Wastelander (2018) – Review

Where to watch Wastelander

1 Star

While I’m a huge fan of the b-movie post-apocalyptic genre, Wastelander is a far too underdeveloped Resident Evil wannabe (without the zombies) to be truly enjoyable. First the bad. Like most low budget sci-fi or fan made films, Wastelander gets lost in its own mythology and bogged down by attempting to fill out a universe its budget can’t support. Speaking frankly this film looks like someone just grabbed their parent’s camcorder and went out into the desert with their friends to shoot a movie. The special effects, photography, stunt work and acting leave a lot to be desired and are often cringe worthy.

That being said, it’s incredible that someone can will a movie into existence. And while Wastelander won’t be winning any accolades, I can appreciate the hard work that goes into any filmmaker endeavor. The fact that in today’s world you can create something that would have cost quite a bit 20 years ago, at the same quality level is pretty amazing. Unfortunately the story is a bore, the characters are uninteresting, the direction is lackluster and the line delivery is cringe worthy. Which makes this a movie that’s hard to recommend.

As an interesting side note there does appear to be an alternate cut of the film that came out a year ago, aptly titled Wastelander – Alternate Edit. Perhaps this is a more interesting version of the film, cut before distribution came in. It is listed as two minutes shorter, which I’d put in the win column.

Director: Angelo Lopes
Stars: Brendan Guy Murphy, Jon Proudstar, Carol Cardenas