John Connor [DVD News 08.09.09] zombies apocalyptic scifi horror



Some of you long time QE readers may remember I used to write the odd "retro review" which were essentially looks back at older titles that, while old news now, still deserved mention here on these pages. Well, as stuff gets crazier around here and we continue to grow it's becoming harder to crank them out as much I would like. Of course that doesn't mean that I don't watch old films, in fact the opposite is true. I'm a complete retro addict, always trying to catch up on films that have slipped through the cracks of my collection over the years. Hence these new "retro slave" posts which will pop up now and then, basically whenever I'm swayed by the awesomeness of an older title. Hal Barwood's 1985 plague flick, Warning Sign, is just one of those films.

A claustrophobic underground plague thriller about trying to contain a virus outbreak, Warning Sign is unsung as it rivals George Romero's paranoid Crazies and is an obvious forerunner to the underground lab setting of the first Resident Evil film.

Synopsis:
In an ultra secret laboratory for the developing of biological weapons, covered as "Biotek", a research center for agriculture, a serious accident occurs, spreading a sinister bacteria in the laboratory. The security guard of the complex, closes and seals the building, with all the personnel inside, making very difficult the struggle for survival, not to mention the actions that the relatives of the enclosed people are thinking to do.


Warning Sign even has a standout cast including the great Sam Waterston, Alien's Yaphet Kotto, and Kathleen Quinlan who became a staple on later season's of Prison Break. And of course 80s genre fanatics will remember Barwood as the writer of the stellar practical FX sword and sorcery flick, Dragonslayer.

Believe it or not, a pristine and widescreen print of Warning Sign is actually available and it's gorgeous.


The trailer doesn't do the film complete justice so if you get the chance I highly recommend checking it out.





Recommended Release: Warning Sign

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Andrew (13 years ago) Reply

Hal Barwood also worked with Lucasarts during the nineties, creating some great games, like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.

Mike retter (13 years ago) Reply

I just watched this flick and its really good.

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