Doomed (2007 Video) User Reviews

Scarier than "Scooby Doo"

[kennethsorling · 2/10 · 17 April 2007]

Every so often lucky stars align in the making of a movie.

In this case, the lucky stars of crappy writing, cliché dialogue, ham acting, cheap special effects, and inept direction align to produce that all-too-common of beasts: a movie which can be released directly to the 99 cent bin. It's overpriced at that.

The thoughtful comments of other IMDb members have been spot on, and I wish I'd taken them seriously before wasting my time with this movie.

"Doomed" has a few redeeming values; there's some nice action choreography, and the visual cutting and the music aren't too bad. Not surprising, since they've been scalped from TV shows like 'Survivor'.

Still, there ought to be a law that a 'horror movie' should at one time or another actually try to _scare_ the audience. If anyone tried here, they failed miserably. The zombies aren't scary, and the characters are so one-dimensional that you don't care whether they live or die. This is a common problem with bad horror films.

The 'kicker', which is stolen wholesale from Lucio Fulci's "Zombie 2", is so predictable that you find yourself counting seconds until it happens. If they'd had the cones to steal more from Fulci, this movie might have been watchable.

The main problem this film faces is indecision about what kind of movie it wants to be, and then failing at each turn. 'Survivor' spoof? Not funny enough. Zombie horror? Not gory enough. Biting social commentary on the reality show industry? Not smart enough. Action flick? Sorry. Not even Jean-Claude Van Damme (whose acting skills I came to appreciate while watching this) could have helped this.

The 'computer game' analogy perpetrated on the audience adds the finishing kill shot to this miserable effort; instead of enriching the experience, it annoys the hell out of the viewer. Getting a score for each body blow or kill is only interesting if you're in control of the game and the score is yours. Otherwise, it's disturbing visual clutter.

While not the worst horror film I've seen recently (that honor might befall "House of the Dead", a *real* turkey), it is plenty awful. Zombie horror fans have nothing to get out of this one.

Look for the leading actors behind the counter of your local Wendy's. And, if you should step over the writer lying in some gutter in Your Town, U.S.A, give him a kick for me. He should have been eaten by Zombies.

Tons of 'Been there, done that'

[bloodmane · 2/10 · 14 April 2007]

This is one of those movies where I wish I could get back the chunk of life I've wasted. I did get a little nostalgic for the red-shirted security extras from Star Trek TOS while watching this. When I get a movie like this, the only recourse I have for entertainment is noticing the abundant flaws. I found myself looking at shadows in what was supposed to be total darkness, the thrilling tilt-a-whirl camera effects, the awesomely runny blood, and wondering who was sailing those other sailboats. Still the film made it to video so I applaud all those who worked on it for making it successfully to market.

I think I'll throw on Blood on Satan's Claw next, a good bad movie.

Doomed ... so very aptly named.

What? A Zombie movie without gore?

[lastliberal · 4/10 · 2 May 2008]

I am not a "Survivor" fan. I find all those game boring. But, come up with a "Survivor" episode where you have to escape a bunch of zombies to win the prize, and I'll be glued to the set.

Forget the story here, what there is of it has so many holes it looks like Swiss cheese, and the dialog is rehashed from other low budget films.

In fact, halfway through a hot girl called looking for a shoulder to cry on and I muted the sound and read the subtitles while we talked. I guess everyone else was out partying, and I was the only one left. I didn't miss a thing. That's how heavy this was.

Bottom line, the only person in this film with any experience was Mary Christina Brown. But the fact that there was no nudity, and no gore made this one zombie film to pass on - even if you see it free.

No gore. No nudity but still entertaining....

[ultra_tippergore · 29 August 2007]

Doomed is a cheap straight-to-DVD movie about a group of convicts participating in a Survivor style reality show. They must fight against evil zombies to get the multi-millionaire reward. The movie is not original at all but its pure action all the way so its entertaining. OK, you don't have to analyze it because this is a complete no-brainer. Apparently the island were they are "playing" was nuked some years ago... but its in very well shape, with lots of green vegetation and fresh air.... The worst part is the video-game style edition and the lack of gore and nudity...with lots of guts, blood and tits this one could be a good movie. There are some really crappy cgi fx (CGI blood is something i hate) but Its worth if you don't have nothing else to watch. A very generous 6/10

Don't waste your time

[kyleMetal · 1/10 · 5 September 2007]

This has to be one of the worst films of this year. The special effects were horrible and amateur. Totally low budget as well. Everything was typical from start, it starts off with killing the off the two black actors in the beginning and through out the film it was so annoying to see how these people had no sense of survival which is typical in these types of films, it was just way too predictable. The zombies weren't even realistic or scary. They look like they were wearing Halloween costumes in all honesty. It's no wonder it went straight to DVD. I couldn't imagine this even playing in the Theaters. I would be seriously p*ssed off if I paid to see this honestly.

