Dead Rising: Watchtower
Directed by Zach Lipovsky5.233%5.2
An ineffective vaccine fails to stop an epidemic which is turning people into zombies. The survivors organize themselves to escape from the living dead.
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Dead Rising: Watchtower Ratings & Reviews
- Shaydeknight13h agoThis movie never quite figures out what it wants to be. As an adaptation of the Dead Rising games, it makes a noticeable effort to import key game mechanics into a visual format. The walled city, the single escape route, the improvised weapon crafting, and the use of a drug to suppress infection are all recognizable game elements. On paper, that looks like fidelity. In practice, it just doesn't translate well. The weapon-building in particular drifts into elaborate, almost silly contraptions that feel detached from any sense of urgency or plausibility. In a film context, the obvious solution of swinging around a bat or a machete is consistently ignored in favour of gimmickry. As a zombie film, it fares no better. It lacks the tension required to be a good horror film, the excess required to be a splatter-filled grindhouse feature, or any thematic weight that might justify a slower, more reflective approach. It gestures toward all three without committing to any, which leaves it tonally flat. The performances do little to elevate the material. Jesse Metcalfe carries the film in the expected mould of the generic hunky lead, competent but indistinct. Meghan Ory is similarly serviceable, but just barely. She should probably stick to being the queen of crappy Hallmark Christmas movies. No one in the film does poorly, but there is no attempt to push beyond the baseline. What remains is a film that is mediocre in every way. It borrows from a game without capturing what makes that game engaging, and it occupies the zombie genre without contributing meaningfully to it. The result is just a dull and boring waste of time.
- Timeless CinemaMarch 17, 2026The humor doesn't execute as well as it should, especially in comparison to the games. It's ultimately a cringeworthy experience.
Dead Rising: Watchtower Trivia
Dead Rising: Watchtower was released on March 27, 2015.
Dead Rising: Watchtower was directed by Zach Lipovsky.
Dead Rising: Watchtower has a runtime of 1h 58m.
Dead Rising: Watchtower was produced by Tim Carter.
An ineffective vaccine fails to stop an epidemic which is turning people into zombies. The survivors organize themselves to escape from the living dead.
The key characters in Dead Rising: Watchtower are Chase Carter (Jesse Metcalfe), Crystal O'Rourke (Meghan Ory), Maggie (Virginia Madsen).
Dead Rising: Watchtower is rated NC-17.
Dead Rising: Watchtower is a Horror, Science Fiction, Action film.
Dead Rising: Watchtower has an audience rating of 3.3 out of 10.