Matthew Kohnen’s first released film “Wasting Away” (Starring Matthew Davis, Julianna Robinson, Michael Grant Terry, Betsy Beutler, & Colby French.) is a zombie horror-comedy with an original plot – the perspective of the undead from none other than the undead themselves. With the plots of zombie films remaining mostly unchanged since their debut with George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead,” (with the exceptions of advancements in areas such as special effects, technology, etc) “Wasting Away” finally breaks the mold of zombie films – giving possible explanations for many long unanswered questions about zombies as well as using perspective changes between the undead & the living to guide viewers through the story line & create moments of laughter.
- Mike (Matthew Davis), Vanessa (Julianna Robinson), Tim (Michael Grant Terry), & Cindy (Betsy Beutler) are normal teenagers until they eat Mike’s ice cream concoction; containing normal beer & cream contaminated by an accidental spill of rejected military virus. Suddenly, their lives are changed when people begin fearing them. The unknowingly zombified teens are baffled by others’ reactions. The group of teens eventually meets Nick Steele (Colby French), an unknowingly zombified “private,” who believes himself & the teens are infected with a super-soldier virus thanks to consuming the original deadly virus with dairy products. However, Nick Steele also believes anyone that tries to attack them is infected & must be killed. The group sets out to survive & find their own separate goals, but soon learns that zombies need to stick together & find a place to “live” in freedom.
- For the die-hard zombie flick fans (Like myself!), if you do not have a sense of humor & take the zombie-business seriously, this film is not for you. “Wasting Away” includes many moments of comedy combined within it’s twisted plot. But one thing that can be recognized by all zombie fans: answers to our long pondered questions! Why do zombies show up where they do? Why do zombies only attack humans? What do zombies want (other than our delicious brains)? & most importantly; what is the “life” of a zombie like? I will leave these questions further unanswered for readers to have more initiative to watch “Wasting Away.” Do know that possible answers to such questions & more are presented throughout this film.
- The use of black & white film (representing reality) versus color film (representing the zombie perspective) is a brilliant device director Matthew Kohnen uses to guide his audience through “Wasting Away’s” story line. This technique helps viewers clearly understand what perspective is being shown at a particular time & helps prevent confusion. As well, the black & white film allows for more comedy to play in with the zombies, rather than spoken jokes. For instance: taking what the zombies see as passionate kissing & showing what the living see them doing. At first, I was not impressed with this technique. “Wasting Away” began with complete black & white film while only coloring the fluorescent green zombie virus. This resembled director Robert Rodriguez’s technique for coloring blood bright red while leaving almost everything else black & white in “Sin City.” However, once infected, the teens perspective becomes illuminated with color much like the zombie virus. Also, the use of color film to represent the zombie perspective shows Matthew Kohnen’s focus of the film on the zombie experience. This is much different from any other zombie film seeing as they all focus on the living experience.
- The only drawback of “Wasting Away” is the flow of it’s story line. Rather than being a comedy, “Wasting Away” feels more like a spoof because of it’s story line. Because of this, some of the spoken jokes fall short of a laugh, resulting in mere giggles. This could have been improved to make a much better film, but “Wasting Away” is still worth watching & enjoyable. This is the only note-worthy flaw that arose while viewing “Wasting Away.”
- Matthew Kohnen’s “Wasting Away” is a valuable film with an original plot. “Wasting Away” gives possible explanations for zombie fans long unanswered questions & uses perspective changes between the undead & the living to guide viewers through the story line & create moments of laughter. Although it feels more like a spoof, “Wasting Away” is a horror comedy zombie flick definitely worth watching by zombie fans.