Horror Daily Double: Doomsday, Wyrmwood

British director Noel Marshall got essentially carte blanche with a high double-digit budget for Doomsday, after his indie werewolf calling card Dog Soldiers and eternal cult classic The Descent. Free to go hog wild, Marshall made Doomsday, a maximalist post-apocalyptic homage to ’80s films like Mad Max and Escape From New York, with all the warpaint, ad hoc body armor, and jerry-rigged vehicles that implies. It’s a mad, mad, mad ride throughout and Marshall directs hero Rhona Mitra as a dour, Snake Plissken-type, though she probably could’ve been better served with a little more humor. Either way, Marshall could’ve saved a few more bucks for the eyepatch budget.

Available on Starz, Amazon Video, iTunes, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, FandangoNOW

It’s hard not to do a post-apocalyptic movie on a budget without lifting from Mad Max or Road Warrior, but Wyrmwood does the source justice. Here we have your run-of-the-mill zombie uprising, but with a few unique quirks. Like the woman who’s been experimented on by a sadistic scientist emerging as capable of controlling the undead with her mind. Or that gasoline and diesel and its ilk can no longer catch a spark, but zombie odors will do the trick. All of a sudden, everyone’s useless automobiles can be put back to use with the right zombie upgrade. Recalling the kinetic verve of early Edgar Wright, like Doomsday or Road Warrior, this is another cobbled-together expression in creative and bloody freedom, but with an Australian twist. It’s weird to see a zombie apocalypse where everyone is so nice, yet ready for a fist fight when the occasion calls for it. Or even when it doesn’t.

Available on Amazon Video, iTunes, YouTube, Google Play