Dead Meat: O Banquete dos Zumbis

This was a great movie. Obviously shot on tape this normally brings problems technically to viewing pleasure, combined with some performances that had great weakness one might be led to thinking that you were viewing another straight to video rubbish film. However quickly the dimensions of the character and the inventiveness of the director with his choice of camera set ups led to an exciting and dramatically interesting film in which one had interest and emotion invest within unlike many bigger zombie films with far greater budgets as was sadly the case with Land of the dead. To be highly recommended for those who not only like gory and inventive horror but also to those who wish for greater depth within the film.

What can I say, DEAD MEAT is excellent. The first true Irish Horror film sets a high standard for all future Irish features to live up to.

A wonderful blend of genuine thrills and over the top humour, DEAD MEAT manages excellently to satisfy all the viewers needs. First and foremost, DEAD MEAT is a film made by horror fans for horror fans. This is what makes this film such a genuine treat.

The basic plot revolves around a cow suffering from mad cow disease breaking out and attacking a farmer. This leads to a new strain of the disease that once infected turns everyone into flesh eating Zombies. The film follows a group of stranded folk and there efforts to make it through the horde of Zombies and make it to safety.

Plot aside, this film succeeds where many other imitators failed due to the fact that it doesn't take itself overly serious, but at the same time refrains from falling into the trap of lame slapstick. This is the directorial debut of Conor McMahon and his work along with the Irish Horrorthon founders, Ed King and Michael Griffin shows a genuine eye for what made all the classic horror films so good.

A mixture of modern humour with the style and atmosphere of classics such as Night of the Living Dead and the many 70's Italian Zombie films this film is guaranteed to delight any fan of the genre (or just enjoyable films in general). Another worthy note is the music which shifts from an eerie score to at times a John Carpenter-esque style. Over analysing the film would only take away from the pure fun and entertainment that this film embodies,

Destined to be a cult classic, Get it, watch it and ENJOY IT!!!

When I was attending a horror convention with a friend we bought together this flick, the man who sold it had a big laugh on his face just to give the statement, you've been ripped off but it costs only 2 euro's so we couldn't be ripped off I guessed. Was I right, this is an excellent zombie flick. Of course it's low budget and it shows but it gives something extra on it. I mean, the night scene's are a bit too dark so you don't really see what is happening so by that way you can't see the cheap effects, but again, they are well done. Just watch out for the end when the zombies really attack. There are decapitations, pitchforks going into bodies and everything else you would like to do to a attacking zombie. That's all done very well but the make up of the zombie's faces are really bad. But don't hesitate to go search for it, is will well worth your money. The only thing I could say that was a bit annoying was the Irish language, I have nothing against that but it is sometimes hard to understand and sadly there were no subs on it.

This film had some good potential but just sort of fizzles out instead.Oh this movie was close to being one of the good ones.

The story takes place in Ireland which provides some good horror film locations---castles,woods,isolated cottages and the dark gloomy countryside itself.And they were all used but just not that well.The movie is about a few folks fighting off flesh eating humans and cows,yes cows,after a really bad strain of mad cow disease infects both cows and humans.Right off the bat I'll just say the zombie cows were just silly.Didn't work at all.There were also several silly scenes that just didn't ring true,for instance,one of the surviving women fights off a zombie by throwing her shoe and sticking her high heel in it's head.Now what are the chances of killing a zombie like that in real life? Well you know what I mean.

But on the plus side are some really good fight scenes with the zombies and some good gore and blood. This movie was on the verge of being really good several times and just didn't get over the hump due to weak areas in the plot and those silly mad cows.

I'm really disappointed in this film,I'd rather a movie completely suck than be so close to being good and not quite making it.

A young couple accidentally run over a pedestrian in rural Ireland. If we didn't know from the opening shots or advance publicity that this was to be a zombie movie, we are soon left in no doubt. Comments on the car radio about mad cow disease dispense with the 'how' problem quite efficiently and the rest of the movie just gets on with being a nice gory tribute to the genre with plenty of Irish humour thrown in.

The pedestrian gets up and walks after being run over, then attacks the driver. Helena heads for a cottage, fights off more zombies, teams up with another 'normal' human, fights off more zombies, finds someone with a mini-bus, fights off more zombies etc. You get the idea. Generally speaking, originality is not the strong card in Dead Meat – everything is recycled, from moons going behind clouds, to scary castles, to ghoulish faces coming out of the bogs silhouetted by torchlight, creepy crawlies on a plate of food or a decomposing body, to the story line itself and final denouement. Dead Meat's winning streak is firstly that it uses the classic elements in a way that is almost deferential to films like Bad Taste, Evil Dead and Night of the Living Dead, secondly that it is well edited to be genuinely scary, and thirdly that it uses heavy doses of inimitable Irish humour.

Much credit goes to Conor McMahon who wrote, directed and edited the film on a budget of about £125,000. One of the leading characters, the mini-van driver who is described as 'slightly normal', is very memorable as a the sort of jovial Irishman who picks an argument with everyone first (living or dead) to decide if he likes them. I also enjoyed the (at times rather 'home-made'-looking) special effects - these rarely missed an opportunity to show the variety of horribleness portrayed by different zombies or hacked off body parts. For sheer entertainment, Dead Meat is a must for horror fans. Other audiences may have problems with the poor sound quality on some of the voices, the Irish accents (dialogue is not too important but adds to the humour), or the unashamed purveyance of formula, but for an aspiring young director, the signs from this first feature are good.