Director: John Kalangis
Year: 2007
Country: Canada
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Zombie, Comedy
Plot:
Driving through the countryside, a doctor traveling with his family decide to stop off in a small town during a big town celebration where they notice they're the only survivors of a weird plague that has turned all of the locals into raving zombies and must try to get out of town alive.
Review:
This is one of the greatest zombie comedies of the genre. One of the greatest attributes here is the fact that this one manages to both mix the serious zombie action with the humorous comedy which makes for plenty of enjoyment. The film gets some rather great jabs with comedy in here, including plenty of silly gags and physical pratfalls that always works well based on their complete unfamiliarity with the situation. The hilarious wordplay between everyone is also worthy of a few laughs, especially the argument on the doorstep as well as the ensuing one in the barn as they try to figure out what's going on and a later one with the characters standing around discussing whether or not they're dealing with zombies or just really sick people. Just as good is the segment where the zombies strike at the diner, which unleashes a torrent of gags including a dance sequence disguised as a fight to a jukebox playing an appropriate song for such a scene.
The seriousness is made up with the graphic zombie attacks, which here are actually threatening to the others where the laughs are played more in trying to get away from them, not the zombies themselves, so they remain a fearsome threat. There's some rather nice gore to this in the multitude of attacks in the form of some rather big action scenes where they attack in the diner, which leads to some really big parts later which are just as good. There's a foot bitten off, a pitchfork impaled in the stomach, kitchen utensils stabbed in the head, bites all over the arms and legs and a wicked decapitation that leads to a pretty nice gag but it still marvelously gory. The film also has a frenetic pace, able to incorporate a lot of good stuff into it from the zombies to the gags to a couple of really fun moments that make it even more of a blast to watch.
The cast here is truly phenomenal. Dr. Jason Hunt, played by cult hero Billy Zane, is hysterical as a doctor edging towards mid-life crisis due to his relationship making him pine for his youth, and with his moody daughter and clueless boyfriend in tow on the trip, it just makes these quirks all the more apparent. Forced into being the hero despite his awkwardness and geeky persona, it's a great performance and really has a lot to like towards this one. His daughter Amy, played by Maggie Castle, comes off rather nicely as the stubborn and headstrong daughter trying to get past her history as a daddy's girl. Initially appearing to be just a sarcastic, rebellious teenager that's going to be irritating all the way through, it's a nice relief that they end up bonding together over the experience as some of their scenes are heartwarming. This here was a thoroughly entertaining film since this here doesn't have a whole lot really wrong, and the few flaws aren't that bad at all.
The main one is that the zombies here aren't that well done, looking really cheaply and without a whole lot to really make them memorable. The design is to slap on contact lenses and a few blood marks over the face and it's considered a zombie when all it does is really make the film look cheaper and is very hard to take seriously because of it. The other one is the fact that the storyline about the tainted farm's meat is a little too convoluted. First, it's mentioned that they're cows were sick, which became a big scandal, then used an experimental treatment to make them better, which no one knew about to make them healthy then gave it back to all of the locals. It's a little tough to understand and doesn't really make much sense. These here are what really strike the film down.
Overview: *** 1/2/5
For the most part, this was a thoroughly entertaining zombie entry that has enough dumb humor to become entertaining, giving this one a lot to like. Highly recommended to zombie comedy fans, those in the mood for a dumb gore-fest or think it entertaining, while those who aren't big fans of the style won't really enjoy this one a lot.
Comments
Post a Comment