Rentaghost is scarier

[drhemp · 1/10 · 17 January 2009]

I bought this on DVD from Tesco for £1, I'd never heard of it and I was fooled because it said in the tradition of 28 Days Later. Well, it certainly was not in the tradition of 28 Days Later, in that, 28 Days Later is a brilliant film, well acted, good script and excellent special effects, whereas this film has none of those attributes.

I'm still glad I bought this DVD as I didn't know they still made films that were this bad, and when I say bad, it was so bad, it's inspired me to write my first ever review on IMDb. I can honestly say it is one of the worst films I have ever seen in my life.

Where do I start? The acting is more wooden than Pinocchio, I mean I know it's a low budget film with a very poor script, but you'd think they could at least find one member of cast who could act. The special effects are really awful, I cannot think of a film in recent times with such bad special effects, come to think of it, I can't even think of a film since Plan 9 from Outer Space with such unconvincing effects, but at least that film was funny in its own way.

The background music in this film is particularly annoying, as are the computer generated effects, which look like they may have been produced on an old Atari. The plot is dumb beyond belief.

The only fascinating thing about this film is to know what kind of people made it in the first place? What on Earth possessed someone to make such a bad film, let alone distribute it? I can only assume it was made by someone with a bit of money (though evidently not that much) who wanted to be a movie maker. I think next time, lend a camcorder to some kids at the local comprehensive school, give them £200 and ask them to come back in a week, I'm sure they'd produce something better than this truly awful film. A real stinker!

All been done before

[raypdaley182 · 1/10 · 12 April 2007]

Presented in the form of a game show (Think The Running Man or Survivor - Series 7, but not a good as either one) you have Doomed.

It's cast are all no-namers and that should be the huge give-away right there. It takes ideas from films like Fortress, Resident Evil, Dawn Of The Dead and manages to make a pretty bad film.

It's pretty low budget or looks that way.

Teams of convicts are paired together (yep, that'll be stolen from Fortress then) and are told they must make it across the island alive to win the prize. (Hmm, sounds just like Battle Royale actually) But they have unknown objects in their way (like Zombies, how predictable. George Romero must be laughing at the idea) and of course are fighting amongst themselves and each other.

To be honest the plot is pretty thin and laughable. None of the tension or scares actually work. Finding zombies or failed military experiments in a forgotten bunker has been done in all sorts of things (Lost would be the most recent) and it really wasn't done all that different here.

I got the feeling the writer had played the game Smash TV as a child (the game ideas are very alike) and had seen the Day Of The Dead remake (that's where he stole his crap and predictable from a mile away ending).

Because the cast are all complete unknowns, you know most of them are going to die anyway.

This is tired, predictable and adds nothing to the survival horror or zombie genres.

This ISN'T a porn movie!?!?!

[austin_mulanax · 1/10 · 8 August 2008]

I saw this movie late at night, and I honestly thought that it was cable porn. But there was no nudity so I ruled that out.

I later came to find out, that it was a "reality show" where the contestants had to go to a zombie-filled island (old military island) and try to get $50 million.

This movie is supposed to be horror, but how can it be scary if it looks as if you are watching and old arcade game. And, there was not that much blood for a zombie-movie. It looked like it was produced, written, edited, and shot by Middle Schoolers.

The acting was mediocre, at best, and the special effects were pathetic.

Do NOT waste your time watching this on cable as I did.

I don't have anything to compare it with, just don't waste your time on this low-budget disaster.

Oh hell gnaw..

[justin_edlagan · 1/10 · 26 August 2010]

Allow me to save you $8 by offering something you can do at home that is just as entertaining as watching this movie. Go get a load of whites and throw it in your dryer. Now, add in one red sock. (Make sure everything's dry so you don't end up with a bunch of pink laundry.) Now, hopefully you have the kind of dryer that has the clear window in front. If you do, start the load and watch the laundry spin around. Every time you see the red sock pretend to be scared.

That's it. That's the equivalent to seeing this movie. As entertaining as watching your laundry dry and every bit as scary as a red sock. and not to mention the total butchering of the zombie genre.

Giving it a 1/10 is actually really really generous.

We need a ban on Zombie movies...

[JoeB131 · 4/10 · 23 April 2007]

Or at least smarter ones...

Here's the setup... Convicted criminals are placed on the "Isla Di Romero" (if that isn't a dead giveaway) and have to get to the other side of the island in the nature of a Reality TV show. Unbeknownst to the contestants, the island is inhabited by Zombies who are the result of the government's attempt to create a super-soldier.

Now, paint me blue and call me silly, but if the government was trying to hide this program, do you think they'd let a bunch of reality TV guys use their island to film their TV show? And if they "nuked" the island, don't you think there wouldn't be so many lush plants growing this soon?

