Attack Of The Herbals (2011)
Directed by: David Ryan Keith
Written by: Alisdair Cook, David Ryan Keith, Liam Matheson
Starring: Callum Booth, Claire McCulloch, Liam Matheson, Richard Currie, Steve Worsley
Jackson McGregor returns to his home town, the small fishing village of Lobster Cove, tail between his legs, after messing up his relationship and job out in the ‘big city’. He moves back in with his grandparents and takes a job at their post office, which is under threat of closure from local property developer, and all round shit, Bennett Campbell. When Jackson’s old friend Russell, finds a crate of tea washed up on the shore of Lobster Cove, they decide that it’s so good, they’d sell it at the post office, and it proves extremely popular. So much so infact, it turns the towns residents in to brain-dead savages. The reason being, the ‘tea’, was actually used in Nazi experiments during World War II, and was dumped in the sea due to its side effects.
To say Attack of the Herbals takes some time to get going would be an understatement, it’s probably a good 40 minutes or so before things start getting messy. That’s not to say the preceding character exposition isn’t entertaining. The build up, when not marred by some poor dialogue exchanges, is quite funny, but does probably go on longer than necessary. Once the zombies start attacking the gore and violence is delivered in spades, with some delightfully old school effects, no doubt inspired from the old ‘video nasty’, days. While the climactic scenes are entertaining, they seem all too brief in contrast to the rather pedestrian previous acts.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfEfu1l1B-s[/youtube]
As far as performances go, it’s nothing short of what you’d expect for film of this stature, with the quality of the acting being somewhat questionable at the best of times, however occasionally adding to the charm of the film. It’s inconsistency and reliance on filling out the running time is where the film lets itself down. There are some great gags in there, which get watered down with an unnecessary insistence on back story. One moment you’ll be laughing, the next you’re looking at your watch, wondering when the action is going to start. While there are enjoyable and endearing moments, it’s let down by excessive sub-plots and ropey dialogue, which in a film as low budget as this should be common place, but when it compromises on the pay off, you can’t help but feel disappointed with the outcome. In a genre that has already flooded the market in recent years, it does have a unique take on the concept, but will inevitably end up lost amid the sea of direct to DVD zombie movies. Occasional fun, which when the action does start, has shades of the video nasty era, but is let down by dragging out the running time.
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