State of Emergency (2011)

"State of Emergency" is a very straight forward zombie, low budget film that includes a reason as to why there are zombies as well as a rare "after the apocalypse" scene that shows the survivors hugging each other in disbelief that they made it through the ordeal. The lead actor does a decent job with his role but some of the other actors portraying survivors have their moments of being outright obnoxious; if this was a script choice or an acting choice isn't exactly clear. According to the credits, the film was directed, written, edited, and musically scored by one person, Turner Clay; that is a lot of work for one person to do and I think he did a great job. There are only a few moments in the film that make it memorable in a field that is currently over saturated, and I'll go over those moment now.


The film opens with a scene that takes places later in the film, placed here just to add suspense. After this, it jumps to Jay and his girlfriend Emilie, who is slowly dying from stomach wounds. They are trying to find shelter after a large explosion occurs at a near by chemical plant. They make it to an old farmhouse but Emilie dies. Jay secures the farmhouse as well as he can, but an infected zombie-like resident attacks Jay, chasing him around until he is able to get to a gun and kill his assailant. Jay tries to get the attention of the military helicopters that occasionally fly by but to no avail. He actions does attract the attention of a group of survivors who are hiding in a large, well protected warehouse. Jay is able to safely get to the warehouse where he meets Scott and his wife Julie, as well as the loner Ix. While at the warehouse, Jay and Scott try to figure out their next move while waiting out zombies, including one that could still talk and was begging to be let in. When Ix falls into a diabetic coma, Jay decides to risk going outside to collect a pack of emergency supplies that the military dropped around the quarantine zone to help those who were not infected. A homing device is triggered and the military comes and saves the survivors just as their warehouse is broken in to. Each of the four survivors is tested and cleared, and given permission to leave.

What I liked best - the use of sounds are amazing, especially those used while Jay is alone in the farmhouse. So many echoes and mysterious noises, as well as the lovely rainfall in the background.