Review: Rammbock

Marvin Kren's grim foray into the zombie genre (a German first) has all the right components. Dreary apartment complex? Check. Post-apocalyptic undertones? Check. Wild-eyed, slavering undead with a taste for man meat? Check, check. But somehow it doesn't all come together. A man stops by his ex's to drop off her keys and discovers not only that she's bedding her neighbor but that a nasty virus is infecting Berlin's denizens with a bad case of the staggering brain munchies. The best examples of this genre induce viewers to make an investment in the characters' welfare. Rammbock is just too short. When a tenant is torn apart by his neighbors, the thrill is there, but the heart isn't. There is room for some directorial ingenuity, however. Kren's zombies are triggered only by adrenaline; a doped-up zombie is a harmless zombie — which makes for a clever new take on keeping the slobbering masses at bay. That and some well-executed scares save Rammbock from mediocrity.