Undead

When a meteor shower dumps rocks and acid rain on the small Queensland town of Berkeley, people are turned into flesh-eating zombies.

Rene, Felicity Mason, the local beauty queen, tries to leave town but finds the road blocked by crashed cars, so she teams up with Wayne, Rob Jenkins, and his pregnant girlfriend, Sallyanne, Lisa Cunningham, plus cops Harrison, Dirk Hunter, and Molly, Emma Randall. The quintet take refuge in an isolated house where they find the mysterious Marion, Mungo McKay, a sharpshooter who seems to know more about fighting the zombies than anyone else around.

Twin brothers Michael and Peter Spierig not only produced, wrote and directed this low-budget schlocker, they also edited it and designed the visual and computer effects. Hats off to them, because they've done a terrific job in their chosen genre, a gory creature feature that pays affectionate tribute to George Romero and Peter Jackson.

It's a pity that the human characters in the film are a pretty unlikable bunch; with Dirk Hunter's foul-mouthed cop taking the prize for sheer boorishness, it's a bit difficult at times to cheer on the human race. But the combination of zombie and outer space alien themes is fun, and the twins unquestionably have talent.

More will be heard from them and, meanwhile, Undead deserves cult status.