State of Emergency starts off strong. A man (Jim) and his wife fleeing until her injuries make them pause. Jim watches as his wife passes away. He’s in shock. Something horrible is happening, and while he knows he needs to hole up, he doesn’t yet know how bad it is.
Jim finds a barn, and after pulling his dead wife into a stall, Jim proceeds to explore, only to hear something moving somewhere. He thinks everything is okay when he sees a cat, but the relief is short lived. When he returns to the main hallway he sees muddy foot prints.
There are a few things I really liked about State of Emergency. One of them was that they never pulled the “wife” card. It would have been expected, and would have made the movie less enjoyable for me. The other was the quality of Jim’s character, and the suspense around surviving as he comes to grips with a world with new dangers, and new rules.
This is not a zombie hordes movie. This is a zombie suspense movie with just a few zombies that drive the story, and that part well well done. The honest truth is that until we meet the 2nd group of survivors that Jim pairs up with, the movie was on its way to getting a score in the 90’s.
What happened? The acting once Jim meets the second group of survivors goes down hill fast. Scott (played by Scot Lilly) was really rough around the edges. I’m guessing this was really early in his career and he didn’t have much screen time before this? His scenes really feel like he reading cue cards above the cameraman’s head.
How much did that bad acting hurt the movie? Well, it was still enjoyable and I watched it until the end, and actually liked it. The story was well written and the characters themselves were well rounded, which earned State of Emergency a 73/100.
| Review | Year | Score | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zombieland | 2010 | 100 | Comedy / Action |
| #Alive | 2020 | 100 | Action / Infection |
| World War Z | 2013 | 100 | Action / Infection |
| Train To Busan | 2016 | 100 | Action / Infection |
| Dawn Of The Dead | 1978 | 100 | Action / Horror / Classics |
| 28 Days Later | 2002 | 100 | Action / Infection |
| Night Of The Living Dead | 1968 | 100 | Action / Horror / Classics |
| Flesh And Blood | 2018 | 99 | Shorts |
| Serenity | 2005 | 99 | Action / Sci-Fi |
| The Girl With All The Gifts | 2016 | 95 | Action / Infection |
| Land Of The Dead | 2005 | 94 | Action / Horror |
| Resident Evil: Apocalypse | 2004 | 93 | Action / Infection |
| Resident Evil | 2002 | 92 | Action / Infection |
| Rampant | 2018 | 91 | Action / Infection / Mid Evil |
| Day of the Dead | 2008 | 90 | Action / Infection |
| Night of the Comet | 1984 | 85 | Comedy / Action |
| The Return of the Living Dead | 1985 | 85 | Comedy / Action |
| Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula | 2020 | 84 | Action / Infection |
| Zombieland: Double Tap | 2019 | 83 | Comedy / Action |
| Fido | 2006 | 82 | Comedy / Action |
| Shaun Of The Dead | 2004 | 81 | Comedy / Action |
| I Am Legend (2007) | 2007 | 80 | Action / Infection |
| 28 Weeks Later | 2007 | 80 | Action / Infection |
| The Evil Dead | 1981 | 80 | Classic / Action |
| Overlord | 2018 | 79 | Action / Horror |
| Infection | 2019 | 79 | Action / Infection |
| It Stains The Sands Red | 2016 | 79 | Action / Infection |
| Plan Z | 2016 | 78 | Action / Infection |
| Day of the Dead | 1985 | 77 | Action / Horror / Classics |
| Dead Rising: Endgame | 2016 | 77 | Action / Infection |
| The Dead | 2010 | 76 | Action / Infection |
| Freaks of Nature | 2015 | 76 | Comedy / Action |
| Cockneys Vs. Zombies | 2012 | 75 | Comedy / Action |
| Here Alone | 2016 | 75 | Suspense / Infection |
| Shed of the Dead | 2019 | 74 | Comedy / Action |
| Survival Of The Dead | 2009 | 73 | Action / Horror |
| State of Emergency | 2011 | 73 | Action / Infection |
| Alone | 2020 | 73 | Action / Infection |
| Dawning of the Dead | 2017 | 72 | Action / Infection |
| Dance of the Dead | 2008 | 72 | Comedy / Action |
| The Rezort | 2015 | 72 | Action / Infection |
| Remains | 2011 | 72 | Action / Infection |
| Daylight's End | 2016 | 71 | Action / Infection |
| The Dead 2: India | 2015 | 70 | Action / Infection |
| Night of the Living Deb | 2015 | 70 | Comedy / Romance |
| Resident Evil: Afterlife | 2010 | 70 | Action / Infection |
