From Mike Noyes, indiepulse.com In a world where the zom-com, or zomedy, is becoming more and more popular, director Turner Van Ryn dares to be different by looking back at the roots of what made the Zombie genre so interesting in the first place with The Hell Patrol. Following a small squad of soldiers on their way back to San Francisco, one of the last refuges of the humans, Hell focuses on character and atmosphere over special effects. Using these elements, it is more than enough to make up for budgetary limitations. Lt. Fletcher (Pisha Warden) is at odds with Maj. Brickhaus (James Hiser) from the moment he takes it upon himself to behead one of their own who has become infected. And what would a film be without a romantic lead: enter Sgt. Daniels (Scott Levy). If there were ever two characters you’d want to see survive a zombie attack, it’s Fletcher and Daniels. With night looming, Fletcher leads her Hell Patrollers to an abandoned house where they must hold up for the night to fight off the Zulu horde (as they call the zombies) and deal with their own inner demons as well. Coming in at just under 30 minutes, one can tell that there is much more to the story than is presented here. Van Ryn, who also wrote the script, manages to flush out more of his characters in this short time than many feature Hollywood films. These are character you can relate to and care about which makes them fighting a crap load of zombies all the more intense. By no means is the film perfect, but Van Ryn and crew use their talents well and do a lot with what little budget they must have had. The cinematography is really fantastic, and the zombie gore is pretty awesome, which all serves to elevate the over all enjoyment of the film.