Macabre…ish Horror Review: Inmate Zero
Patients of a Saint aka Inmate Zero, 2019/ 1 hr 46 min
On death row island, prisoners are being used for experimentation in lieu of the death penalty. One inmate, Stone (Jess Chanliau), is a former Special Forces and a body guard and accused of killing a Congressman and his family. She chose death. But before her execution date she is shanked by another inmate and in the infirmary are inmates who are suffering side effects from their trials.
On top of that, there is a horrible roach infestation that is clogging up the ventilation and crawling on patients as they sleep. When Stone wakes up she sees an inmate who has clearly succumbed to his side effects but is also eating another patient. A guard and her only friend, Lennon (Brian McGovern), saves her and sounds the alarm.
The lights go out, the warden is informed and this virus is spreading quickly. By the time the guards try to figure out what’s going on, one of them has already be infected and infected inmates are bearing down on them.
The power shifts to a small group of inmates over the guards, as they cut down the zombies. When the group end up cordoned off in the warden’s office, with the warden (Jane Garioni) watching the mayhem on monitors, they find their medical files on her desk.
They make a plan to escape. First, they need electricity, when Stone fines the breaker and the lights come on, right in front of her are a crowd of zombies, just standing and staring at the ceiling.
These zombies respond to movement and they hate light. They need to survive until dawn. But also, supplies are delivered regularly but won’t come for 5 days, so they are still trapped on the island until then. Plus there are loved ones on the other side of the main gate and they can be seen on a monitor beating on the gate to get in. So if the infection is already on the mainland, there may be nowhere to escape too.
The biggest surprise comes from the zombies.
This British horror movie is really fast moving, bloody and gory. The zombie effects are good and these are fast zombies. It also turns out to be a sad movie with relatable, well written characters (Butcher!! Played by Jennifer Joseph), except one character who I think is supposed to be trans, that could have been done better. I kept scrolling past this one because of the cover art that does this film no justice. But then I saw a cover called Patients of a Saint that I was curious about, nice cover art and play on words, imagine my surprise when Inmate Zero came up. Anyway, I really enjoyed this movie!
TW: suicide