Yes, yes, you aren't supposed to use logic in a film like this, any more than you have a bunch of people who apparently have never seen a Zombie movie before. Like you don't go anywhere alone, and you don't leave people who can help you behind...

This movie illustrated the famous Joe Bob Briggs rule of Drive in Movies (which will soon be the rule of Direct to DVD movies.) Anyone can die at any time. The characters we are supposed to like, the Marine and the Nurse, are dispensed with fairly quickly, while the characters you don't like almost make it to the end of the movie..

None of the characters are given any back story... Why were they sent to prison? Were the charges just or not? (which would have given the audience someone to cheer for or against.)

Now, this COULD have been a fun movie. Reality TV is an institution that thoroughly deserves to be lampooned. Unfortunately, the film misses the mark by a mile.

possibly the worst film in history

[kylesmallwood · 1/10 · 3 December 2009]

my girlfriend bought it from Tesco fro a pound and what monstrously bad film it is. i think i could make a better film with a budget of 50p, i mean come on you can See down the barrel of the sawed off shotgun and can see the person holding it at the other end and the Katana sword is under the "super zombie's" arm towards the film.

I've seen better acting in a child's nativity play, the same group of people are used for every zombie attack scene, and even then their wearing Halloween masks.

but I'm glad i got it because i can truly say i have seen the worst film in cinema history.

A mildly interesting feature that is enjoyable

[slayrrr666 · 8/10 · 13 September 2007]

"Doomed" is a rather interesting and enjoyable zombie romp.

**SPOILERS**

On a deserted island, Sybil, (Mary Christina Brown) Reese, (Steve Cryen) Leigh, (Sarah Diaz) Wes, (Aaron Gaffey) Trey Dog, (Andre McCoy) Boyle, (Ward Roberts) Conrad, (Drew Russell) Kyra, (Kara Schaaf) Benny, (Edwin Villa) and Dawn, (Heidi Marie Wanser) who are each criminals, try to navigate the island to receive a pardon for their crimes. Venturing off in teams of two, their exploits are captured for a reality TV show. As they make their way across, each team stumbles upon a special group there on the island that they can't explain. The days go on, and the number of the group members increase, they find that they're members of an old military unit that have now become zombies that are now intent on feasting on them. Worrying about twisted alliances as well as the bloodthirsty zombies, they all struggle to make it to the end of the show.

The Good News: This here wasn't all that terrible. The biggest factor here is that it manages to stay interesting all the way through. There's enough zombie action in this one that keeps it going, since it's not that long and the action really starts in pretty early in the film. There's several attacks in here that occur before the film is even a half-hour in the film, and that gives it a really frenetic pace to everything. This gets going and really gets a lot of great scenes going when it does that. The film does have a few surprisingly graphic scenes in here, getting in some nice gory goods. There's numerous body wounds inflicted, normally by slicing them open any number of weapons including knives, blades, tree branches and much more. There's more blood coming from gunshots and other wounds inflicted, as well as the violence that comes from the zombies against the victims. Though most of that revolves around taking one to the ground, there's enough bloody fun to be had from them that it makes it good enough to be enjoyed for those who go for that. It's also got a really cheesy charm to it when it plays up the reality TV show aspect, which is a nice first for some. The on-screen text, which normally doesn't work at all, does get some getting used to here and it does win over eventually. That is a nice feature that this one uses to remind that it is a reality TV show rather than just the camera men occasionally showing up. These here help up the film's enjoyment level.

The Bad News: This here does have a few really noticeable problems. One of the main ones is that there's a really terrible trend of using a shaking camera during many of the attack scenes. These are utilized quite often and have the impact of running along with the characters during the scene, and it's incredibly jarring and disorienting. They show up during the part of the film that the viewers want to see, yet it's made nearly impossible due to the irritating nature of it, as it makes trying to see what's going on nearly impossible. That is one of the more irritating things about it, as it really devalues what it's there to do. The running zombies are another problem to overcome, as they aren't very fearsome and don't add anything to the movie. The last big flaw is that there's a tendency of the film to feel too cheap. It's obviously not going to look spectacular, but there's still the feel of it that may throw some off. Otherwise, this one wasn't that bad.

The Final Verdict: While featuring some really bad camera work and some really cheap looks, it's still a fun time for those who have a particular love of these films. Recommended to those who enjoy the low-budget features or hardcore zombie fans, while those with a strong aversion to cheap films won't be swayed by this one.

Rated R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence

better than I expected

[colinhawksby · 7/10 · 11 September 2009]

when you get the chance to buy a DVD for £1 in your local supermarket you take a risk that it's pretty poor. Doomed was better than I expected..it avoided all the usual clichés.. timid blonde wins,army guy saves them all etc... Its certainly not a work of art and I don't think the makers ever expected it to be. I certainly didn't expect it to be. It is however fast paced and with nice in-jokes for gamers and genre movie lovers.

