THERE was a time when zombies, vampires, werewolves and other supernatural beings, were consigned to the realms of B-movies, where a few devoted fans would elevate them to cult status.

Nowadays it seems they are all the rage, and have been catapaulted into the mainstream.

The likes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, True Blood and The Walking Dead have helped make the undead a lot cooler – no pun intended.

However while vampires have always had the ability to be attractive and interact more with people, zombies are generally pretty mindless beings with a relentless hunger for human flesh.

It means that any story about them is going to suffer through lack of character development – there are only so many times you can run away from a zombie, kill one imaginatively or find a way of defeating them. This was not to put of the makers of World War Z, based on the hit book of the same name by Max Brooks.

Former UN Investigator Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) and his family narrowly escape an attack on their city by zombies, humans who have been somehow been turned undead by what appears to be a contagious virus.

After making sure his family are safe Gerry sets off to try and find the source of the infection, as well as work out if it is possible to create a vaccine to the virus. His trips take him all around the world to South Korea, Israel and Cardiff, in a race against time to find a cure while the rest of world gets close to being wiped out by the zombies.

World War Z is an exciting and tense film, if a little bit worthy. There are plenty of jumps and scares for those into their horror, and there is something there for anyone dragged along to indulge them.

There is also a loss of tension when Gerry is able to leave his family in a safe place, and his general ability to survive most disasters – means you always assume he’s going to get through it ok.

There is some shameless product placement, which jars as well. The script could have been a little less clichéd but Pitt does his best saintly hippie impression and carries the whole thing pretty well, even if he does come across as having smoked a bit too much in his youth.

The effects are excellent, and there are some very nice touches for anyone who likes their zombie films

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