This Canadian production, aiming high—perhaps too much—is set in Tennessee some years after the American Civil War. The story unfolds through the illustrated journal of Edward, who’s returning from the war and discovers his wife and son have been killed by a zombie outbreak. After considering ending his own life, he continues on, navigating a world overrun with what he calls "Dead-Awake." He then joins forces with another man seeking to rescue his sister from soldiers experimenting on both the living and the dead, hoping to find a cure. Later, they encounter an elderly woman hiding a disturbing secret—a revelation that I felt should have resulted in a more decisive action by the protagonist, but it’s a minor issue. The film's structure as an illustrated journal has consequences: most notably, there is extensive narration. The voice work of Brian "Original Hannibal Lecter" Cox is excellent, but there’s simply too much of it; at first, I worried the movie would be entirely dialogue-free. This kept me somewhat distant from the story initially, though it does improve as things progress. While I appreciate a horror film taking itself seriously, the narration veers into an overly sentimental tone, reminiscent of the serious introductions found in video games like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Additionally, many of the more elaborate scenes are presented through animation, designed to resemble sketches from his journal coming to life. These animations are visually striking, but it’s obvious they were used because creating those scenes practically would have been too expensive, which undermines their intended function as a creative storytelling device—though they do still serve that purpose. It highlights the film's limited budget, and I wondered if scaling back the scope might have been a better choice given those financial constraints. Despite these significant shortcomings, credit is due for attempting—and mostly achieving—a unique combination of two familiar genres. The movie is definitely worth watching.

Source on TMDB