Video game feature film adaptations don’t have a good track record, which is a very nice way of saying that most of them are poo. And while we have a couple of contenders on the horizon in the Michael Fassbender led Assassins’ Creed and Tom Hardy led Splinter Cell that could change all that, right now I’m still of the opinion that you should generally go into these things with expectations so low that they’re positively chthonic. And it doesn’t appear that Dead Rising: Watchtower will be forcing me to change my subterranean tactics any time soon.
Produced by the Sony-ownedstreaming service Crackle and based on the popular zombie slaying video game franchise from Capcom, the movie appears to be a prequel to the first title. It also appears to be rather crappy. Shoddy effects, clearly visible budget constraints and iffy acting looks to be the other of the day here, all of which is no surprise when you learn that it’s directed by Leprechaun: Origins’ Zach Lipovsky. And despite one scene where the movie goes all Robocop and the inclusion of the always hilarious Rob Riggle (whose potty mouthed character, Frank West, seen here in the trailer is actually the hero of the first game), I don’t see this undead effort coming to life at all.
“DEAD RISING: WATCHTOWER” takes place during a large-scale zombie outbreak. When a mandatory government vaccine fails to stop the infection from spreading, the four leads must evade infection while also pursuing the root of the epidemic, with all signs pointing to a government conspiracy. Politics, public paranoia, and media coverage play an important role in the story’s narrative.
Dead Rising: Watchtower also stars Jesse Metcalfe (Dallas, Desperate Housewives), Meghan Ory (Intelligence, Once Upon a Time), Virginia Madsen (Sideways) and Dennis Haysbert (24, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For). The movie will be made available for streaming on Crackle from march 27, 2015.
Last Updated: January 30, 2015
James Francis
January 30, 2015 at 13:57
Mind you, if it’s produced with a VOD audience in mind, the poor production may not be an issue. That was the Asylum’s bread and butter: crappy rentals for people looking for anything to watch. So if they make it on the cheap, it should keep the crowd happy who complain there isn’t anything worth watching. Netflix has been plugging its library with tons of z-grade stuff for the same reason. So maybe we’re seeing the return of the dodgy stuff that populated rental shelves.
Kervyn Cloete
January 30, 2015 at 16:41
Very likely. This was never going to pull in a big audience anyway.
Skyblue
January 30, 2015 at 19:42
LIES! Patrick Warburton makes everything awesome, EVERYTHING!!
A pity he isn’t in this…