The dead are returning to life in murderous rages. You drive up to a remote country house. All is dark. You get out of the car and call out, attracting your brother-in-law’s reanimated corpse, which attacks with ferocity. You struggle, but make it back inside the car and peel out. Here, the film almost lost me because our lead drives a few hundred feet, then pulls over and exits the car. Why? Because the script needs to reunite two characters. This bit of lazy writing proves the lone blemish on what’s otherwise a terrific zombie picture.

Set in the English countryside, the story sees a pair of outsiders caught up in a zombie outbreak brought on by an experimental machine designed to kill insects. Proffering a scientific explanation for the reanimating corpses weakens the film’s impact, but the gruesome practical effects compensate. We witness undead ghouls devouring their writhing, screaming victims, ripping flesh, intestines, and other organs. Good stuff.

It lacks Night of the Living Dead’s resonance, but I found it a worthy genre evolution, delivering Romero-style zombies in vivid color with superior production values.