| Zombie Night | 2013 | 70 | Action / Infection |
| Dead Rising: Watchtower | 2015 | 70 | Action / Infection |
| Zombie Hunter | 2013 | 70 | Action / Infection |
| For A Few Zombies More | 2015 | 70 | Action / Infection |
| Exit Humanity | 2011 | 69 | Action / Infection |
| Bird Box | 2018 | 69 | Action / Horror / Possession |
| Ravenous | 2017 | 68 | Action / Infection |
| Blood Quantum | 2019 | 68 | Action / Infection |
| The Night Eats The World | 2018 | 67 | Suspense / Infection |
| Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse | 2015 | 67 | Comedy / Action |
| Trench 11 | 2017 | 66 | Action / Horror |
| Cargo | 2017 | 66 | Suspense / Infection |
| Zoombies | 2016 | 65 | Awesomely Bad |
| Zombie Town | 2007 | 65 | Action / Horror |
| Zombie Apocalypse | 2011 | 64 | Action / Infection |
| Red Spring | 2017 | 63 | Action / Infection |
| Resident Evil: Extinction | 2007 | 62 | Action / Infection |
| Resident Evil Retribution | 2012 | 61 | Action / Infection |
| Resident Evil: The Final Chapter | 2016 | 60 | Action / Infection |
| Life After Beth | 2014 | 59 | Comedy / Action |
| Diary Of The Dead | 2007 | 58 | Action / Horror |
| Revelation Trail | 2013 | 57 | Action / Horror |
| My Mates vs. The Zombie Apocalypse | 2015 | 56 | Comedy / Action |
| Anna And The Apocalypse | 2017 | 55 | Musical / Infection |
| Deadsight | 2018 | 55 | Suspense / Infection |
| Bong of the Living Dead | 2017 | 54 | Action / Infection |
| The Dead Undead | 2010 | 53 | Action / Infection |
| Deadheads | 2011 | 52 | Comedy / Romance |
| Day of the Dead: Bloodline | 2018 | 51 | Action / Infection |
| Dead Don't Die in Dallas | 2019 | 51 | Action / Infection / LGBTQ |
| Disaster L.A. | 2014 | 50 | Action |
| Road Wars | 2015 | 50 | Action / Infection |
| Within the Woods of Undead County | 2016 | 49 | Action / Infection |
| I Am Alone | 2015 | 48 | Action / Infection |
| Valentine DayZ | 2018 | 47 | Action / Infection / Awesomely Bad |
| Savageland | 2015 | 46 | Horror / Drama |
| Infected | 2019 | 45 | Shorts |
| Block Z | 2020 | 44 | Action / Infection |
| The Dead Don't Die | 2019 | 43 | Spoof / Drama |
| Strain 100 | 2020 | 42 | Action / Infection |
| When the Fever Breaks | 2019 | 41 | Suspense / Infection |
| Zombie Undead | 2010 | 40 | Action / Infection |
| Hostile | 2017 | 40 | Action / Infection |
| Dead Before Down | 2012 | 39 | Horror / Supernatural |
| Gangs Of The Dead | 2006 | 38 | Action / Infection |
| Zombies | 2017 | 37 | Action / Infection |
| American Zombieland | 2020 | 36 | Comedy / Infection |
| Deadlocked | 2020 | 35 | Action / Infection |
| Dead Trigger | 2017 | 35 | Action / Infection |
| Another World | 2014 | 35 | Action / Infection |
| KL24: Zombies | 2017 | 34 | Action / Infection |
| Antisocial 2 | 2015 | 33 | Action / Infection |
| Antisocial | 2013 | 32 | Action / Infection |
| By Day's End | 2020 | 31 | Suspense / Infection |
| Dead 7 | 2016 | 31 | Action / Infection |
| Pandemic | 2016 | 30 | Action / Infection |
| Attack of the Southern Fried Zombies | 2017 | 29 | Comedy / Action |
| Zombie Hood | 2013 | 28 | Action / Infection |
| The Dustwalker | 2019 | 27 | Action / Parasite |
| Day of the Dead 2: Contagium | 2005 | 26 | Action / Infection |
| Anger Of The Dead | 2015 | 25 | Action / Infection |
| Zombie Road | 2018 | 22 | Shorts |
| Zombie Wars | 2007 | 21 | Action / Infection |
| Last Rites Of The Dead | 2019 | 20 | Drama / Thriller |
| The Mad | 2007 | 19 | Comedy / Infection |
| The Living Dead | 2020 | 18 | Horror / Drama |
| Quarantine L.A. | 2013 | 14 | Action / Infection |
| Driven | 2020 | 13 | Drama / Suspense |
| The Hive | 2014 | 12 | Demonic Possession / Horror |
| The Horde | 2016 | 11 | Action / Gore |
| The Last Starship | 2017 | 10 | Action / Infection |
| Rise of the Zombie | 2013 | 9 | Drama / Action |
| Flu | 2013 | 8 | Infection / Not Zombies |
| Red Days | 2016 | 7 | Action / Infection |
| The Returned | 2013 | 6 | Drama / Romance |
| Apocalypse Nerds | 2012 | 5 | Comedy / Action |
| Zombie with a Shotgun | 2019 | 4 | Infection / Drama |
| Soon Enough | 2018 | 3 | Action / Drama |
| Range 15 | 2016 | 2 | Comedy / Action |
| Eyes Of The Dead | 2015 | 1 | Action / Infection |
| Broadcast Dead | 2018 | 0 | Horror / Thriller |
| Dead End | 2003 | 0 | Horror / Thriller |