Night Life

Night Life is something I stumbled upon one night while haunting old video stores in search of a descent flick. I found something better. I found Night Life. Scott Grimes of Critters fame stars as the underdog hero is this unheard of horror comedy. I have never even heard anyone talk about this film, which really surprised me after watching it. In it, four super jackasses turn into four super zombies by a mixture of electricity and chemicals. It sounds like the usual, but it's definitely got it's own flare. The scene of the accident is bizarre stuff, it's weirdly shot. It feels more like a dream than a movie. It's my favorite of the film. There are some truly grotesque parts in the mortuary too. If you've never seen this movie, find it. You'll be in for a treat.

"Archie Melville" (Scott Grimes) is a high school student who works at the local mortuary during the night for his uncle "Verlin Flanders" (John Astin). Unfortunately, this severely impacts his social life and the girl of his dreams "Joanie Snowland" (Lisa Fuller) wants nothing to do with him. Not only that but two jocks at the high school have made it their mission to harass him endlessly as well. To make matters even worse the only friend he has named "Chary Dorn" (Cheryl Pollak) tells him she is leaving town permanently. But things change quickly after a fatal car accident involving a toxic spill sends his two tormentors along with Joanie and her friend "Roberta Woods" (Darcy DeMoss) to the funeral home where he works--and then lightning strikes! Now rather than reveal any more of the movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a peculiar zombie film which had its ups and downs. For starters, there were some parts which I thought were extremely slow and I didn't think the humor was all that keen either. But the gore factor was quite high and having 3 attractive actresses like the aforementioned Lisa Fuller, Cheryl Pollak and Darcy DeMoss certainly didn't hurt. In short, while I didn't think this was a great zombie movie by any means it was okay for the time spent and I rate it as about average.

This probably got better as it went on but it so filled with obnoxious, profane bully-type high school morons that I had a hard time finishing this...and I didn't.

Typically-stupid modern-day Hollywood teen dialog (see "Scream" for better examples) turns me off, big-time, and this movie is filled with them. Four of the punks turn into zombies. Well, good for them. Do they get what's coming to them by the nerdy good guys? Of course, with a few twists but too many similarities to the theme of "Revenge Of The Nerds." The big difference is all the blood in here in this horror-comedy.

This is definitely for young adults, not for discerning, older farts like me.

I thought that Night Life was very promising for the first half hour. The characters were likeable, and the story was interesting. But the horror aspects don't really enter the picture until the last half hour - and when they do, they are disappointing. The zombies are not like traditional zombies at all. They drive cars, operate machinery, and seem to retain much of their human personalities. What's worse, there are only four of them and they seem to be indestructible (like Jason from Friday the 13th pt 2 -?). In my opinion, the threat of zombies should be sheer numbers. As individuals, they are not very strong, fast, or coordinated. It should not have been so difficult for the heroes of this movie to deal with a paltry four walking corpses.

Amusing and very light-headed quickie that distinguishes itself from the majority of lame and late 80's horror-comedies thanks to a couple of very ingenious jokes and the presence of cult-TV icon John Astin (The Addams Family). The typical story of nerdish underdog versus the popular high-school jocks is always fun to watch, and it gets even funnier (but more importantly: gorier) when the jocks turn into zombies that still only spend their time by playing pranks on the geek! Redhead Archie Melville and his car-technician girlfriend have no other option but to destroy the zombies in various ways. The intro, when there are still no zombies, is very lengthy but nevertheless entertaining since director David Acomba enlightens us about many specific embalming techniques. The geek hero namely works in the mortuary of his uncle and it's also there were the undead are resurrected after a thunderstorm. The film is fast-paced, the numerous clichés are forgivable and the gore often is surprisingly graphic (zombies in a wood chopper, exploding corpses…). John Astin obviously had a great time playing the ill-tempered undertaker and the young cast members do a fairly good job as well. "Night Life" is surely recommended in case you're looking for a simple, undemanding horror feast.