In a post-apocalyptic world infested with the walking dead, Eric sits on the roof of his motor home, shooting the zombies that happen to pass by in the head. But all of a sudden two strangers that is Jesse and Greg shows up and ask Eric for his help. Apparently their car broke down a number of miles back and now they're searching for some place safe. Eric, who seems very unwilling to help the two stranger at first, eventually let them into his motor home, and carefully explains that they can stay as long as they obey by his rules. But unfortunately, the strangers act on their own which leads to tragic things for everyone involved.
Broken Road is the first part of indie film-maker Kristofer Velasquez zombie series called Deadscapes. While writing this, part 2 has not been released yet, but after having seen part 1, I must say that I'm definitely looking forward to the director's second short film. Even though I like the whole concept of indie films, I have to admit that often I'm everything but excited when about to watch a new one. I've seen too many crappy indie films during the years and I always have this fear that I will not have a great time when about to watch a new one. But every once in a while it happens that an indie film actually turns out to be a good piece of cinema that has more than a few things to offer, and I'm happy to say that Broken Road is one of those somewhat rare indie movies.
Following in the footsteps of zombie master George A. Romero, Broken Road delivers a story about normal people trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world that is filled with flesh-eating zombies. The people who are left out in the world and who have not (yet) turned into zombies are just trying to survive, and the first one of we're introduced to is a guy named Eric. This guy comes off as an angry fellow who's only looking out for himself as well as he seems obsessed with the military ways, at least when he starts talking to others. He's soon accompanied by to strangers that is a more nerdy kind of guy named Greg and his, at first, quiet girlfriend Jesse. They seek Eric's help and all of a sudden there are three people fighting for survival and taking shelter in the motor home.
 
While Greg and Jesse may at first seem like the quiet and somewhat frightened couple, Eric is at first the complete opposite. He doesn't even want the people in his motor home to begin with, but eventually lets that go and invites them in, but at the same time shows that he's not the type of guy they should be messing with. What he doesn't know is that neither of the two are as harmless as they first seem to be as well as they are both keeping secrets from each other and not just from Eric. It all becomes a chaotic triangle which eventually leads to a tragic outcome.
Filmed in black & white, Broken Road delivers a good atmosphere and manages to look very sharp and does a convincing job with the film as a whole. I believe that if the movie would've been filmed in color it wouldn't have looked half as good. I recently saw some other indie shorts, also filmed in b&w, and it seems to only enhance everything as it manages to take away some of that usually 'cheap' indie feel. Viewing Broken Road in b&w, it of course also makes one think of Romero's The Night of the Living Dead which is a really good thing here.
What makes Broken Road stand out and the reason why I liked it was because it delivers some good human drama as well as the zombie action itself. It could easily have been a shallow film with lots of gore and zombies, and while we get a itty-bit of gore, the actual drama parts are those that really makes the film come out looking really good in the end. The film takes place in and around this motor home in the middle of the night and it's there everything happens from start to finish, and it works really well. The acting itself is convincing enough and even if none of the characters are the least bit likable they still serve a good purpose and makes for an interesting piece of film to watch.
Deadscapes Episode 1: Broken Road was an interesting indie film that not only delivered some zombie action that worked, but that had some good type of survival drama to offer as well. Shot in black & white, the film bears similarities to The Night of the Living Dead and makes it not seem as low-budget as it probably would've looked if shot in color. While waiting for part 2, I would like to recommend you to check this one out if you have the least bit of interest in zombie and indie films in general.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE:
MOVIE YEAR: 2005
DIRECTOR: Kristofer Velasquez
WRITING CREDITS: Kristofer Velasquez
GENRE: Horror, Zombie
CAST: Ken Barnhart, Leon DeWyze, Kathy Swiercz
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 23 min
RATING: 7/10
Deadscapes Episode 1: Broken Road Website/IMDB Click here
Deadscapes Episode 1: Broken Road Trailer
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