A potentially great idea – the zombie western – slips from the saddle in John Geddes’ ambitious but anaemic American Civil War yarn.
Avoiding the obvious temptation for a tacky genre mash-up ( The Gore, The Blood And The Uglies this isn’t), Geddes should be commended for trying to fashion an authentic period drama with added flesh-munching – Undeadwood , if you will.
Yet, for all the setting’s metaphorical scope, Geddes delivers only clichéd Confederate rogues by way of historical critique, while budgetary limitations relegate the most promising set-pieces to strikingly animated interludes.
What’s left is a sub- Cold Mountain travelogue beset by tedious talk, stiff performances and zero menace.