Devil's Playground (2010)

If you like zombie flicks and British cinema, you may want to check out Devil's Playground, an interesting film with a slightly confusing storyline.

The films premise involves a pharmaceutical company working on a legal performance enhancer. The trial hits a major bump when all 30,000 human guinea pigs, bar one, Angela Mills (MyAnna Buring), have severe allergic reactions causing them to gain strength, speed, stamina and the thirst for human flesh and blood.

Normally zombies slumber about, but these zombies reminded me of the creatures in I Am Legend. In fact, this flick reminded me of several flicks in one — I noticed elements of I Am Legend, 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later and some of AMC's The Walking Dead. Not that these comparisons are a bad thing.

This is no cheap knockoff of any of those films; after all, it is a zombie flick, and how many new elements can be added in? This film has some real talent alongside Buring (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, parts one and two). Jaime Murray (Dexter) plays the part of Lavinia, the sociopath, very well. The male leads really shine in this movie also: Danny Dyer as Joe, Craig Fairbrass as Cole and Sean Pertwee as Rob. Fairbrass, a mercenary hired to find Angela, shines in his role as tough guy, especially as he forgoes his gun and uses a hammer to crush zombie skulls.

The movie moves at a quick pace, creating enough tension and suspense to keep you watching and anticipating the next move. The film may have its flaws, like lack of originality, but it is at least watchable. The lack of an explanation as to why Anglea may have been immune to the virus was never broached, and left many unanswered questions. On the plus side, the track-star zombies are far more intimidating than regular run-ofthe- mill ones, and the movie features some graphic and bloody death scenes but nothing completely over the top.

I liked the darkness of Devil's Playground. There was a sense of dread and hopelessness you wouldn't want to wish on anyone that helped carry that end-of-the-world vibe you could feel with all the panic in the streets of London, England.

The recently released DVD features informative, colourful audio commentary with Dyer, Fairbrass and director Mark McQueen. There are about 15 minutes of behind-thescenes extras, including an explanation on their zombies and some deleted scenes.

Devil's Playground isn't anything new or fresh that hasn't been seen in other zombie films, but I did enjoy watching it, and any fan of the genre would likely enjoy it too.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars