User Reviews (19)

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  • I'm not gonna say that this one is a low budget movie done right, nor am I gonna praise it and recommend it to everybody, but I will say that I was relatively impressed. Why? It doesn't look cheap, doesn't act like that either, the make-up is acceptable, the story works, not too thin, not too complex, and the acting, except the main character, is OK.

    Not much to say about "Code Red", a simple, and maybe, effective zombie movie, does not act like a tryhard, and most definitely not like a gore fest. It is an OK movie, one of the few that actually managed to make a positive impression, so, will I recommend it? Well it's not as bad as "Zombex" but not quite as good as "Outpost: Rise of the Spetsnaz", somewhere in between, therefore, you have a reference point, so you'll know what you'll be up against.

    Overall, "Code Red" shows that an effort was put into it, and that somebody wanted to make something, a zombie movie, with a small budget, that won't be a laughing stock as so many are. I say it succeed!
  • white-cleric16 February 2014
    Warning: Spoilers
    I have watched a lot of zombie movies and this is not a great one. Don't get me wrong makeup and scenes were decent, acting acceptable, but the accent and storyline was just off putting.

    Scene during WW2 was awesome, real hook and the 9/10 scene, rest of the movie 3, maybe 4.

    First thing that comes to mind is how everyone speaks English, even old lady answering the door. It's just annoying through most of the movie. There is no reason that Bulgarians should speak English amongst themselves. I remember only one expression said in Bulgarian throughout the whole movie and I can't imagine why, since the more important scenes don't have a single word said in native language. At the explosion scene there is alarm and guy in perfect English explaining the danger to 99% Bulgarians in that town.

    Scenes are fine, but the characters are not. Lady doctor Anna is unconvincing to say the least. She talks as she's uncertain if she should say her lines or not. At the first scene she describes a dead soldier coming to life with same intonation as she's telling a story from a day in shopping mall. Also I am certain that they could've found someone more authentic to play American doctor, but that's just me. Lead character John is only good as blurted one liners and some macho dialog.

    Screenwriter did terrible job, as he was writing dialogs and story as they went through the shoot. Lead character doesn't do anything, at all, just dies at the end, also he doesn't help explain the plot. Doctor Anna is all over the place. First thing we see is that she lets her small daughter open the door while she sleeps in apartment in slums of a foreign country, then she takes her clothes off in front of a complete stranger, and last but not least she drags her daughter by hand so they can get separated in the entrance of a bunker for some unknown reason, because in a later scene we saw that they had plenty of room. But it further advanced the plot, so we'll let it slide. And in the end she drags her daughter by hand over the corpse when she falls and mother of the year lets go of her once more so she gets bitten.

    Also story plot is unclear. US doctor gets suspended by Bulgarian colonel which makes no sense cause US army is her employer. Also at some point Bulgarian colonel says that he's going to be in charge of weapon warehouses after the transition. This also doesn't make sense since those warehouses are property of military bases and as such will be handed as well. And even if that is the case there is no reason for him to blow it up, as no one can make him show the true inventory on paper. There is also a scene when Bulgarians capture John sneaking around the base and kill their own guards so there wouldn't be any witnesses, but not him. Why? He was the only witness now who could incriminate any of them.

    Ending is forced, where big bad American general comes and tells: "You don't know what are you dealing with", but they most certainly do at this point. There is no conclusion to this story just end as some point, which leaves a viewer wondering if there ever was a script or plan during the filming or just improvisation after the WW2 scene.

    There is no story about soldier from the first scene and how he escaped, just a line that he killed himself at some point, no explanation how and why the zombie gas was hidden in Bulgaria and why was it forgotten. There was no sex scene and romance development after the pseudo naked scene, no explanation how the poison spreads and why didn't it affect all the people, not even all injured people. No one was trying to find a cure and no one was saved, even a little girl was killed off along with two people that died trying to save her.

    Conclusion is that this is not worth watching. Story is forced and illogical, character unconvincing and ending and plot don't make sense what so ever.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    Is there anything even enjoyable about this zombie movie, well yeah the opening WW2 sequence. That sequence was a truly thrilling scene, and was a brilliant start to any movie. Its action was brutal and very gory. You could feel every beat, see every limb lopped off, see every rib cage torn out, and even bits of saliva drip from the guy we are following's mouth. As movie opening's go this is up there with nearly anything tbh, and certainly the best for a poor movie.

    But its such a shame they ruined it after with a pretty terrible zombie movie, that made even the zombies and their kills pretty tepid.

    The acting was catastrophic, the action after the opening bland, the characters very annoying, the effects poor, it was way too short, dialogue laughable and it had plot holes galore and stupid decisions(main hero and little girl turn up at the exact place the mother was looking for her, two characters run straight into gun fire, idiots not listening to get out of the bunker sooner, little girl nearly the only one outside alive even though the rest are either gone or turned).

    Heck they even had the little girl(best of a bad bunch of actors)bitten(even though she clearly never was), before it cut to her on a operating table, with a massive rip to her face, who then lunges at the camera as a full zombie, before the movie ends(and leads to a TEN MINUTE CREDIT SEQUENCE, for this movie).

    This only got a three star rating from me for that awesome opening scene, otherwise this could be a contender for worst ever zombie flick.

    How could the makers themselves not see how drab it was gonna be.
  • You know not every film maker starts out trying to create an Oscar award winning film. Just like you and me who go in to work they simply try to do their best with what they got. This film is not a great film but a good film. After viewing I didn't get that "oh what a waste of time" feeling. It was good. You got the feeling that everybody tried hard. Sure there are some problems with it but no matter what you Watch you will always find problems with something. This movie didn't make it an struggle to Watch to the end. you kind of want too all by yourself. So far it's got a score of what 5.7 well that sounds totally logical to me. I myself give it a 6 out of 10. To all involved Thanks for the Entertainment. Their is one thing I would like to thank everyone for especially. This film didn't feel the need to throw in bare breast to help bring more viewers. I've got nothing against bare breasts in films but too many times it is used as a ploy to get Young males to Watch. Bare breast have their place when used properly. Now I don't know if this was done intentionally or if the main actress simply refused to do it. but well done. In this movie it would have just cheapened the movie. So again Thanks to all involved.
  • CODE RED is a cheap, dark, zombie war movie shot in Bulgaria although financed in the US. It lacks a proper cast and any proper name actors, but it features a wealth of low rent military action if that's your cup of tea; there's hell of a lot of shaky cam work here, sitting alongside mild gore scenes, shoot-outs, executions and more besides.

    The plotting isn't very complex and half of it is delivered in amateurish exposition scenes of guys sitting around smoking cigars in offices - that kind of thing. To put it simply, a biological weapon has the power to turn people into zombies, and now a squad of soldiers must escape a war zone filled with a very different kind of enemy. CODE RED is all very low rent and lacking even the most basic characterisation, but a fast pace means I suppose it passes the time quickly if you're in the mood for trash.
  • To review 'Code Red' I really should just type 'Just watch Outpost' about twenty times and leave it at that. If you're looking for a zombie film with Nazis in it (and you don't want to watch the subtitled 'Dead Snow') then just watch – the original – 'Outpost' movie (the sequels leave a little to be desired).

    Code Red is similar in principal, i.e. World War II zombies, only it's not half as good. I know it's a low budget affair and I don't mind that. What got me was the acting. Yes, I know it's a B-movie and I wasn't expecting Oscar-worthy performances, however the acting really is pretty hard to watch.

    There's no major gore to speak of, just the obligatory headshots to zombies here and there. Plus the first half of the film is way too light on action and tension.

    Ultimately, like I said, if you like World War II zombies etc, just watch the original Outpost for action and mayhem. Then, if you want comedy added to the mix, enjoy the subtitled Dead Snow.

    http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/
  • Warning: Spoilers
    The story was solid to start with until it brought you from WWII to present day. The US was taking over an old Bulgarian/Soviet ammunition site and a special force person was sent in to investigate an odd event on base. Firstly, he goes to the Bulgarian home of a US Bio-research Doctor and the old woman that lives at the end of the hall is speaking English to him. Doubt that. Secondly, the Doctor who is female and obviously a single mother, as the very young daughter answers the door. I found this strange, as she is very young and answers the door in a slum by herself, without waking her mother. Once in there the third amazing thing happens. The Doctor explains that she was fired from the base by the Bulgarian Captain. She was obviously brought there by the US, not the Bulgarians, so technically how could he fire her? Also, this Doctor is not a very good mother and drags her daughter to a bomb shelter by hand and gets separated from her. A small girl like that should be carried easily by her. If it was my child, I would have easily carried her. This happens again towards the end where she is carrying her and puts her down because she wants her stuffed bunny and the little girl gets bitten by one of the infected. I just shook my head in disbelief that this idiot mother did it again. You think she would have learned the first time. The infected looked like bloodied elephant men and some had no eyes, but seemed to be able to see people just fine. There were many other moments where the characters seemed dumb to the point, that you just wanted to scream "Wake Up Dumb Dumb". It took a lot to keep watching to the end and was overly predictable. If you can't find anything to watch and have had way too much coffee, you might want to give it a try.
  • sweetkieron9 November 2023
    I have watched at least 300 films to date, and I don't often give ratings less than a 5/10. Even if a film is not to my liking, I can still judge all the aspects of the film (acting, music, cinematography etc) and come to a reasonable verdict. 'Code Red' is the lowest rating I have given a film to date, it is that bad.

    It is especially crazy that I gave such a low rating as I really enjoy the zombie genre (The Walking Dead, Shaun of the Dead, and The Last of Us come to mind) and science fiction in general.

    'Code Red' is woefully bad. Essentially every aspect of the film is poor. Acting, camera work, pacing, and what on earth was that ending!?! Many films fall into the category of: 'so bad that it is good', but 'Code Red' is just plain awful. Do yourself a favour and watch another zombie flick. 2/10.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    The first 15 minutes of the film explains that Stalin had developed a gas to create a race of super warriors at Stalingrad. A canister turns up 80 years later in Bulgaria. John (Paul Logan) is sent to investigate and question Dr. Bennett (Manal El-Feitury) who filed the report on an infected patient who got injured in an old warehouse. Logan wants to visit the warehouse. The Bulgarian colonel runs a black market arms deal and doesn't want John snooping around. As an explosion occurs the gas is released creating super warriors or berserk zombies running around killing people. Dr, Bennett's daughter becomes separated from her and the other half of the film is spent looking for her.

    There were no special zombie make-up other than blood and guts and it was hard to tell how effective they were as much of the shooting was done at night while jerking the camera around for effect, i.e. if it isn't scary. jerk the camera around and have people scream...someone will think it is great.

    In addition to the effects being low grade, the writers forgot about scripting characters relying on the zombie craze and a name to carry the film.

    Lower end rental at best.

    Parental Guide: F-bombs. No sex. Brief stripper nudity?
  • OK so first lets get the bad things out of the way...some rather dubious and clichéd dialogue,some rather clichéd and dubious actions by the 'good guy' towards the end of the film and a rather odd feeling that something is missing....IMDb lists the run time as 118 minutes but the UK DVD runs for 90 minutes??? and at points in the film it feels like some stuff has been cut away.now the good news.decent acting,plot although not original,good production value and fx and some pretty cool zombies.lots of old school fx work and blood squibs.think planet terror meets doomsday meets lenzi nightmare city.well worth a watch for zombie fans.real world it's 2/10 but in the horror direct to video world it's a solid 7/10.
  • A Bulgarian zombie flick with no storyline. Paul Logan was more wooden than Sherwood Forest and the rest of the archetypal cast were terrible as well.

    Don't know what happened at the end. They must have ran out of film.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    Give me a good indie movie over a bad super gross budget flop any day. This is an indie film, but it would appear they had some money to spend, and they decided in this case to spend it on the movie. This movie impressed me a number of times, really from the first scene I was in. You have to agree that for an indie film to do that it takes something. I can not remember the last time I rooted for a WW2 German soldier to survive, but I did, and you will. This movie had everything that you want in a zombie/outbreak movie, including the cute little girl that is protected over anyone else. It is all there every gaming, and horror cliché, all the cheesy lines, but it is in there well, and that is what will draw people to this movie. I totally enjoyed this as it is. It is not the blockbuster movie of the season, and I don't think most people will ever really give it it's fair shake, but if you are planing to make an indie movie, check out what these folks did, and build on it I dare you. If you can't tell I recommend this movie, but only to horror fans, and real movie nuts, your average person is not going to get same things from this movie.
  • I saw the trailer of the movie a few years ago. It got me excited but then I kinda forgot about it. Found the finished movie by accident recently.

    The bad things first - It's not a movie that will become a cult classic or even memorable. The script is pretty usual. There is lots of cheese in both dialogues and characters. The main character, GI Joe El Macho, aka Special Forces agent John McGahey was literally made of Mozzarella and topped with Gorgonzola. FX are a bit old school and green screen is apparent in some scenes.

    The plot is based on real events that happened in Bulgaria. Few years ago there was an "accident" at a weapons warehouse at Chelopechene. It was widely suspected that it was a cover up for stolen munitions. First 15 minutes(scenes of Stalingrad) are excellent. I think they were shot by a team different than the one that did the rest. Zombies are plenty. I prefer fast and agile ones(28 Days Later type), and they are in Code Red. Acting is decent. The characters were shallow but actors did a decent job to make them believable.

    A note to my fellow Bulgarian viewers - The image of Bulgaria presented in the movie is cliché 90s Eastern Europe. I don't know if this is required to make the movie marketable abroad, but please don't make a fuss about it. We are either too touchy or too nihilistic about this kind of stuff. And please go and ****** buy the movie if you liked it. It's a local production with decent results. We don't get too many of them. Please support the people that managed to do it.

    This is a B movie so if you are general viewer the score is 4/10. As a horror/zombie genre fan I would give it an honest 6/10. My actual score is 7/10 but that's due to sentimental reasons :)
  • Warning: Spoilers
    Code Red is one of the best of a Call of Duty/Resident Evil Zombie B movie mash up with an awesome production value and sets. The prologue scenes depict a Nazi soldier fighting desperately against Russian soldiers when a gas is released and zombie chaos ensures. Jumping to present day where American soldier (Paul Logan) is briefed on that event and is sent to recover some of this gas which is in a Bulgarian bunker. The bunker is in a city, cue Resident Evil outbreak. Unfortunately, the film suffers from a jumpy ending and a typical 'horror monster jumps at the screen' closing shot. Worth a watch to see the production value and the Bulgarian pimp who looks like a thin Quentin Tarantino!
  • Warning: Spoilers
    As other reviewers said, this was a good effort. I thought the zombie makeup was very well done and creepy, as this gas not only revives the dead, it also distorts their features into something ghastly with bubbling boils. I appreciated that they weren't super fast (Looking at you "Dawn of the Dead" Remake) though their strength and agility were enhanced by the properties of the chemical. Some of them still stumbled around like a Romero film (My favorite kind.) Once the big handsome, rough and tough soldier traveled with and protected the cute little girl my heart leapt. I'm a sucker for father & daughter type themes so that raised my rating. I think the script could've used a little work here and there but overall it was fine.

    The ending: WHHHYYY??? They dashed me to pieces with that and it finished so abruptly on a jump scare. I didn't see that coming. Dare I say, all that for nothing? Goodbye Europe ... and eventually the world.
  • This film, with an estimated budget of $3 million definitely punches above it's weight. The set up doesn't really matter all that much, but the use of Bulgaria is superb. There's a gas developed during WW2 that causes the dead to rise. After the war all evidence is destroyed and nothing is heard of this terror weapon until a man dies in a Bulgarian army base. This provides the excuse to get an American to Bulgaria where the action takes place.

    First, those exposed to the gas turn into zombies, and then anyone attacked by the zombies turn into zombies, and you get the idea. There are lots and lots and lots of deaths as the population of the nearby town are all infected. Although not particularly gory, there's lots of blood, head shots, people ripped in two and other suitably gruesome deaths. However, the use of a very faded colour palette keeps the action viewable without the distraction of piles of red everywhere.

    The opening sequence, set in Stalingrad during WW2 is very well done, apart from some very shaky camera work, and the rest of the film is at it's best during action sequences. There's a huge 8-wheel military vehicle that's used extremely well throughout the film, both as a menace to the protagonists and later as means of escape.

    As you'd expect, not many make it out alive, and most of the villains get it in the neck, and the body count increases relentlessly, but the film is not without its flaws. The dialogue and acting are terrible, and the setup would have been improved with more scene setting - the action takes place on an island with a military base, but it's not made clear how isolated the island is, or how big it is, or if there is another way off the island apart from the bridge that's mentioned throughout the film.

    However, the action scenes, and much of the tension generated in the film makes up for the lack of decent actors, who are just place markers for zombie attacks. It's a zombie film, so you're not expecting an intricate plot, great acting or cinematic artistry and you don't get any of these. But if you want some brainless zombie killing with at least one survivor at the end of the film, give this a watch. You won't be disappointed.
  • danielray-5139617 December 2020
    Surprisingly good. As a zombie movie fan I am constantly sifting through terrible zombie movies hoping to find one that is good, and this actually is. Watched this film with an open mind but not holding out much hope that it would be anything above par, but the acting was good, albeit with a stereotypical militant loner joint lead, locations were good, as were the effects/visuals, and i actually cared about a number of the characters. The opening sequence was filmed brilliantly and set the tone well. I do feel that the conclusion fell someone flat in relation to the rest of the film hence not giving a higher score but overall an enjoyable experience.
  • Warning: Spoilers
    The makers of this movie shot their wad in the 1st 15 minutes: The opening sequence is absolutely brilliant, kinetic and innovative. Yeah, a bit of shaky cam action but still impressive nonetheless. After that, the movie devolves into a generic lame flick ... I did appreciate tho what they did with the zombies facial make-up/prosthetics, atypical and original if i dare say so. The ending is a bit meh, they went down the '28-weeks-later' route.
  • Code Red: A minor Zombie flare-up in Bulgaria is caused by a corrupt Colonel who sells weapons on the black market little knowing that an old Biochemical gas is stored with the other armaments. The base is being handed over to NATO so a US Special Forces Captain is sent to investigate. Some good combat scenes as the film opens at the battle of Stalingrad where the gas is first deployed, raging, running Zombies rise from the dead biting all round. Maybe Stalin decided to mothball it as the Zombies couldn't be controlled and it ended up forgotten in an old depot on a Bulgarian Island. Even a touch of dark humour as a cranky old woman goes full Zombie. But this is a savage narrative as a full scale Zombie Outbreak occurs, people flee, turn in bunkers and overrun the uninfected. Zombies are cut down by gunfire and flamethrowers. A worthy Zombie film which makes the most of a low budget. Written & Directed by Valeri Milev. On Netflix. 6/10.