Directing projects of debutants, who previously realized themselves in the acting field, are shot extremely rarely. But if they do this, then they will surprise both critics and the audience. Fredrik Hiller surprised everyone by shooting the film “Zone 261” (2018). His reviews are described as a vivid example of a horror film that is able to keep the viewer in suspense until victorious. Non-trivial zombie horror, in general, does not offer anything revolutionary, radically new, but successfully combines canonical genre tricks and methods into something truly unique.
Plot
In the provincial Scandinavian town of Landskron, the infectious virus catastrophically quickly spreads, turning inhabitants into carnivorous monsters. The military declare quarantine. At the center of the story is a small group of Swedes and immigrants who escaped infection, who took refuge in a citadel. During the ongoing attacks of the infected, trying to break into the shelter, a racial conflict arises between the heroes. At its climax, the uninfected must solve the dilemma of who the real monster is. Infected outside or enemies inside?
Thus, the reviews of "Zone 261" recommend that the watchers take into account the moral background hidden by the author behind a raid of a bloody zombie feast.
Impressive visualization
Reviews of the film "Zone 261" tend to position the project as a performance by Frederick Hiller, who acted as the director, screenwriter and producer of the picture. His directorial debut can be described as truly discouraging in the framework of the genre project. Now, especially impressive fans of the genre will have to sleep with the lights on, because the open finale of the tape is similar to the final ingredient in creating a real masterpiece that provides food for thought and personal fantasies.
To top it all, according to experts, expressed in reviews of "Zone 261", the picture was taken surprisingly juicy. The director feels the composition of the frame well, individual episodes look very nice. Many reviewers emphasize Hiller's special craving for creating a very disturbing screen image.
Conditional components
Many authors in the reviews of "Zone 261" argue that the film can be divided into two parts. The first slowly immerses the viewer in a state of exciting suspended animation by the alarming musical soundtrack of Hans Lundgren and a vivid image unusual for paintings of similar content. The picture now and then shimmers from red to purple and green tones, as a result, the viewer begins to feel an approaching state similar to a panic attack. In the second half of the story, you can breathe out and relax a little. Although the picture after the transition to the demonstration of an active action does not reduce the degree of madness and follows the general trends of a typical zombie horror - hints of an impending pandemic, claustrophobic suspense of single hassles and a spectacular display of a whole horde of infected, piling on top of each other like an eerie bee swarm. Only at Hiller are they also armed with improvised means. Of course, the picture evokes a lot of associations with famous genre projects like War of the Worlds Z and the Resident Evil franchise.
Indisputable dignity
Some critics in the reviews of "Zone 261" reproach the creator for the lack of capacious characteristics of the central characters. But it should be noted that the authors simply did not have enough time for an expanded representation of the heroes, while each main character turned out to be bright and convex. All characters are hero-functions, but the functions are spelled out competently and there is nothing superfluous in order to tighten the plot.
The undoubted advantage of the project is its dynamics and diversity. The author makes good use of every minute of timing, inventing about ten fundamentally different action scenes with amazing skill.
The project is constantly changing, by all means trying not to get caught up in the genre rut. Visualization is not poor, at least the makeup of those infected is very convincing, and it pulls to characterize it - "modestly, but with taste." The picture can be safely recommended for viewing to fans of the genre.