Civil War zombies! Yes, EXIT HUMANITY has the distinction of being a historical zombie flick, an extremely limited sub-genre at present, so it has novelty value going for it. Unfortunately it turns out that this ultra-cheap Canadian quickie was filmed in the woods without a whole lot of originality or indeed direction despite the intrigue raised by the premise.

The main character is a former soldier who wanders around some very mundane locales while battling a few zombies here and there. The lack of budget really hurts this film, as it's often forced to descend into dodgy animation in order to portray key sequences. The effect is amateurish to say the least and the main actor doesn't really inspire much confidence in the viewer either.

There are a few conversations on the nature of war and the like before this descends into characters stumbling around in near-darkness and killing each other. There are a few familiar faces here (Dee Wallace and Bill Moseley, along with Brian Cox providing the narration) but otherwise nothing much to recommend it.

The story is told from the journal of Civil War soldier, Edward Young (Mark Gibson). It includes excessive boring narration. Rather than just let the story unfold, the narrator tells you what you are seeing. It grates on you after the first 30 minutes.

After a quick 1865 scene where a single Union soldier is a zombie, the movie jumps to 1871 and there is a minor zombie infestation. Edward had to kill his own wife (Sarah Stunt) and son, the later in an emotionally gripping scene as he holds his zombie son (Christian Martyn) in his arms (facing away) as he reluctantly puts a gun to his son's head... all the while his son is trying to eat his face off. Somehow I didn't feel it.

Bits and pieces of the story is told through animation, which unfortunately was far better than the main feature. Edward has tasked himself in taking his son's ashes to a waterfalls, something he had promised him when he was alive. There is an unwritten rule that all promises terminate with any zombie infestation, apparently not known in the 19th century. The story involves his journey to get there and the people/zombies he meets up with along the way.

Dee Wallace, the closet thing to an actor in this film gives us a career killer performance as she emotionally explains the origins of the living dead. It was tough to sit through. The film utilizes the sad piano/violin sound track for way too much of the production.

Zombie fans should avoid this one. I was confused as I couldn't tell if the film was a bad zombie film or a bad drama with zombies.

No f-bombs, sex, or nudity. Zombie make-up was good where it was applied, exposed necks are optional.

***POSSIBLE PLOT SPOILER*** The film attempts to come across as a prequel for zombie films. It does a very poor job. It tells you zombies were created using African spells. But at the same time refutes that idea by making it seem zombies are caused by a virus, with one person in the film having natural immunity, and the infection spreading by a saliva/blood contact. You can't have it both ways.

A unique and well done dramatic zombie period piece. The rustic technology free setting creates nice isolation which helps increase the tension. I love zombies, and these zombies are the best I've seen in a long time. Not just the makeup, which was great, but the acting and serious tone of the movie, help it excel. The music was wonderful, while the acting and narration was well done. The animation added an art-house feel, yet not overused. Not a typical horror film, but a serious drama about humanity. Definitely going to keep an eye on this director. I wish there was more of a scare element. I give it 7 out of 10 stars.