BLACK WAKE is a mish-mash of horror and sci-fi themes, carried out on a disappointing indie budget which really isn't up to much. Part of the film is found footage of some kind of coastal zombie epidemic; then there's a woman talking to the camera for long stretches, only included to pad out the story and provide exposition. Eric Roberts and Tom Sizemore appear in brief cameos, and then right at the end Cthulhu himself has a cameo. I love the subject matter, but this is a poor film indie, one which doesn't hold together whichever way you look at it.

Boy, does this absolute train wreck of a horror monster flick make for perversely enjoyable viewing on the basis of its sheer jaw-dropping awfulness alone. For starters, lead actress Nana Gouvea makes for a laughably unconvincing scientist, with her heavy accent in particular rendering a lot of her dialogue almost unintelligible. (Fortunately, the makers of this bilge had the good sense to include a few scenes of Gouvea showing off her fine voluptuous figure in a black bikini.) Slumming faded names Eric Roberts as the skeptical Dr. Frank, Tom Sizemore as the irate Detective Michaels, Vincent Pastore as the ill-fated Dr. Jones, and Chuck Zito as the gruff Sheriff Williams are all clearly in this one strictly for the paycheck.

Director/co-writer Jeremiah Kipp blends elements of zombie horror, found footage, monsters on the loose, and a Lovecraftian end-of-the-world apocalyptic thriller into such a messy and barely coherent whole that one has to wonder if this guy has any decent grasp of proper narrative construction (the story keeps jumping around all over the place with often jarringly sloppy and disastrous results). The crummy cut-rate CGI effects add further abject insult to already appalling injury. Plus there's even a few gratuitously bared breasts tossed in for trashy good measure. A total fiasco that's nonetheless still loads of fun in a Grade Z schlockoid sort of way.

Never ceases to amaze me that so much effort and money can be poured into a film for so little. I find it surprising also that Julia Roberts brother and Tom Sizemore are in this. Just goes to show they have no idea until the end of filming what the result will be, maybe they don't care. Best part of this film is the out takes at the end.