Pandemic: Shoot the Infected Hordes

The line between zombie movies and Cabin Fever-style infection horror is becoming increasingly porous. Take for instance, this post-contagion Los Angeles, where infected victims at stage five exhibit distinctly zombie-like symptoms, including the bit where they eat people. However, there is a cure for level one, but it is strictly reserved for irreplaceable personnel like Dr. Lauren Chase, formerly of the CDC. You can bet a lot of her new colleagues will be needing it in John Suits’ Pandemic (trailer here), which opens this Friday in Los Angeles.

Somehow Dr. Chase slipped out of New York before the city collapsed. Of course, the whole premise that LA is more fit to survive than the Big Apple is absolutely ridiculous. Heck, we’ve probably already had several zombie apocalypses here in the City without even noticing them. Regardless, Chase made it out to LA and connected with the band of survivors led by Dr. Greer, a military doctor of some sort.

Chase is about to go out on her first reconnaissance and food foraging mission. It is her job to determine whether healthy-looking survivors are safe to bring back to shelter. It is a simple test. A red dot means take them and a black dot says leave them to their fate—or is it the other way around? Chase also seems to have trouble administering the test, but she is clearly distracted by a personal agenda.

Apparently, Pandemic’s style and narrative were directly inspired by first-person-shooter video games, which maybe the filmmakers shouldn’t be so up-front about. Regardless, Suits (who helmed the greatly underrated comic book adaptation, The Scribbler) keeps the energy level up and maintains enough of the human element so that Pandemic rarely feels like a POV gimmick.

Rachel Nichols does respectable work as Chase, getting solid support from Missi Pyle as Denise, the mission’s navigator and Mekhi Phifer as Gunner, whose job it is to like, shoot infected people. It is also cool to see CSI’s Paul Guilfoyle turn up as the gruff but high-handed Dr. Greer. Genre fans should also keep an eye and ear out for Pat Healy as Dr. Ward, whose transport met with a not so mysterious mishap.

Basically, Pandemic plays like a decent story arc in the Walking Dead universe or a superior new installment of the Contracted franchise. So far, it has been a disappointing year for both zombie and viral outbreak movies (that means you, Anger of the Dead), so Pandemic benefits from a generous curve. Not bad (but nowhere near as smart and stylish as Suits’ The Scribbler), Pandemic opens this Friday (4/1) in Los Angeles at the Arena Cinema.

The Korean Outbreak: Deranged

For a slacker-copper, the good news is his latest dodgy stock recommendation appears to be panning out.  The bad news is pretty much everything else.  A pandemic is sweeping Korea and the pharmaceutical company he was tipped to may be somehow involved in Park Jung-woo’s Deranged (trailer here), which opens this Friday in select cities.

Thanks Jae-pil’s dubious stock picks, his beleagured brother Jae-hyeok found himself deep in debt, with a wife and two children to support.  Once a promising medical researcher, he now kowtows to doctors on behalf of Joa Pharm, an industry bottom-feeder.  Things are bad for the brothers and they will quickly get worse when Jae-pil investigates one of the first victims of a mutated parasite.  At first, it stimulates the appetite, but hosts never gain weight.  They become increasingly thirsty, eventually feeling compelled to submerse themselves in water, at which point the parasites burst out Alien-style, leaving a desiccated husk behind.  It is not a pleasant way to go, but pandemics never are.

As the scope of the epidemic becomes apparent, Jae-hyoek’s family starts showing symptoms of contamination.  Again, there is some good news.  A consumer drug evidently fights off the parasitic agents.  It is even one of his company’s products, but they recently discontinued production due to low demand.

As Jae-hyeok desperately scours the black market for the suspiciously scarce pills, Jae-pil peels away layers of the nasty corporate conspiracy.  Indeed, Deranged suffers from a rather pronounced case of Big Pharma-derangement syndrome.  Yet, in a way, it serves as a reminder that the pharmaceutical industry produces products that save lives, whereas politicians do not produce anything at all of lasting value.

Nevertheless, Deranged is an awfully darn scary depiction of the mob mentality in full force.  It is not pretty to witness.  In fact, it takes on classically tragic proportions when each time Jae-hyeok tries to act decent and compassionately, the irrational rabble only further stymies his efforts to save his wife and children.

As the frantic Jae-hyeok, Kim Myung-min is convincingly guilt-ridden and distraught.  Yet, it is former pop idol Kim Dong-wan who really commands the screen as the slightly roguish Jae-pil.  Unfortunately, former Miss Korea and current vegan cooking show host Honey Lee (a.k.a. Lee Ha-nui) does not get to do much more than look concerned as Yun-joo, Jae-hyeok’s former colleague and Jae-pil’s frustrated lover.  However, Lee Hyeong-cheol totally perfects evil smugness as Joa CEO Jason Lee.

Slickly shot by cinematographer Ki Se-hoon, Deranged shrewdly avoids the gruesome in favor of the more horrifically human.  Despite the not so occasional soap-boxing, it is a rather tight, character-driven outbreak thriller.  Recommended for those who can easily overlook its anti-corporate bias, Deranged opens this Friday (7/27) at the CGV Cinemas in Los Angeles, the AMC Cupertino in the Bay Area, and the AMC in Ridgefield Park, NJ, sort of near New York.