Star Cast : Luke Kenny, Kirti Kulhari, Ashwin Mushran, Benjamin Gilani

Story : Devaki Singh

Directed By Luke Kenny and Devaki Singh

Duration : 1 Hr 30 Min

Rating : * *

After engendering in the "Epic of Gilgamesh" and gaining popularity in European folklore, of late Zombie finds a resort in Bollywood with Luke Kenny's "Rise of The Zombie". With tons of innovation being incorporated in genres like romance, action, humor now the another genre which seems to be getting ready to take a quantum leap is that of Horror.

Ever since our childhood, for many of us horror genre and Ramsay brothers had been synonymous terms, but now with many others trying their hands on the genre, fiefdom of yesteryear's horror inducers (Ramsay Brothers) seems to be under threat.


The newest entrant in the league is Luke Kenny's zombie saga "Rise of the Zombie which is expected to add a new dimension to Bollywood's perception about horror. Starring Luke Kenny, Kirti Kulhari, Benjamin Gilani and Ashwin Mushran, "Rise of The Zombie" opened with an occupancy of 4-5 percent at multiplexes.

Bollywood had always fostered an inevitable fascination for the western movie concepts, be it action romance or the rom-com, every time Hollywood had been first and foremost reference point for our cine biggies. And so is the case with Devaki Singh's cine tale, "Rise of The Zombie" which is India's first horror cine flick crafted around the core of Zombie-ism.

Before proceeding ahead with dissection of the movie for those who are so oblivious about the term "zombie", it is an animated corpse resurrected by mystical means and has its origination point in "Epic of Gilgamesh."


"Rise of the Zombie" narrate the story of a wildlife photographer, Neil Parker (Luke Kenny) for whom his passion for capturing the mother nature is something foremost. As the frames roles ahead they depicts how this over passionate attitude of Neil sunders him from his personal life subsequently pushing him into a dark hell where he transforms into a zombie.

As the story takes off it showcases the break-off, of Neil with his lady love Vinni (Kirti Kulhari) who after getting fed up of Neil's nomadic way of living decides to part her ways.

Soon after Kirti's moving out of his life, Neil moves ahead with another photography stint and takes off to the wilderness of Uttrakhand to capture the beauty of the wildes.

There while capturing the creatures Neil gets bitten by an insect, and post this what follows is the onset of Neil's journey towards horrendous transformation from a normal man to a Zombie.


As said earlier, that Hollywood concepts had always been foremost reference point for our cine biggies to dish out something entertaining, but it's not a mandate that, what has worked in Hollywood will succeed in making a dent on Indian BO too.

Although, Devaki Singh's effort of penning down Bollywood's first ever zombie saga is praiseworthy, but at the same time instead of penning down core Zombie transformation saga, Devaki should also have kept in mind the expectation of audience in order to knit an attention grabbing tale for the cine buffs who so far didn't have a frequent rendezvous with the cine cantatas circumscribed around the core of zombies.

Undoubtedly Rise of The Zombie has an unconventional concept at its core but inspite of that it looks quite bland because constantly prevailing predictability and badly painted screenplay.


While flagging off new trend of movie making it is always a tedious task for makers (and especially the director) to make something, which can impress the majority. From that perspective Luke Kenny and Devaki Singh, deserve accolades for choosing a complex yet innovative concept. But if we talk about the directorial aspect then "Rise of the Zombie" somewhere lacks that strength to keep you involved with the onscreen proceedings.

Soon after taking off well, first half of the movie nosedives into the reservoir of lethargy with flow of narration declining down to snail's pace. Even the second half of the movie completely fails in getting you released from the claws of monotony. With repeated flashback fits and gore diabolic acts of our lovelorn Zombie, movie starts giving you a "Deja Vu" and by the time climax arrives you end up being oscitant.


But the two things pertaining to the "Rise of the Zombie" which deserve tons of accolades is camera work of Director of Photography, Murzy Pagdiwala and sharp editing which thoroughly succeeds in grabbing your attention.

Luke Kenny as transforming Zombie has looked well versed with the soul of the character and has thoroughly succeeded in performing what he was expected to. Besides him Shaitaan fame Kirti Kulhari has also done a firm justice to her character and could have contributed more to the movie if makers wouldn't have chopped her onscreen appearance. Ashwin Mushran and Benjamin Gilani also looked OK in their respective characters.

And the last thing that you can expect in a horror movie, Music. Although it's something astonishing but the music carols like "Tanhayee" and "Jag Uthe" incorporated in "Rise of the Zombie" are good aural delights and leaves you mesmerized.


To sum up, if we take Rise of The Zombie as a pilot cine tale to mark the flag off, of a new genre of movie making ( i.e. Zombies) then it is something which can be garlanded with an average tag, but on the entertainment front it is just a lukewarm entertainer which after creating some buzz about offering something novel end up being a monotonous cine saga.