ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

one-nine-eighty A low budget fun film with a decent script and a massive heart. Harold (Stan Rowe) is an OAP with ORD, a disease which affects mobility and slowly eats away at mental faculties too over time. It seems that a lot more people in the UK are slowly getting ORD and as the virus spreads with time so does the severity of the disease, going from a mild stiffness to ultimately create zombies. A group of locals decide to take matters into their own hands and wielding baseball bats and whatever they can find they seek to find any ORD zombies and lay waste to them. Penny (Sarah Spence), a local care worker assigned to Harold is a flame in the darkness as she tries to help Harold survive the disease and then anyone fighting against it - or threatening Harold. Contrasting the loneliness and isolation of growing old against a disease is a very clever and very original in the zombie film world. This film is more than a horror and like a lot of underground British low budget horror has a vast range of emotional themes from tongue in cheek humour to bitter-sweet drama. Set in the beautiful backdrop of South Yorkshire, Keith Wright's film is beautifully crafted and goes to prove that you don't need millions of millions upon millions of dollars/pounds/euros to make a great film. Don't go into watching this film thinking it's an out and out zombie film because you any be disappointed, zombies do feature but they aren't the main draw, instead just lose yourself in the story being told which happens to have zombies too. I'm a big fan of low budget and British films, if you are too this will be a good investment of 77mins.

Leofwine_draca Yeah, I know what you're thinking, I thought the same. Yet another low budget zombie film; even worse, a comic zombie film. The last one of those I watched was the horrid DEADHEADS, so at least I knew HAROLD'S GOING STIFF couldn't be worse...or could it? That innuendo-filled title didn't promise much...What a surprise to sit down and watch the film, then! HAROLD'S GOING STIFF sidesteps all of the usual problems faced by low budget filmmakers, and isn't actually a horror film at all. Instead it's a black comedy in which the zombie disease is likened to a terminal illness or a life-affecting condition such as dementia. The zombies here are victims, people gradually losing control of their bodies and struggling with medical tests and their condition. The whole thing is presented as a pseudo-documentary which sits nicely with the low budget.The comedy is a mix of the subtle and the slapstick, the latter coming into the story with a group of amateur zombie hunters who come across like the Three Stooges. At the film's heart, though, is the titular character; Stan Rowe gives a warm, moving turn as the afflicted Harold, struggling to come to terms with his new life. Much of the focus is on his relationship with his carer, played by the excellent Sarah Spencer, who is the story's heart and soul. Things get darker and darker right up until the tragic climax, in which my tears were flowing freely. Who'd expect that from a low budget zombie flick?

ABladeInTheDark Harold's Going Stiff is a zombie docudrama about men suffering from ORD or Onset Rigors Disease which starts out with extreme stiffness, and eventually leads to its sufferers becoming zombies. The main subject is Harold Gimble who was the first man diagnosed with ORD, and is slightly different from other victims, as his symptoms are progressing at a much slower pace than everyone else. Can a cure be found before he too becomes one of the zombies?I went into this movie thinking it would be far different from what it was, and that's a good thing, because I'm not sure I'd have decided to see it had I known what it was like. I prefer my zombie movies to have plenty of zombies and gore, and Harold's Going Stiff doesn't meet those criteria. It's more of a character study that centers around Harold and his nurse Penny dealing with the everyday hardships of his unfortunate affliction. Before meeting Penny, Harold is lonely and reclusive, but with Penny's help he finds himself beginning to enjoy life again. This friendship is also beneficial for Penny who is suffering from loneliness herself.The two leads, Stan Rowe and Sarah Spencer, have great chemistry, and despite having almost no acting experience whatsoever, are very adept at creating complex characters that really make you feel for what they are going through. Some of their interactions are happy and heartwarming while others are downright heartbreaking. I'm not ashamed to say that before the movie ended, Penny and Harold's plight caused tears to well up in my eyes. 9/10, highly recommended for those that are looking for a not so average zombie flick, or a good tearjerker. Just don't expect much horror since the only thing in it related to horror is the presence of zombies.

Paul Magne Haakonsen ...and so might some of us out here watching it too!"Harold's Going Stiff" is not your average zombie movie, but as it blatantly brandishes on the DVD cover "joins the ranks of Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later", well that hardly is the case.That being said, then don't get me wrong, because "Harold's Going Stiff" is not a bad or boring movie, far from it. It was actually a rather enjoyable movie and a nice change of pace for a change to see this approach to the zombie genre.The story in "Harold's Going Stiff" is about the elderly Harold who is stricken with a strange new neurological disease that causes stiffness in the limbs and the deterioration of the mind and body, eventually turning the afflicted into 'zombies', so to speak. Nurse Penny Rudge is sent to help Harold with his ailment and it ends up becoming the start of a beautiful friendship. But in the seemingly quiet rural countryside, vigilantes are hunting down the 'zombies'.This story is actually quite nice and is told from a pseudo-documentary style, which just adds to its enjoyment. But most importantly is the acting performances put on here, they really helped the movie along nicely and made the movie stand out all the more. Especially the performances of Stan Rowe (playing Harold) and Sarah Spencer (playing Penny Rudge) should be noticed here.If you enjoy zombie movies and want to see something that differs from most other zombie movies, as in the gore, mayhem and apocalyptic setting, then "Harold's Going Stiff" is definitely a good choice. It is a good story and good entertainment.