Zombie Chronicles: The Infected

I have been looking at a lot of zombie independent films lately. One stands out above the rest for innovation. The Zombie Chronicles: The Infected is part one of a series of films that Writer, Director Marvin Suarez is releasing to the public. The Infected was picked to be in The Big Apple Film Festival.
The Big Apple Film Festival (BAFF), presented by the Big Apple Film Society, takes place annually at the world famous Tribeca Cinemas.
The BAFF was named one of MovieMaker Magazine's top '25 Film Festivals Worth The Entry Fee.' The film festival is dedicated to showcasing and promoting the highest quality films from the New York City independent film community, as well as additional specially selected films from across the country and around the world. Great job Marvin!!!! Onto the film.

I first need to mention this article has some spoiler points of the film. I would suggest watching it before reading any further. If that is the case please go to www.whataretheinfected.com on November 23rd to get a copy. It is well worth it. If you want to read on, here is it!


Zombie Chronicles: The Infected puts quite a different spin on people becoming what you could say is a different race. They are not quite zombies in the traditional sense. Since this is part one of three, we don't quite know what is going on yet and that gives the audience the panic factor as I call it. On top of that, it is filmed a bit like Cloverfield and The Blair Witch, however, it is not as shaky ( thank god I didn't want to be nauseous).
Marvin uses the split screen method in certain parts showing the humans getting attacked and the infected attacking at the same time. He does this at the correct times throughout the film making it brilliant. I haven't seen that done too often especially in independent short films.
The film starts off showing the audience dates and times. This goes on throughout so we know what is going on when. The infected are shown first in between credits as well as a news reporter explaining and showing what he sees. All the infected look and act different.
It then goes to Sarah (Celeste Santoya) and Josh (Lavrenti Lopes) the main characters who are paramedics.
Sarah wants to get to her apartment because that is where her 7 year old daughter is. The infected are everywhere! They manage to reach the apartment complex but have an audience of the infected following them. Here is where it gets even better!
The infected talk!! To me that is worse than the normal zombies. At least with normal zombies you don't have to listen to them. There is no choice here. They try to get into your head, and not just in the literal sense this time haha!
Sarah and Josh find Sarah's daughter Cadence (Jaelene L. Gonzalez). She is one of the infected. The actors do a great job showing the raw emotion of losing a loved one. Included are flashbacks to when Cadence had her last birthday. The sound and camera work allow the audience to know what is past and what is present. Another cool aspect of this movie is that the audience is able to follow Josh's fall into being one of the infected. When he does turn he explains to Sarah they are on a mission to spread the virus to the world and she has a choice whether to be one of them or be eaten. When she rejects him he uses her daughter to change her mind, or does he? That is where the film ends. Marvin leaves just the right amount of questions to have the audience waiting for the second film. We Want Answers!!!
The lighting that was used in the scenes was used appropriately. In some scenes the audience could not see what was really going on but could hear. This allows the audience to capture in their minds what is going on. That is an age old use of good filming that Hollywood had strayed from in my opinion. There is nothing scarier than our own minds.
Again, the film will be released on November 23rd 2010. This is worth getting your hands on. If you go to www.whataretheinfected.com you can buy it there. I don't normally buy short independent films but I did this one!
I don't think Marvin Suarez will be going away anytime soon. It takes a lot of balls in my opinion to stray away from normal zombie films. He took that leap and it worked! I will be in line for the next Chronicle. If you are a true zombie film lover, you will be too.