Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead, Grab a Fosters and a Shotgun

"This morning I shot my wife and child with a nail gun, I don't know how to make that into a story." Yep...this quote early on from Barry (Jay Gallagher) sets forth a terrific...and different...zombie film. From Australia, director Kiah Roache-Turner gives us some really neat characters and some decadent carnage, plus some reminders of "Mad Max," for 2014's "Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead." In the "Mad Max" films, petrol is the lifeblood.  In "Wyrmwood," the lifeblood is the petrol.

Practically overnight most of Australia becomes flesh-eating zombies.  Nail-gun equipped carpenter, Barry,  is forced to put his family down as he sets out to rescue his sister, Brooke (Bianca Bradey, who is simply fabulous in this). Brooke has her own problems.  After the models in her goth shoot try to eat her, she is rescued by gas-mask wearing soldiers.  Rescue may not be the correct word as she is chained in a lab and experimented on by a mad scientist (Berynn Schwerdt).  As the evil doctor injects her with zombie blood as she shares her imprisonment with some of the undead, Barry makes his way to her.  On the way, Barry befriends Benny (Leon Burchill), a philosophical aborigine, and Frank (Keith Agius). There will be others, but they won't make it.  

Meanwhile, our scientist is bent on turning the apparently immune Brooke into a zombie, but a certain side-effect manifests which our mad genius didn't count on.  The real scientific breakthroughs hail from Barry and his merry-men.  Petrol ceases to burn...hence motors stop running.  By accident, Barry learns that zombie blood is flammable...and will serve well for a post apocalyptic fuel.  In a bloody trek to find Brooke, twists abound at our devious lab.  Barry is intent on rescuing his sister, but the military unit and our doctor are bent on keeping her to continue their experiments.  Will Barry find his sister?  If he does, will she still be human?  However evil the experiments, will they lead to a cure for what is making Australians into zombies?

Perhaps comedic in some spots, "Wyrmwood" works well has a horror story.  There are enough twists and creativity to make this film relevant...as opposed to so many stale zombie films of late. What happens to good people when forced to make un-godly decisions?  The answer isn't pretty, but our protagonist, Barry, is probably an accurate answer to that question. Available on Netflix, take in this unique zombie film as "The Walking Dead" enjoys it's summer hiatus.