City of Rott Review
Written by: deadmanwalkin
City of Rott is a film made for zombie fans – plain and simple. Even though it’s animated, City of Rott is 53 minutes of gore, gore and more GORE and should make the most hard-core zombie fan smile with bloodthirsty glee.
The overall story of the film is simple enough.
"Alone, unarmed, and losing his mind, an old man searches the city for a lost cause. Hope quickly fades as he discovers the city is overrun with the living dead, driven to feed the parasitic worms residing in their bodies. Against countless zombies, Fred must battle his way out… or end up joining the mindless hordes in the CITY OF ROTT."
The above is the official synopsis, but let me just expand on that by saying that the old man "Fred" really is not alone.. he’s accompanied by the voice inside his head that encourages him to survive, as well as to continue on with his quest – to find a new pair of loafers. Also, Fred is not truly unarmed, because he wields his walker like Conan would wield his sword as he destroys a hoard of savages – the man is brutal with his walker.. plain and simple.
In this film Frank Sudol (Director) does try to give us something more by peppering the background images (in the film) with social commentary of the likes: "Awake before you rot", "Be a clone cause your never good enough", and "Let them think for you, the less I care, the simpler it gets." As well as paying homage to certain films – "At Night, Dawn Day will perform this Land Tickets $80", "George’s Editing Room" and "Tex’s Chain Saws."
Once I started noticing these little messages and special nods .. it did help to add a certain depth to the film, but will the viewer really care? Personally, in the beginning, I found it to be entertaining and fun (almost like discovering a hidden message within a text. But I did notice that as the movie went on messages became louder and more "in your face".. assaulting you to the brink of being weary. Our we already zombies in our own right – being influenced and controlled by some outside sources… invading our minds like the worms in this film?
Do we really care? What a viewer really wants when they watch any film is to be entertained.. and City of Rott does entertain (for a while).
Really, the one negative thing I can really say about this film is that it’s to long. The overall run time is about 53 minutes.. and I can say that it’s a good 15 - 20 minutes over than what it should be. The gore is over the top, as well as a filler, but after awhile it begins to get repetitive and to the point of being boring. At times, I did feel my mind begin to wander, losing interest in the film.. but towards the end Frank had a nice way of hooking the me back into the story. Like I said, I just wish the film was a little shorter – then it would be one "Full on Rockin Film!"
Since this is an animated film, I do want to touch on the artwork of City of Rott for a sec. The quality of the drawings is very stylized and works for the film. Overall its, not the best – but then art is very subjective and Frank does do a good job in creating his characters and bringing them to life. So props to you and all the hard work you’ve done.
Overall, CITY OF ROTT is a film I would recommend that all zombie lovers should watch. You’ll be in for a gore filled time and you won’t be disappointed about not having enough carnage. So, "Think while you still can" and I’m off to buy me a walker.. "Come here MacReady.. let me show you what this thing can do."