Reviewed by Jay Andrews-Tracy

The Rizen is a movie about an experiment that happened during the time period of 1955. This movie is a pretty good movie for the genre that it is. The movie developes the characters pretty well, it explains what they are doing, why they are doing it, and why they are there. The movie has a good plot setting to it as well.

The film starts off with a fierce fighting woman Frances (Laura Swift), who wakes up not knowing where she is, or what she is doing. She quickly becomes strong when she has to defend herself from a no-faced monster looking creature that tries to attack her. She has to find her way and she runs into some people who help her along the way.

The movie has some video game like scenarios, such as the crowbar scene, that makes it seem like it’s out of a horror game. I think this is the direction that the director and writer Matt Mitchell was heading when he created this movie.  The games it seems like he tries to imitate is Half-Life, and Resident Evil. The creatures for this movie, it seems, are not zombies however.

The character has a resemblance to Laura Croft from Tomb Raider. Fearless and feisty, and can take on just about anything and anyone. Her partner, the professor (Christopher Tajah) befriends her to help find out why they are even there in the first place.  The military vibe gives it a unique twist to the zombie-ish-but-not-actually-zombies movie plot. I hope we get to see what the creatures capabilities are in the sequel.

The music in the movie is professionally done. It has a good ambient feel to it, and it is composed by Admin Price, who is a newcomer. He has done movies such as The Blender, Stalker, and Demented. He is known in the Independent industry.

The Makeup is very professionally applied in this movie. The special effects are well done too, the acting does need a bit of an improvement, sometimes the comedy can be a little bit Scooby-Doo-ish, but It seems like it’s the right feel regardless. The one thing I do wish is that they’d use subtitles in parts that need to have it.

This movie has the feel to a H.P. Lovecraft movie, with the horror and occult experiments that are happening. The movie is directed by Matt Mitchell, who has also directed quite a few other independent movies. He also directed a movie such as Gangsters, Guns and Zombies. I hope the sequel that is in the works will follow the footsteps of the first one, and keep the charm that it has. This movie is worth checking out.