You haven't seen this movie. You've probably never heard of it. Thanks to Netflix Instant I have discovered some hidden gems like this over the last few years and it's my pleasure to share them.
OK, it's not going to win any awards. It's not going to be a cult classic or something you remember in a few days. But...there is SOMETHING about it. Like Road House it's a guilty pleasure. It's just fun. Make some popcorn, turn off the brain, and have fun. And Devils Playground is a somewhat unique take on the whole zombie genera.
So what happens when a bunch of scientists use a benign virus to spread synthetic performance enhancing drugs through your body? And this drug has some, shall we say, unfortunate side affects? You get zombies of course. But not just any zombie. Sure they're fast, something I usually consider an abomination, but in this case there is at least a reasonable explanation. But aside from fast zombies you get zombies that are juiced up on performance enhancing drugs.
That's right. You get zombies doing parkour!
It stars Craig Fairbrass who you have seen before in a number of movies and television shows, including The Unit, Far Cry and Stallone's Cliffhanger. If you're a gaming fan he was a lead voice in Modern Warfare 2. He's a solid actor and, act 6'3, a natural action badass. I don't know why we don't see more of him, I always like him. You also get Danny Dyer in a supporting role. You likely have seen him a few times but he is bigger in England than here in the US. I thought he was pretty good, not that he was asked to do to much.
The premise is fairly straight-forward. A large pharma company moves into the human testing phase of it's synthetic performance enhancer, enlisting 30,000 people to take the drug. Predictably, things go badly. The test subjects get sick, then turn into mindless killing machines. Fast, jump-over-cars-in-one-leap style zombies.
But there is one woman, Angela Mills, played by Myanna Buring (also in Twilight: Breaking Dawn part 2), who doesn't get sick. Cole (Craig Fairbrass) is an head of security at the pharma company that caused the outbreak. He is also in the business of cleaning up their secrets and, if need be, erasing them. Cole wants out, he is awash in guilt over the things he has done for money and is ready to chuck it all. As luck would have it the head lab geek lets him know that Angela might be the key to saving humanity if she is, indeed, immune. But she must be found. Cole sees this as his chance for redemption and embarks on a quest to find her and make sure she survives.
Along the way you will encounter the predictable characters you see in all survival type films. The couple who will gladly sacrifice anyone they happen upon to ensure their own survival. The jealous boyfriend Joe (Danny Dyer) who sees Cole as a threat to his manhood and a few selfless heroes.
The movie is long on action, features half-developed characters and is generally an incomplete thought. Cole is supposed to be a conflicted anti-hero type but it never really amounts to much and frankly you aren't going to care.
It's a well acted film with a decent budget that gives you brain munching, wall climbing zombie action. It's just fun and worth an hour and a half of your time if you have Netflix.
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