#675 – Glowzies (2023)

Glowzies (2023)

Film review #675

Director: Hank Braxtan

SYNOPSIS: A group of elderly veterans who spend their time in a diner are interrupted by a group of young influencers who want to check out the old mill in the area. Suspecting something wrong, the vets team up with the influencers to investigate, and when a horde of gloiwing zombies is unleashed from the mill, the veterans realise that they have seen this before, and their memories are not what it seems…

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Glowzies is a 2023 sci-fi film. The film sees a group of grizzled military veterans teaming up with a group of young social influencers to investigate the old mill where the vets worked, which has seemingly been disturbed. Unbeknownst to the vets, they have actually been drugged for the past thirty years to forget that they used to work there, and to keep an eye on the mill in case a terrible secret gets out; the terrible secret eventually does, as glowing zombies start to emerge and the animated goop that turns people into zombies must be stopped before it reaches the outside world. This very typical low budget zombie film may not seen like much at first, but it teams up an interesting contrast of characters, some decent special effects, and just enough self-awareness and humour to make it entertaining. There’s quite a lot going on with the story; from the vets having their memories suppressed, the influencers investigating the mill, the glowing ooze being some sort of alien lifeform, a villain that appears for five minutes…there’s an awful lot to process. But as mentioned, it has enough self-awareness that there’s always a sense of you don’t have to take things too seriously, or follow things precisely to get some enjoyment out of the film. The plot does get a bit bloated towards the end with everything that is going on, and I think a rewrite on the script could have streamlined a bunch of things that slow the film down just a little too much.

The acting is, on the whole, fairly good. With a cast of veterans including James Remar and Michael Dorn (who keeps showing up in these low budget films I end up watching), the film delivers some decent performances. One of the most notable features of this film is that it is a “fun for all the family” experience (as the trailer describes it), so there’s not an abundance of gore and adult humour to mix things up. There is just enough zombies getting their heads smashed in and exploding to bring out some spectacle, but never anything overly scary. Another thing that really stands out is the humour: there’s a fair few genuinely funny moments, it’s just that the pacing can sometimes fail to give the necessary space to appreciate the joke.

As mentioned, the special effects are fairly decent: the titular “glowzies” have an eerie glow about them, and the practical ooze effects are fun. The soundtrack has a sixties “Beach Boys” feel to it, although they obviously couldn’t afford to license any recognisable songs; nevertheless, you get the idea. I think the quality of the this film could have been easily bumped up with some more expertise in camerawork and a tidier script: scenes are often ill-paced, and the camera is not capturing a scene fully. I suppose that might be that the sets are fairly small, but it is noticeably distracting. Overall though, Glowzies is a fairly entertaining low budget title that surprises with a competent sense of humour and effects for it’s budget. A lack of a more rigorous and sharper script hurts some of the more tense moments, but for a “family-friendly” horror film, it’s got enough in it for a one-time watch if you can appreciate the b-movie aesthetic and recognise that self-awareness in the film itself.