Dead Weight 2012 (REVIEW)

I recently had the pleasure of meeting John Pata, the director of the film Dead Weight.  We were talking and he told me the premise of the movie and the hardships they endured while filming.  For example just 3 days into shooting they had to scrap a location due to the fact a blizzard hit and they had to take cover nearby for nearly 2 hours while John himself and the other director Adam Bartlett rewrote the script to incorporate mother nature's little snowfall.  Call me intrigued!  I could not wait to return home and give this movie a viewing.

Charlie (Joe Belknap) leisurely sits down to have his morning cereal and read his magazine with no cares in the world at this point.  A frantic phone call from his girlfriend Samantha (Mary Lindberg) changes everything.  An apocalyptic viral outbreak has spread across the entire country and all hell has broken loose. Samantha and Charlie are a distance from each other and have a long journey to find one another.  We see Charlie join up with 3 other people that are trying to survive and travel as well.  Along the way they cross path with other survivors, some good some vicious.  Charlie also is dealing with his own personal demons that continue to weigh him down.  We see how Samantha and Charlie have come to this point through flashbacks throughout the film.  Will Charlie find her, or even live to get to that point?

I really have to say even though it was not planned to have it, the snow really added to the film.  The shots with snow on the ground were beautiful.  There is something about snow that really looks awesome, it adds more than if there was just mud or dead grass on the ground.  It really must have been a grueling shoot because it could not have been an altogether pleasent experience with the apparent freezing cold temperatures.

The story itself is well written and well played out.  This movie has somewhat of a Walking Dead thing going on with the groups of people traveling the land doing what they need to survive.  I have to say I am not a huge fan of movies with multiple flashback scenes but in this case it really puts a little more perspective on the storyline and what led up to the point were are characters are at now.  It's not hard to follow either, flashback scenes can do that but not here.  I would give the acting a thumbs up as well.  Probably not the best you will ever see but no one put in what you would call a bad performance.  Definitely recommend a viewing of this indie film.  Out of 10 stars I would rate this one a 6.  Stay twisted everyone!