Zombie Tidal Wave ★★★★☆ | Movie Review

Synopsis

A fisherman contends with an ocean-borne outbreak that threatens his seaside island community.

Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante.

Starring Ian Ziering.

Available now to buy or rent digitally.

Review

A zombie film made for the SyFy Channel starring Ian Ziering you say? Sign me up.

While out fishing a group of friends catch something sinister. They haul a putrid looking dead body out of the water and very quickly realise that it isn't quite as dead as they'd have hoped. That body is the first in an army of the undead that takes over the town as an unexpected tidal wave gives them a helping hand.

Is this film bad? Yes. Is it an entertaining watch? Also yes, but on that SyFy Original movie level of yes.

Bless Ian Ziering and his movie decision. In Zombie Tidal Wave (I really love saying the whole title) he plays Hunter, a fisherman who's about to leave town for a fresh start. Hunter is everything you hope he will be. I also noticed on IMDb that Ziering has a story credit... well colour me surprised... it's a super-duper amazing tale about zombies by the sea.

I'm not going to insult you by saying that this would win any awards, we all know it wouldn't even without watching it. It wouldn't even win a Razzie, that's how good it is! Everything about this is in fact distinctly average, apart from the following...

That story... it's got a great idea with twists and turns that "make sense". It could almost have been a serious zombie film if someone at some point hadn't gone "You know what? We need more." "More what?" "Everything."

Those special effects... are terrible. I have never seen such badly CGId water, and that's something you should take seriously coming from someone who has seen as many made for TV movies as I have.

The consistency... there are facts about locations and objects that the film just throws out the window, there are some continuity errors as well... but while that sounds like a bad thing it's really an essential part of the enjoyment/

This couldn't be a typical review so to complete it I just want to share with you some of my notes/interactions with the film, I'll include some cryptic highlights to look out for too.

• The zombie that must have unnaturally long legs or be standing on a zombie pyramid.
• Synchronised swimming zombies.
• I snort laughed so hard at a big reveal point that I nearly choked on my breakfast.
• A stunning Bond girl moment that might have been the best shot of the film.
• The different densities of glass.
• The Sharknado reference.
• ... and the result of that reference.
• Douchebag and his girlfriend.
• Family banter with a zombie.
• "Reinforcements".
• Zombie's styling flip flops.
  

What you should do

I haven't checked whether it's on SyFy already, I paid actual money for this so I could own it... don't judge me. This is all kinds of ridiculous and I feel like it's something everyone could appreciate, but you could probably wait until it's free!

Movie thing you wish you could take home

Instant ninja skills and the ability to be in a tidal wave and yet some how stay dry.