The film opens up with Madsen narrating as to the cause of the infection: Deer, tics, birds, blood-borne pathogens, inevitable. Later we find out the infection is a mutant strain of Lyme's disease. We then get a quick scene that looks similar to the farmhouse attack in "Night of the Living Dead" followed by "12 hours earlier."

The reason this film does that is because the build up is super slow. Louis Hartley (Michael Madsen) and Dr. Edward Dennehey (William Forsythe) are on vacation in cabins of the woods of Connecticut near East Lyme. They are there to bond with their sons... and get some hunting in. We get to meet wives, girlfriends, neighbors, some people in the woods, and the sick granny who bites the doctor (guess where this goes?)

There are time consuming scenes of cooking venison steaks on an open flame and washing them down with the local Narragansett beer, topped off by drinking cognac from a screw top bottle (seriously?). The real action doesn't pick up until the film is half over. About 10 minutes from the end, the film is at a point I had wished it would have been 10 minutes from the beginning.

This is not a zombie film per se. The infected people can talk, lie, and have periods of remission where they act normal. Severe symptoms vary from the time of infection. It doesn't take a head shot to kill the infected people as they are not undead.

One would think a film with metal music, Madsen, and zombie like creatures would rate a full five stars, no questions asked. It moved way too slow and the characters weren't written that well.

Parental Guide: F-bombs, near sex, nudity (Kristi Lynn, kickboxing black belt)

Safety Note: When working with hot metal as a blacksmith, wear a shirt no matter how cool it looks on the big screen.

Okay, we all know the drill by know: A desperate handful of people must do their best to survive and stay alive after a virus causes the bulk of the population to turn into ferocious flesh-eating ghouls. So far, so familiar. But fortunately director/co-writer Glenn Ciano proves to be competent enough to keep this picture on track: The snappy pace rarely falters once the zombies start attacking, the characters are drawn with some depth, the backwoods location is well used, there's a handy helping of graphic gore, and Ciano pulls out all the stirring stops in the lively and exciting last third. Moreover, Ciano warrants extra praise for concluding the story on a note of careful optimism that doesn't seem forced or too sappy. However, it's the seasoned and dynamic presence of two dependable old pros who give it their proverbial all that really makes this movie hum: Michael Madsen attacks his role as the rough'n'tumble Louis Hartley with his trademark growly gusto while William Forsythe likewise really sinks his teeth into his juicy part as macho two-fisted physician Dr. Edward Dennehey; the strong chemistry between these guys makes the friendship between the two characters utterly convincing and engaging in comparable measure. The other cast members are decent and acceptable, but it's the formidable duo of Madsen and Forsythe who elevate this film several additional notches above average and keep it enjoyable throughout. As an tasty bonus, buxom blonde babe Tracey Sheldon briefly bares her beautifully bountiful boobs. Ben DeLuca's crisp cinematography provides a bright polished look. Eric Masunaga's cool rocking score does the hard-pumping trick. No classic, but a good deal of energetic fun just the same.

Being a huge zombie aficionado, I basically devour - no put intended - just everything that includes zombies. Unfortunately the zombie market is swamped with releases that are questionable and probably shouldn't have had seen the light of day.

As was the case with "Infected" (aka "Infection Z"). And I assume that the "Infection Z" title is a bad attempt to cash in on the blockbuster "World War Z" movie. But regardless of the reason, then this movie was really not worth the effort.

The zombies in the movie were far in between shots, and they weren't actually zombies as in the sense of being shambling and decaying. Well, it does make sense if this is the first stages of decay. But still, with the ridiculous sounds they were making, it was more of a spoof on the zombie genre than it was actually appearing as a proper, serious movie.

And as hard as it is to take Michael Madsen seriously, then it came even more difficult given the horrible hat he was wearing just about 99% of the entire movie. That hat was just ridiculous to look at.

The most uplifting part about "Infected" was perhaps that William Forsythe was in the movie, but it was hardly anywhere remotely near enough to make it worthwhile suffering through the entire movie. I did manage to stick with the movie to the very end, hoping that there would be just one moment to make it worth it, but there wasn't such an occurrence.

The DVD movie I received from Amazon was titled "Infection Z" and it had a very apocalyptic image of a metropolis in ruin and flames on the back cover. This was the worst kind of misleading imagery ever. Because the entire movie takes places at an isolated homestead somewhere out in a forest in the middle of nowhere.

What can I say about "Infected"? Well, stay well clear of it, or you might be infected with a bad case of boredom.