Dead Shack

Roger takes his two kids, Summer and Colin, and their friend Jason to a vacation cabin in the woods. Summer hates her young stepmom Lisa. The kids take a walk and find a house with disturbing evidence. A woman (Lauren Holly) brings home two douchebags and the kids spy her feeding the two men to her zombie.

Summer and Jason are a little bit adorable. Colin is annoyingly stupid. Stupidity is one of the more annoying tropes in teen characters if they're not funny at it. Roger is also really stupid but at least, he can blame the alcohol. I'm actually with who gets killed. I wouldn't mind if we lose one more specific character. This is a low budget comedy horror indie competently made. It's not horrible but it's not good either.

DEAD SHACK was a random pick that had the sort of honest reviews on IMDB that make me watch a B grade movie on purpose. I didn't know Lauren Holly was in it until her name popped up at the start and she's still got that certain something.

Some parts of the script had very deliberate, very cringe inducing *crickets* moments. Some of the dialogue was so natural you'd swear they were just having a dysfunctional family argument at times. It is also over the top, ridiculous and contains some proper laughs. It's a Zombie flick after all, and it treads the path competently.

Lots of flaws but fun enough for you to forgive them.

The puns are just flying left and right. It does not care about being political correct and if you don't mind your horror to have a lot of comedy in it, then you will not be disappointed. Quite the opposite is the case with this one. The dad character is really goes for it and probably would not qualify for any Dad of the year awards or what not. His choice for new wife, how he "handles" his kids or life in general is borderline to say the least.

But it's funny in a very crazy kind of way. And it's more than entertaining. And then there is all the blood and gore and horror to be dealt with. It's almost an added bonus, if you will. Even if I would have liked this to go another direction, it almost holds its premise throughout. Which is a good thing, tone-wise ... I liked it

I loved how the movie started out, with great cinematography and mysterious ideas. Soon jokes flew in from all sides and it was like Cabin in the Woods, but not as good or engaging. However, this is basically Evil Dead Lite, a kiddie version of a horror movie. It looks good but something's off the entire movie. The actors do a wonderful job. Jokes are all hits. Just relax, turn off your mind and enjoy it for what it is - a very weird horror comedy. Oh, and yeah, the dad steals the show 10/10 times. He's the best bit.

This film is much better than it has any right to be and that all comes from writing and characterisation. They clearly didn't have the budget or time to put together something truly polished, but what they made is pretty much better than many horrors out there today.

The fact that you actually care about the characters and what happens to them is remarkable, and it doesn't have to rely on a crazy villain or nudity to get your attention. The dialogue is immature, but it is meant to be, seeing as how the leads are all adolescents. The only real downside is the pacing and editing as both are a little jarring and detract from the overall quality of the production.

Overall I would definitely recommend this movie to any comedy horror fan. It isn't the most hilarious or gory, but it is smart and clearly the effort was made to produce a unique story, and it works.