Zone of the Dead 2009

In 1986 near Chernobyl, a mass grave is unearthed that eerily resembles victims of a plague. A man cuts himself on a corpse’s ribcage and dies within minutes, only to rise again moments later and attack the Chief of Bureau. The scene starts a chain of strange, deadly events that will echo decades later.

Twenty years later, at a train station in Pancevo, Serbia, a professor tries to leave town as all rail lines are shut down under the cover of a supposed military exercise. A train arrives bearing a dangerous biohazard agent, and three drunken off‑duty soldiers harass the station guard, grab his weapon, and rupture the tank, releasing the agent into the atmosphere. The soldiers and the guard become infected, turning into zombies, while the professor manages to escape into the surrounding chaos.

Across the border, INTERPOL Agent Mina Milius, [Kristina Klebe], is tasked with transporting a prisoner from Serbia to Belgrade under the supervision of Agent Mortimer “Morty” Reyes, [Ken Foree], and his partner, Inspector Dragan “Dra” Belic. The Chief of Bureau later informs the President about the incident and advises containment rather than evacuation, handing the rest of the response to the National Guard.

Back in Pancevo, a young journalist named Jan leaves a concert with his girlfriend Angela and her friend Jovana. The professor, meanwhile, fights to stay ahead of the growing number of infected, and fatefully crosses paths with Armageddon, [Vukota Brajović], a felon who believes the apocalypse has already arrived and makes it his mission to wipe out the zombies. The professor slips away, then meets Jan and the two women, who offer him a ride.

Two INTERPOL vans roll into town, and their driver Petrovic runs over a zombie. When they stop to investigate, more zombies converge. They try to contact Headquarters, but there’s no signal. They locate the van carrying the Prisoner, and Morty discovers that two agents are dead. The Prisoner explains that shooting zombies in the head is the key, and his knowledge comes from his father’s fate during the Chernobyl incident. In the ensuing struggle, Petrovic is devoured and Dra is bitten. The team takes shelter in an abandoned police station.

As Morty and Dra reconvene with the professor’s group, Armageddon continues his rampage, wielding multiple weapons and entering a TV station to broadcast his grim manifesto. Morty decides to power up a generator to find an exit route. Dra begins to succumb to infection, forcing Morty to release the Prisoner and bring him along. Once the power is restored, zombies breach the station, and the Prisoner saves Morty from the onslaught. Dra dies and reanimates, and Mina is compelled to shoot him. A distraught Jovana breaks down the barricade and sacrifices herself to be eaten. The professor chooses death at Morty’s hand rather than becoming dinner for the infected.

The group presses on, fleeing toward the river through the train tunnels. At the shipyards, the group encounters sleeping zombies that soon awaken. Morty leads the undead away while the others reach a waiting boat. With dwindling ammunition, Morty becomes separated from the others, trapped in a train car as Jan takes the boat and leaves Angela behind. Just as Angela faces a grisly end, Armageddon arrives, supplying Mina and the Prisoner with weapons, and together they slaughter the zombies while Morty makes a final escape.

In the end, the President declares NATO cooperation to hold those responsible to account, and the Chief of Bureau is asked to resign. Mina grants the Prisoner his freedom, and Morty praises her decision. Jan pushes the boat upriver until it runs out of gas, and the infected captain strips him into the water as he fights for survival.

Armageddon’s chaos, the hospital of fear, and the fragile chain of authority culminate in a tense balance between containment and action, leaving the fate of those scattered survivors open to a uncertain future.