Dead Rising: Watchtower – Review
Hey, folks! Hope you’re enjoying this lovely Saturday afternoon. No doubt you’re looking for something to view this weekend and I have a weekend full of content that is stream-able. Save some money, stay in, and kick your feet up. I just got an opportunity to watch Dead Rising: Watchtower starring Meghan Ory, Keegan Connor Tracy, Virginia Madsen, Jesse Metcalfe, & Rob Riggle. If you’re a fan of the Dead Rising Game Series, then this is right up your alley. It was a fun time with a little back-story. and 100% free if you have internet and Crackle.
Dead Rising: Watchtower follows reporter Chase Carter as he fights his way to survival from a zombie virus outbreak that ravages a city that was supposed to be releasing a new shipment of vaccine that was to be implemented, but it looks like the vaccine wasn’t set to handle this new strain of the zombie virus… or was it? Follow Carter as he tries to survive this latest outbreak and uncover what’s really happening in this town.
When it comes to zombie flicks the lesson is simple: survive. When it comes to pulp zombie genre flicks the lesson is really simple too: set the bar low. That being said, dead rising is not a franchise that prides itself on rich story telling and intriguing character development, like The Walking Dead. It focuses more on the many creative and colorful ways survivors can decimate scores of zombie hordes. Dead Rising knows it’s fan-base and it’s element and plays to its strengths. It introduces and reintroduced characters of its franchise in a way that give fans a way to reminisce on past zombie killing adventures and a way for those who have yet to play the latest installment of its franchise (Dead Rising 3) to get a little back-story before they start that adventure.
Dead Rising: Watchtower runs surprisingly quick and manages to allow you to have a good time without the movie ever really taking itself too seriously. They want to tell you a story, but they don’t want to be pricks about. I, honestly, enjoyed myself and the appreciated the fact that it didn’t feel like it was running to long. I did feel like Virginia Madsen’s character in the story took herself a little too seriously but it played off of the Dead Rising concept of Zombie Apocalypse Psychos. These characters, in the game franchise mentally break as a result of the outbreak around them. They don’t get affected by the virus by becoming zombies, but the virus itself, simply by existing, degrades their psyche’s creating villains that are developed by insanity and necessity.
Overall Dead Rising: Watchtower is a fun ride and made more enjoyable by the fact that it’s free. Rob Riggle’s take on the iconic Frank West is so much fun to see and is a laughable backdrop to the story’s progression. So if you have access to crackle and are a fan of the Dead Rising Franchise, have fun with Dead Rising: Watchtower and give it a look over.