Udbrud aka Ourburst – 2015 – Disgusting zombie flick
I got Udbrud aka Outburst sent to me a few years ago. I reviewed it in Swedish but now I figure I want to put the review up here as well for all to see. To review in English makes everything so much easier for a broader audience to understand. So I made a translation. It will probably not be my last one, since I’m too lazy to watch and review several movies a week these days. I would like to but I’m not getting any younger and there’s so much other time-consuming stuff that needs to be done.
Anyway. Zombie movies are not my favorite genre. There was a time when I devoured everything (well, almost), but nowadays, I’m quite tired of them. The reason for that is it seems like there are more than a dime a dozen, and every amateur filmmaker wants to make their own version of them. Still, I can’t stay away from them; I can’t help but wonder if the one I’m about to watch is so much better than all the other junk?! I must say that this one actually is!
It’s not a masterpiece compared to Romero’s classic films, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead. Those are the top films of all zombie flicks ever I think. There are other great ones as well, Lucio Fulci’s Zombie Flesheaters aka Zombi 2 and Let Sleeping Corpses Lie. But it feels a lot better than loads of other zombie movies out there. The language is Danish, but there’s not much dialogue, Plus, the DVD is subtitled in English.
Parody and Horror
For me, Udbrud is something you can find between parody and horror. Horror film in the sense that there are actually a lot of gore and other delights in it. What breaks out is a zombie epidemic, but it takes the form of large boils. There are a couple of really gross scenes along the way. There are also animated episodes, and there is CGI. Most of all, I remember the fantastic eruptions used in the film. The ones that burst open at the beginning and cause massive boil eruptions! Disgusting as hell.
In terms of acting, it’s not Oscar material, of course. It’s also not necessary in a production like this. In fact, I would have been disappointed if it had been too high-quality in that regard. It would have just meant that the film had become somewhat pretentious, or at least could have been perceived that way. I like it the way it is, and I like that it’s divided into parts that take place in different time periods. To me, it means that they want to show that things remain the same over time. Humanity as a race doesn’t evolve; we have the same weaknesses and dreams now as we did 100 or 200 years ago. We want to be loved for who we are and nothing else.
Overanalyzing?
I’m probably overanalyzing as usual, but I feel that there’s something more to it than just the typical zombie movie. Moreover, one should probably strictly call this a virus movie rather than a zombie movie. Well, it’s so similar, and it’s definitely an epidemic or even a pandemic going on. Humor, homage, and seriousness are mixed, and the result is very entertaining. This is despite the fact that the film is only half as long as a regular feature film.
