Jared is a car thief who is sentenced to serve some time in prison, but shortly after his arrival, he discovers that something's not right with the place. Soon the whole prison is filled with zombies and Jared and his cell-mate Miguel must find a way to get out before they turn into zombies themselves.
I honestly don't know what's up with indie filmmaking and zombies, as it seems like more than fifty percent of these filmmakers tend to wanna makes flicks filled with the undead, and with most of them saying they pay homage to George A. Romero. It's getting old, not to mention boring and personally I prefer psychological horror over zombies any day of the week. Living Dead Lock Up is an indie zombie flick as well, but that takes place in prison and that was actually something that made it seem a little different, and different is good, change is good, but of course it has its fair share of problems too.
Living Dead Lock Up is a pretty straight forward action flick that has a zombie/horror theme to it. Shot on digital video and made on a very tiny budget, the look of it is probably something you wouldn't say yes to at the alter. But hey, isn't it always like that when it comes to these types of films and to complain about such things would be just as shallow as it would be stupid. I mean, if you're a horror fan you've probably done your fair share of splashing around in the indie pond, so the look of movies like this shouldn't come as a big surprise. What I always try and do is to focus on what they filmmakers have been trying to accomplish, because as we all know, how things look is just a money issue.
 
The film do things right at first; we're introduced to Jared, a petty car thief who has just been sentenced to spend some time in jail. Once inside the walls, our hero is faced with people calling him a bitch, he gets beaten up and put through those things that are so typical for the whole prison enviroment. It's cool though because it makes it clear that the guy really is in jail and that life behind bars pretty much blows. If things weren't bad enough, some of the inmates soon start to turn into flesh-eating zombies that seems to be lurking around everywhere in the massive building. Jared and his cell-mate Miguel must find a way to escape as well as rescue Jared's girlfriend and take her with them, and that's were most of the focus lies, the very escape.
While the story is simple, it's just enough to be able to provide some semi-good entertainment, and Living Dead Lock Up has its charm, but the problem is that it starts to drag a little after a while. The little story that it has is just told too fast and then there's just action and zombies all the way through, until the credits roll. I wish they would've done more with the story, but you can't get everything now can you. While speaking of problems, another problem I had with the film was the use of digital effects, as it's simply way overdone. They should've just gone with what they had from the start and never bothered with all the effect nonsense since it didn't really improve anything, but instead just made it a lot harder to watch.
Acting-wise it's quite all right. Expect your standard indie type of acting and nothing else, and you'll be fine. I gotta admit that I liked the performance of Mario Xavier who plays the lead Jared. The guy really believed in what he was doing and that shined through, and I think stuff like that makes all the difference - that is when people truly believe in what they do. Even though I didn't really dig this movie, it is obvious that Xavier and c/o has a lot of heart and I believe that as long as that is the case, it's all a good thing.
In some indie movies the actors are sometimes almost laughing at the camera because they don't really believe in what they do, and I hate to watch stuff like that because really, why even make a film in the first place if that's the case. Fortunately, Living Dead Lock Up was nothing like that and while it might not look that great or have the most interesting story, it sure stands clear that the folks behind this film are truly dedicated people that really believe 110 percent in what they do. And as long as that's the case, there's nothing that says that there isn't a brighter future ahead.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE:
MOVIE YEAR: 2005
DIRECTOR: Mike Hicks & Mario Xavier
WRITING CREDITS: Mike Hicks & Mario Xavier
GENRE: Action, Crime, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
CAST: Mario Xavier, Natalie Morales, Miguel Angel Novo
COUNTRY: USA
RUNTIME: 62 min
RATING: 3/10
Living Dead Lock Up Website/IMDB Click here
Living Dead Lock Up Trailer
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