Hell is Full (2010)

Review by Mari Lynne Rupp



"When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth"
Steve Hudgins has done it again. He seems to be one of the new masters of minimalist cinema. With very little but a bucket of fake blood, some makeup and talented actors, he's made a bang-up zombie movie to show off at the Fright Night Film fest.

Steve first blew us away with "Third Floor" a small movie put together on a 300$ budget, but as creepy as "Paranormal Activity". Now he and producer PJ Woodside have put together what I can only give as a Romero homage that they should be very proud of. They should also be proud of giving me nightmares, zombies scare me like nothing else.

It begins very quietly, with understated tones....Johnny is looking for his neighbor, who's abandoned his truck at the end of the drive-way in rural Kentucky. He finds him, violently ill, on his porch where the poor man expires before Johnny can even find the phone to call 911. Not long after, the screaming starts as the neighbor reawakens as a flesh-hungry undead.

After that, the movie follows backwards the chain of events leading up to the beginning scenes, showing us how each character was infected, and who's next, right up to the source of the virus infection. The makeup is minimalist, and the effects are so simple, but extremely effective, and everyone involved in the acting does a fantastic job of setting the tone. You don't realize you're not watching a budgeted picture. This made a fantastic evening popcorn movie and even brought a few new elements to the zombie genre, a tip-of-the-hat George Romero would be proud of.

The DVD is available on the Big Biting Pig website for a reasonable price and includes commentary and blooper reel (Note to filmmakers...if you want us to buy the dvd, include the blooper reels. I'm a sucker for them!)

I'd give it an 8 out of 10, and hope it screens at Scarefest. Nothing like a shared experience when it comes to zombies!