How to Kill a Zombie

Sometimes budding chefs try to put two ingredients together and it just doesn't work. Comedy and horror have been done and done well before, but it says something about the paradox of life when you see a film of this nature that is neither funny nor scary. Even the ambiance of the Saco drive in could not save this movie. The lead character Mac (The starring role the director was humble enough to bestow upon himself) is hollow and wooden both in the acting and directing. Only after noticing him use social media to proposition "fans" to vote it high on IMDb (so it would sell more dvds) did I feel compelled to share my thoughts.

Such high art film making. Just the title of the movie suggests the same plot twists we haven't seen since Hitchcock's Vertigo but matched with the intellectual stimulation you come to expect from movies where extras are the stars being shot down and hacked up by the overacting renaissance man of our time Bill "Freight Train" McLean!

If you're looking for good local horror I would highly suggest Corey Norman's "Hanover House" and Shawn French's "Wrong House". The most scary and funny thing about this movie is realization of the minutes it steals from your life.

Take it from me and don't waste your time.

Living alone in the wilderness, a man teaching his son how to be a man in the middle of a zombie outbreak finds a group of survivors stuck in an office building trying to get out alive and realize their skills might be able to save them, bringing them all together to hold off the creatures.

This was a generally decent if still flawed genre effort. One of the finer aspects to be had here is the main setup that provides a decent enough way to get the whole thing going on a worthwhile and workable route. The main setup here offers a fun way to establish the character dynamics between the two with the whole thing being used as a training exercise to get him ready for life offers a fun way to explain their relationship while also allowing for a great way of introducing the zombie hordes in this universe. The nonstop action that comes about with the film focuses on their need to survive which brings them into contact with not just the other local survivors but the main group in the industry building that this one spends the majority of time where they have to protect the dwindling number of survivors from the creatures coming closer to taking them out. As this gets plenty of fun encounters including creative gags and setpieces, some solid bits of gore, and great zombie make-up along the way, there are some overall fun aspects to be had here. That said, there are some pretty big laws with this one. The main issue here is the outright obvious low-budget eel present which never allows this one to do anything more than be a watchable-at-best entry in the genre. The stripped-down settings, lack of scope for a massive office building, and the general style featured here give this the kind of low-budget presentation away at every opportunity to the point where it's quite easy to see what type of film this is. It never manages to escape it which causes things to become quite familiar and overwhelming with how it plays out which lets this highlight another big issue in how lackluster most of the comedy is. The idea of the wisecracking duo trying to overcome their issues by dealing with a zombie apocalypse should've been far funnier than it is. Still, a lot of this is just underwhelming and somewhat cringy which makes things somewhat hard to get through as well. These factors manage to bring it down the most.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.

Any "good" review left for this (on here, rotten tomatoes) is from people on the film trying to big this film up. Don't fall for it Don't waste your time with this. There are great zombie comedys and this is far from it. The fact they compare it to such ones like Shaun of the dead and cockney vs zombies is beyond ridiculous!

The "comedy" is cheaper than cheap and more than often is forced upon you. It is infuriating, annoying, lazy and isn't in the least bit funny.

The acting is dreadful and increasingly bad as the movie goes on.

The plot of the film I felt was pointless. Honestly there is nothing good I can say about this film.

I watched this film with my grand children and we laughed until our sides hurt. It starts out slow but builds momentum and laughs as it rolls on. I loved the father-son relationship in the film as portrayed by the McLeans. I downloaded the film on Amazon, then bought the DVD and to my surprise, the DVD has over 2 hours of special features - so the grand kids and I had to re-watch it! As I have seen in some of the other reviews, this film is independent and did not have a huge budget. But after doing some research I found that a small family film company in Maine was able to put together a full length feature movie with less than 20K and get it distributed by one of the largest Indie Distribution companies in the US. After reading some of the other reviews on this page, I was disappointed that people would be so harsh and critical of a truly enjoyable comedy made by a bunch of unknowns with almost no money to speak of. Shame on you for being so narrow minded and using bully tactics against people that obviously have fun making movies. My family enjoyed it, and we will continue to do so. We are looking forward to this coming year as this company is expected to release three more movies in three different genres. I saw this at their website (freight train films dot com). Thank you for reading and a big thank you to the McLeans for making this movie!

The plot is very original, depicting a father and son at war with the undead, as well as at times, with each other. Along with Mack, Jesse and Ashley, there is a whole band of supporting characters that will leave you in no short supply of laughs. From the sniveling, power hungry Norman, to the "innocent" and confused Steve, there is truly something everyone can enjoy. Freight Train Films truly accomplished a Hollywood-grade movie, between the quality of the acting, the set design, and the SFX, it makes me proud to be from the state that this was filmed in. If you're looking for a movie to take your family to see this Halloween, I highly suggest How to Kill a Zombie.