For years, those who write about movies have drawn parallels between horror movies and the political climate of their times. Many feel that horror movies are simply allegories which reflect the fears of the greater population. Obviously, many science-fiction films of the 50s mirrored the communist threat. Some say that the sudden rise in violent and shocking films in the early 1970s was a reaction to the Vietnam war. The slasher movie craze in the 80s drew parallels to the inward looking state of that decade. Some of these theories work and some don't, but they're all interesting. Having said that, it's rare that a horror film will actually pounce on a political or newsworthy item directly. That's not the case with Osombie, a film which makes no bones about the origin of its story.

Osombie takes place in the deserts of Afghanistan where a group of American soldiers -- Chip (Corey Sevier), Tomboy (Danielle Chuchran), Chapo (William Rubio), Bravo (James Gaisford), Joker (Paul D. Hunt), Herc (Danny James), Whiskey (Jeff Kirkham), Thunder (Kevin Lyde), DC (Matthew Reese), and Doc (Ben Urie) -- are on patrol. The area is plagued with locals who have become zombies. The soldiers shoot and fight with these living dead, and move on, sometimes losing one of their own ranks. They come across Dusty (Eve Mauro), who has come to Afghanistan to find her brother, Derek (Jasen Wade), who traveled to the foreign country to prove that Osama Bin Laden was still alive. Chip is clearly attracted to Dusty and agrees to help her find Derek. But, they must find their way across a landscape which is littered with zombies.

Osombie is one of those films which is all idea and no substance. The basic premise of the film is simple; The Taliban (or was it Al Qaeda?) are using zombies to be suicide bombers and now the living dead are everywhere and these soldiers must fight them at every turn. Beyond those concepts, the movie has very little to offer in the way of story. The plot concerning Dusty and Derek gives the soldiers something to do, but it barely qualifies as a plot. There are no twists and turns in the story and the finale only offers some mild surprises. The movie contains a considerable amount of action and very first moments show a group of the undead attacking the military, but once you've seen a zombie get shot, it's get redundant really fast. The movie attempts character development, but this is accomplished through dialogue scenes which really drag the movie down, especially DC's soliloquy about his ex-wife.

The thing is, one would expect a movie called Osombie to be truly offensive, but, for the most part, this one plays it safe. Obviously, some groups from the Middle East would find this to be in bad taste, but most audience will find it to be quite tame in most every respect. The last few minutes offer a scene which most will find laughable, although I think it's supposed to be shocking. Again, there's a good deal of action in the film, and I supposed that one could consider it gory, but there's a lot of CG blood used in the movie and I'm still not on board with that. Director John Lyde clearly fell in love with the shot which a bullet would penetrate a zombie's head and CG blood would hit the camera, as this is repeated over and over again.

I guess that the cast and crew of Osombie deserve kudos for going into the Utah desert to make this movie. But, they should have put more work into the story. I must admit, I was intrigued by this movie because I wanted to see how far it would push the envelope. I was very disappointed to see that said envelope barely gets nudged and the result is a very boring and repetitive movie. The best part of the film is a corny riddle which one of the character's told.

Osombie offers a completely unrelated opening sequence on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Entertainment One. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 20 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source material. The bulk of the movie takes place in the sunny desert and these shots are very crisp. The desert backdrop also offers very little in the way of color, but the few flashes of color look good and the image is never overly dark or bright. The level of detail and the depth are good as well. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 2.7 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The stereo effects are nicely done and show good separation between the left and right channels. The surround sound effects come to life during the action scenes, showing some good rear speaker action. Although, they do seem to mirror the front channels at times. The explosions sound good coming through the subwoofer.

The lone extra on the Osombie Blu-ray Disc is a TRAILER for the film.