At least it has a comprehensible story that held my interest and was technically competent unlike most of these "footage only horrors" such as Cloverfield, Rec and the Zombie Diaries

So...which came first, The Condemned or Doomed?

[AndyVanScoyoc · 5/10 · 26 May 2017]

The Condemned: Convicts Doomed: Convicts

The Condemned: Island in the middle of nowhere Doomed: Island in the middle of nowhere

The Condemned: Lunatic "Host" Doomed: Lunatic "Host"

Doomed has zombie experiments and the Condemned has psychopaths that are as brutal as zombies.

It was nice (for once,) to see a movie without skanks losing, taking off, or otherwise, being divested of their clothes. Not just guys watch horror.

I've also seen a lot of people whining about the lack of gore. So what? You can't enjoy a movie if it lacks blood and guts every 15 seconds?

Despite the horrible, wretched acting (so bad it's almost laughable) by most of the cast, this movie is still worth a watch.

Seriously though...I wonder if such similarities between this film and The Condemned are just a coincidence?

Just kind of strange...almost the same storyline...same release year.

Cue Twilight Zone music!

Cliché and Confusing

[wangsophia · 1/10 · 20 October 2021]

Don't waste your time watching this movie! This is probably among the worst movies of this year. Cheap budge film with terrible special effects. A giant cliché. Everything is cliché from the start. It starts off with killing off the two black actors in the beginning and through out the film it was so annoying to see how these people had no sense of survival which is typical in these types of films, tooooo predictable. The zombies weren't realistic or scary. They look like they were wearing Halloween costumes. It's no wonder it went straight to DVD. I couldn't imagine this even playing in the theatres. What a waste of time!

We're dooooooooomed

[Bezenby · 4/10 · 21 November 2015]

First things first: I bought this at a car boot sale for 50p so I'm going easy on it. Plus I bought it because I knew it would be terrible. It just wasn't as terrible as I hoped it'd be.

Story is: convicts on an island as part of a game show, split into team and being hunted by really bad army zombie types. You know the drill. These are fast zombies but for some reason is doesn't take much to kill them off.

There's not much else to the story. Folk die. Folks double cross each other. This one isn't too slow on the action however and I cut it a lot of slack for not being boring or too long (It's only 76mins). The game show angle is good but not executed as well as, say, the film Slashers (picked that one up at the same car boot sale!).

What really does this film in is a severe lack of gore. It's a zombie film, for f*ck's sake! The film has plenty of instances where there could be gut munching, but pulls away every single time. Not good. No nudity either, so don't expect anything there.

If you like very low budget films (like me) then it's worth a watch. We've had much more terrible films foisted on us. If it had some bite to it to, I would have rated it much higher.

Good title since that's what this trash was

[mhorg2018 · 1/10 · 1 July 2018]

Reality TV is something I wish would go away, but likely it's not. Doomed is about Survival Island 2020, where contestants go to battle zombies. Could anything go wrong? Think Jurassic Park - didn't something go wrong in every single movie? Well part of what's wrong with this is directing, acting, budget, special effects. There are only two kinds of zombie movies: Good and Bad. Bad is what this is.

Stranded on an island, working on a plan to live, waiting for the dead to run, then we'll all die.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 22 October 2011]

This is in the tradition of '28 Days Later' and 'Dawn of the Dead' (as the DVD proudly states) in that, like those horror classics, it has a 'D' in the title; with regards to style, tone, originality, and quality, it bears very little resemblance to either film, the special effects being cheap, the plot stale and riddled with holes, and the outcome predictable. A more accurate description might be 'The Condemned' (the equally dumb Vinnie Jones/Steve Austin flick that came out the same year)—but with zombies.

And yet, despite all of this, I found Doomed to be far more entertaining than I had expected.

The mere fact that director Michael Su isn't striving to deliver anything other than a mindless B-movie frees him from the pressures of doing anything remotely new with the zombie/action genre and allows him to just get on and have fun with things. The film wastes no time with unnecessary build-up, gets straight into the action, and the fast pace is kept going until the end; the fight scenes are impressive for such a low budget effort; and the cast put in surprisingly good performances (plus, there's the added bonus that the ladies are all very easy-on-the-eye).

Admittedly I'd have enjoyed the film a touch more had the gore quotient had been higher, there were fewer shots of the CGI island (which looks nothing like the one on the maps given to the contestants), the use of gimmicky editing tricks had been kept under tighter control, and if a couple of the girls had stopped to take a shower together under a waterfall, but even as it stands, I think Doomed is worth a higher rating than it currently has.

6/10 from me.