'Wyrmwood' is an Atypical, Insanely Funny Zombie Flick

The Australian-produced Wyrmwood: Road of the Damned – also known as simply Wyrmwood – tells of a zombie apocalypse that seemingly ensued after a meteor shower (it was unrevealed, however, whether there’s a direct connection between the meteor shower and the zombie apocalypse) and follows a mechanic named Barry taking a Mad Max-style road trip amidst it to get to his sister, Brooke, who, unbeknownst to him, has been taken captive by a shady military unit so that she can be a lab rat for a mad scientist’s experiment on zombies.          

What’s unique about this movie is how the specifics of this particular zombie apocalypse is shrouded in mystery and weirdness – People with blood type “A-” are unaffected; liquid fuel ceased to be inflammable (hence, became useless) when the zombie apocalypse started;  the breath of zombies are discovered to be efficient substitutes for liquid fuel, but this stops working when dusk arrives, as the zombies apparently use the “fuel” generated by their breath to move quicker during night-time; and, most interesting of all, Brooke gained the power to control zombies after getting experimented on.  The movie ends without actually providing clear explanations regarding these bizarre happenings.  Thus, by not attempting to make sense of it all, it only enhanced Wyrmwood’s insanity.  Which is a good thing, actually.  This is the kind of movie that doesn’t need to be strong with its logic, but in fact proportionately increases in entertainment value by how ridiculous and insane it gets.  

What I like most about this movie is how it was able to make me genuinely laugh aloud.  There are no gags involved here (like the classic zombie movie Shaun of the Dead); the mood is straight-up dire and deadpan.  However, hilarity is successfully generated by ludicrous situations and screw-ups that the narrative fabulously sets up.

Wyrmwood doesn’t have the makings of a classic, and it does use a couple of the clichés of the zombie genre, but it tells a sufficiently creative and amusing spin to an otherwise worn-out premise.