Ripe Peach

It's just occurred to me that while I think of myself as a fan of zombie films, that there are only three genre films that I actually enjoy: Night of the Living Dead (the original and remake), and Return of the Living Dead.

These films all have something in common; they're taut. They pick a theme, stick to it, and pile it on to an inexorable conclusion. All other zombie films dawdle and meander annoyingly, and Day of the Dead is no exception.

That's not to say that Day doesn't have a sense of inevitability about it. The whole plot progression is boringly predictable, and it's the boring part that sticks in the mind. I know what's going to happen, but I don't particularly care. Annoying people yell at each other, and I don't care. Ludicrous stereotypes over-act, and I don't care. Bub the Zombie moves his jaw from side to side, and I care a little. Then the live people take the screen again, and I go back to not giving a damn.

We know what's going to happen, but it takes so long to get there that it's actually a relief when the live cast start meeting their sticky ends. I for one was cheering for the zombies, which up to a point is what I'm supposed to do. What I'm not supposed to want is for all of the living cast, including the ostensible sympathetic heroes, to be shredded. The rapidly tacked on brutally optimistic ending is a huge disappointment; I'd far rather find out what happened to Bub than the insipid nobodies whose fate I'm supposed to care about.

This is a film that would have been far better left in the can, or better yet, as a script waiting for enough budget to afford actual actors and editing.

A badly translated script that leads to the voice talent jabbering most of the time, the usual array of characters who's personalities are blindingly apparent from their portrayals (wide mouthed buffoon, sinister moustachioed dwarf, icy bitch, spunky hero, spunkier heroine), and a plot that could be synopsised as "Two legs bad, four legs good". Oh, and tentacles. Tentacles everywhere.

Fans of anime will lap it up. Everyone else should avoid, because it's just the same old garbage, warmed up and seasoned with a few B list USian actors.