-fame wife. Not forgetting the air marshal who is too quick to pull the
trigger. Oh, don't forget the weary pilot who is on his last flight before
retirement. And of course, the mad scientist and his associates. There's a lot
of characters lurking around on the plane and even the ones who don't speak like
the nun and the Asian businessman seem to have character quirks to them. This is
no ordinary flight! There's a great ensemble cast too
with a load of familiar faces popping up to fulfil these roles. Kevin J. O'Connor adds some great
comic relief as the prisoner. Richard Tyson adds the meat as
the air marshal. You've got Erick Avari as the mad scientist (he is one of those
guys no one knows the name of but pops up in loads of massive blockbusters).
Even guys like Raymond J. Barry are on hand - another of those guys you'll know
the face but not the name of. Granted the characters aren't the best and apart
from one or two, most of them don't get a lot of screen time in the build up to
the carnage. I can't really say you sympathise with anyone here but it's not
like you're rooting for them all to die as there are a few likeable characters.
I think using zombies on the plane works a lot better than snakes. The threat
seems a lot more real and dangerous. And of course you can have things like the
zombies punching holes through the floor and dragging people to their deaths
which snakes can't do. The plane seems more claustrophobic than in Snakes on
a Plane simply for the fact that zombies are a lot bigger and harder to hide
from. Until I watched these films, I never knew planes could be so big! I know
there's a few liberties taken with facts for the sake of the film but still,
there are a lot of places for the zombies to feast in. The gore is plentiful and
the zombies here get creative. I've already said they drag people to their
deaths but there's so many other ways the zombies strut their stuff that it
becomes nerve-wracking not knowing how the next victim is going to be killed
off. It can come any time and anywhere on the plane. Above all, the film looks
like it had a pretty decent budget which really helps. I was expecting one of
those home-video style disasters that seem to pop up with cool-looking cover
boxes. So it was a very pleasant surprise to find this as good as it was.
Verdict
Flight of the Living Dead is a must for
zombie fans. It's entertaining, it's got a few shocks and it punches above it's
weight with the gore and violence. If you can take the plausibility with a pinch
of salt and unplug your brain, then you're in for a great time. I wish there
were more as-easy-to-watch films as this but they just don't make many of them
nowadays!
