Patient Zero actually isn’t a half-bad “zombie” flick though notably the other half of the film was pretty lousy, squandering many of the interesting aspects of the first part.
Patient Zero
(2018)
Genre(s): Horror, Suspense/Thriller
Sony | R – 87 min. – $25.99 | October 16, 2018
Date Published: 11/03/2018 | Author: The Movieman
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Sony Pictures Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 2.5/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: Patient Zero finds humanity battling intelligent, adrenaline-fueled creatures born from a viral, rabies-like, super-strain. After being bitten, human survivor Morgan (MATT SMITH) realizes he is asymptomatic and can communicate with the infected, leading the last survivors on a hunt for ‘Patient Zero’ and a cure. Helping in the search, is scientist Dr. Gina Rose (NATALIE DORMER), as they attempt to stay sane while hunkered down in a facility along with others.
Review: Filmed back in 2014 and completed in 2015, Patient Zero was originally to be released through Screen Gems in February 2017, eventually got taken off the calendar and quietly got an On Demand release in August, a limited theatrical engagement in September and then finally Blu-ray/DVD in October. While not entirely awful, I can see the reasoning behind the delays and probably the rightful place is on the home video format considering the genre and that there’s not a true star, with all due respects to Matt Smith and Natalie Dormer. As someone who has never been a big fan of the horror-zombie genre, save for classics like Dawn of the Dead (and even the Zack Snyder remake), Patient Zero actually wasn’t half-bad, key there being half as I felt the first part of the movie, when it was more thriller than horror, was actually rather interesting. And then came the shift in the second half, and specifically the third act, where it turned full-on, and rather laughably stupid, horror almost as if the studio brought in another writer (although there’s only one credited).
This was a generally okay cast, albeit nobody I’d consider box office draws. Both Matt Smith and Natalie Dormer, TV stars of Doctor Who and Game of Thrones respectively, acquitted themselves well enough while Stanley Tucci should really stick to drama-comedies, though I assume he was having a fun time hamming it up. Patient Zero was helmed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, director of two Anatomy movies as well as the so-so but finely acted drama-thriller Deadfall. This film at least was competently well made and if not for a rather poor finale, with an open ending for a sequel we likely will never see, unless a studio does it on the cheap and without Smith, Dormer or Tucci… |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5 |
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No features were included. |
VIDEO – 4.0/5 |
| The movie is presented with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and given an AVC-encoded 1080p high-definition transfer. The picture here, despite being not an especially bright film to begin with, does look pretty good with relatively sharp detail and no obvious signs of aliasing or artifacts. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track at times sounded fantastic while other moments seemed a bit quiet at times. So it is a mixed result though dialogue does come through with good clarity and during some of the action scenes, the depth was on display. |
OVERALL – 2.25/5 |
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Overall, Patient Zero actually isn’t a half-bad “zombie” flick though notably the other half of the film was pretty lousy and almost felt like a completely different writer had written it, squandering many of the interesting aspects of the first part, and attempts at making for well rounded characters seem more like caricatures. The Blu-ray is on the basic side with good video/audio transfers but no bonus features. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.