Fantasma per amore

When I first heard about this movie, I thought it was cool as hell because it was filmed at my middle school (or junior high). The inside was my school, C.D. Fulkes Middle School in Round Rock, Texas, but the outside was some university in Austin, not UT. It's really a good movie with lots of cool tongue-in-cheek moments. Great for a classic slap-stick horror. Hopefully this will end up as a cult classic in Round Rock.

Trivia - took the janitors a week to clean up the bloody mess from the ax scene in the meantime all of us students were freaking out about it.

I just feel bad for the girl that admitted to enjoying Pauly Shore films. This movie is a complete original and doesn't take itself seriously. I honestly feel that some movies are made for people with a certain level of intelligence or, for that matter, dementia. I believe that only highly intelligent, somewhat demented people are in on jokes like this one. "We don't take kindly to dead kids around here." C'mon, that's hysterical. It's completely ludicrous and that's why it's funny. Anyone who doesn't appreciate the humor of this film is operating on a lower level of intelligence than those who liked it. Count me in as a demented devotee...

My girlfriend and I had a movie night recently in which we watched the critically (and audience)acclaimed Black Swan, Jackass 3 and this. I bought it mostly because I heard it had some A listers in early rolls and I enjoy trying to point out future stars before my girlfriend can recognize them.

I'm sure I would be mercilessly attacked for saying this on a Black Swan board -or even a Jackass board for that matter- but we both chose My Boyfriend's Back as easily our favourite of the three. Sure it was stupid, but after the dark, serious feel of Black Swan, it's silly, goofy tone was all the more appealing. Andrew Lowery is quite likable in the lead, and Traci Lind is lovely in a roll that was likely quite difficult to play. Her character was required to show some very serious emotions in a very unserious movie, and she seemed to walk the line between them admirably.

The supporting cast was a joy, without fail they understood the script's oddball, offbeat humour and really ran with it. The scene stealing Mary Beth Hurt was a stand out as Lowery's too understanding mother, and Cloris Leachman was excellent in a small, rather thankless cameo. Celebrity watchers will find plenty to keep them busy here as well. A young Matthew Fox (future star of Lost)makes his film debut; Oscar winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays his loathsome sidekick;as well as Edward Herrmann and Austin Pendelton(from HBO's Oz, not to mention countless other films and TV shows); character actor Paul Dooley; JFK's Jay O' Sanders; and even Matthew McConaughey makes his film debut as Guy in Movie Theatre.

Perhaps this means I don't have any future as a film critic, but I was really surprised that both of us enjoyed a low budget flick with a rating under 5 and less than two thousand votes hands down over a 13 million dollar movie with 100,000+ votes and a rating over 8.

I guess my point in all this is that you really can't judge a movie based on the general consensus about it. Had I dismissed this movie because of it's low approval among both critics and IMDb user's (as I normally would have), we really would have missed out on a sweet, irreverent little hidden gem. When selecting a movie, don't just check the star rating or critic approval percentage, but scan the fan reviews as well and see if any really speak to you. You just might end up turning a rather uninspired date night into an unexpected last minute success.

I thought it was hilarious, a bit graphic for the extremely squeamish, but really well-done. The script was well-written with lots of fondness for the characters. Traci Lind was a stand-out as the class beauty trying to get a grasp of a weird situation. The way the townspeople adapt to a zombie in their midst is another great thing about this very funny and well- done movie.

You want to see a zombie movie, but your girlfriend wants to watch a romantic comedy. What do you do??? Compromise!!! This movie bombed at the box

office, if I recall, and didn't do too well on video either. As such, its hard to find out there (I had to visit 15 video stores personally), literally making this a hidden gem! While the narrative is a little off, the one liners alone make this Romantic Black Comedy about a zombie truly entertaining! And while most of the actors in it have fallen off the face of the earth (except Edward Herrmann and a very young Phillip Seymour Hoffman), they help make this film what it is. Definitely worth hunting out if you want something a little different than your average run of the mill comedy.