Cockneys vs Zombies (Blu-ray) (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Action Comedy	Featurette-Behind The Scenes Featurette-Zombie School
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	88:08
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Matthias Hoene
Studio Distributor	Transmission Films	Starring	Rasmus Hardiker Harry Treadaway Michelle Ryan Jack Doolan Georgia King Ashley Thomas Tony Gardner
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Jody Jenkins

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     While excavating on a building site in East London workers uncover a crypt that was sealed in 1666, never to be opened again. Of course they open it, and unleash a plague of flesh eating zombies upon the East End. Meanwhile, hapless cockney brothers Terry (Rasmus Hardiker) and Andy (Harry Treadaway) are worried that the nursing home where their grandfather Ray (Alan Ford) is is about to be closed and the residents, including their grandfather, transferred “op north”. Their solution is to rob a bank and use the money to save the nursing home, so they enlist their cousin Katy (Michelle Ryan) and loose cannon Mental Mickey (Ashley Thomas) to help. The bank robbery goes predictably wrong and they are surrounded by the police, but before they can be arrested a horde of zombies sweep the police aside. Now with zombies rampaging through East London and killing all those they come into contact with, the brothers decide their only option is to weapon up to the max and save grandad and the other elderly residents in the nursing home before it is too late.

     With a title like Cockneys vs Zombies, it is clear what this film is about; the title is not subtle, and nor is anything that follows. This is not a film to examine the darker secrets or the anguish of zombies; rather they are there to be torn apart, bloodied and blown away. So the film features hordes of zombie extras (who look like they are having fun) whose make-up effects are gory, gross and bloody; limbs and heads are severed, intestines litter the streets and copious blood streams everywhere. It is quite gruesome, yet it is all done in good humour and some of the effects are great fun, such as the zombie who has his head twisted 180 degrees to face the back, before it is ripped off altogether. Other sequences are also funny, such as the zombies “chasing” in slow motion an elderly man on a walking frame across the garden, and some of the dialogue is quite amusing. One elderly resident explains in detail that he knows all about how to deal with . . . vampires! And it is nice to know that the supporters of the different London football teams continue to fight each other, even after being turned into zombies.

     Part of the pleasure of Cockneys vs Zombies is the opportunity to see a couple of the icons of film and TV in action with automatic weapons. For example, the late Richard Briers (The Good Life) is very amusing as an amorous old man in a walking frame with a submachine gun, and if you ever wondered how Pussy Galore (Goldfinger (1964)) or Catherine Gale (The Avengers (1962-64)) looks after retirement here is the chance: the short answer is that Honor Blackman, born in 1925, still looks lithe and fabulous and can handle herself and a horde of flesh-eating zombies with aplomb! Elsewhere the acting is variable with Alan Ford as the grandfather very one dimensional, while most of the younger actors are bland, with perhaps Michelle Ryan and Ashley Thomas exceptions, although it would be hard to be bland with a role like Mental Micky!

     Cockneys vs Zombies is certainly not high art, nor does it advance zombie lore, but it is fast moving, amusing, gory and a heap of mindless good fun. And it has Richard Briers and Honor Blackman!

Video

     Zombies vs Cockneys is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, not the 2.35:1 original ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     This was a low budget film and the print reflects this. Detail is reasonably sharp but colours appear dull and muted, often with a blue/grey palate while even exteriors in the garden have a pale look, with very light skin tones. This could be an intentional choice, because in a couple of flashback scenes the colours are bright and natural. Blacks and shadow detail are fine. There is some low level noise reduction evident, glare in some scenes and ghosting against striped backgrounds such as rails but marks were not present.

     English subtitles for the hearing impaired were available.

     The video is acceptable for a low budget film, but is in the incorrect ratio.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The feature audio is English DTS-MA HD 5.1, and there is an English audio description by a pleasant English female voice in Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192 Kbps.

     The dialogue in the film was mostly fine although some lines were more difficult to hear and understand due to accents or the actors mumbling. The effects were nice and crisp and the surrounds utilised for music, engines, gunshots and zombie crowd noise. There were some directional effects with the gunshots and car engines. The subwoofer supported the music and gunfire and gave a deep rumble to the couple of explosions in the film.

     The music score by Jody Jenkins was fun. It varied from electronic, to orchestral to spaghetti western riffs, and was augmented by some popular songs by the likes of The Kaiser Chiefs plus the very cockney Head to Head (With the Undead) by Chas ‘n’ Dave.

     Lip synchronisation occasionally looked out, especially early from Rasmus Hardiker.

     The audio track does what is required.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Behind the Scenes (23:43)

     A range of short EPK type featurettes. There is a lot of interesting on set behind the scenes footage of the zombies, plus interview snippets with the director, producers, writer, special effects make-up supervisor and nine cast members. It is broken down into the following sections that can be selected individually or there is a play all option:

• At the Docks
• The Maguire Brothers
• Special Effects
• The Bank Robbery
• The Filmmakers
• The Care Home
• AndyTV

Zombie School (4:08)

     A short instructional film that was shown to the zombie extras showing them how to behave as zombies.

    There is no current Blu-ray release of Zombies vs Cockneys in the US. The Region B UK release has the same extras as ours but from screen dumps looks to be in the correct 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and includes a LPCM 2.0 audio as well. That is the better choice.

     In Cockneys vs Zombies there are cockneys and zombies, of course, and the visual effects are gory, gross and bloody, yet it is all done in good humour and we get to see screen and TV icons Richard Briers and Honor Blackman doing their thing with automatic weapons!

     The video is low budget, variable, and in the incorrect aspect ratio. The audio in contrast is good and there are a couple of worthwhile extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall