Maial Zombie - Anche i morti lo fanno

A German horror comedy that successfully spoofs all possible clichés of zombie films without ever paying any disrespect to the real genre classics or ending up as a retarded 90 minutes joke itself??? It's almost impossible to accept such a thing exists and yet here's Mathias Dinter's "Night of the Living Dorks"! I swear, unless you absolutely have no sense of humor in you, you can't but enjoy this silly story about three typical German high-school nerds that suddenly move up the social ladder because they have the strength and advantages of the living dead. In a desperate attempt to conquer a girl's heart (and body), Philip and his friends Konrad and Wurst (what's in a name) undergo a voodoo ritual and become soiled by the ashes of a dead Haitian zombie. There's no result at first but, after a car accident, our jolly trio is immune to pain and has developed an insatiable desire for raw meat. While Konrad and Wurst are having the time of their lives abusing their zombie powers, Philip turns to his loving neighbor girl for a cure. This light-headed and spirited production contains all the necessary ingredients to guarantee brainless entertainment and yet a lot more, too. Whereas other German movies are frequently uptight (no offense to any German readers...), "Night of the Living Dorks" specifically focuses on laughing with stereotypes and even the country's own national history. All the gags and references towards classic films in the script already featured in previous zombie comedies and yet this movie still feels fresh and innovating. Even the jokes that aren't zombie-related, like soft-drug usage or the "crush on teacher"-syndrome, are effective and will make you chuckle. The acting of the boys is pretty good, while the girls all look ravishing and show quite a bit of naked flesh. The gory situations aren't as outrageous as I thought, which is probably due to the German rating system, but there certainly is some nice sloth to enjoy. Many will disagree, maybe, but I think this pleasant German surprise doesn't have to yield much to similar movies like "Shaun of the Dead", "Return of the Living Dead" or "The Dead Hate The Living". Bring out the six-packs of beer!

I saw this film as part of the Cinemuerte Horror Film Festival in Vancouver recently, and I have to say that I did enjoy it, as silly as it was.

The characters were affable, the zombie and gore effects were solid, and the storyline was good fun. You actually got to like the three "losers" and the preppy-rich kids were fun to hate. Don't listen to the person who commented on "bad acting", because they don't know what they're talking about. There was no bad acting in this movie at all. The actors were all very natural, and seemed like real teenagers, despite the fantastic situations they were in.

Anyway, when this film will reach DVD on North American shores is hard to tell, but if you like 80's-style teen comedy flicks, and are a fan of zombies and gore (there are some gross and violent scenes, but nothing as extreme as what you'd see in a Romero film, and they're mostly played for laughs), then this film is good for a laugh and worth renting. It's certainly better than most teen flicks coming out of Hollywood these days!

Few horror-comedies out there, and most of them usually rely on gore and extremely bad language for the gags, but not this one, oh no, Night of the living dorks is a sure winner!

I won't go into details, cause they are better to be explored by the viewer and keep the fresh pace throughout the entire movie, but I can assure you, this dark comedic production will not make you gag, smile, or snort a little, but laugh out loud plenty of times! The script is wonderfully written, the actors do their work lovely and there will be a few surprises for you here and there, so keep your eyes opened and be ready to giggle! Other such great productions are: One eyed monsters, Grabbers, Botched, My name is Bruce! And after these recommendations, I'm gonna stop writing, as Night of the living dorks is a movie to be watched first, then discussed! Go, play it and have your fun!

Cheers!

A lesser version of Idle Hands (1999) due to the pot references and a lesser version of Shaun of the Dead (2004) due to the zombie comedy. This would have been great if they were geeks or nerds but they were dorks and that was just annoying. There are plenty of stoner and drug references which could be a political stab against the brain-dead generation but I really doubt that. I didn't laugh very much and I found my attention slipping quite a lot. It was quite funny, quite entertaining, quite interesting and quite average on all levels. Good idea made without flair.

The school friends Philip (Tino Mewes), Wurst (Manuel Cortez) and Konrad (Thomas Schmieder) are high-school losers: Philip desires the sexy Uschi (Nadine Germann), an easy girl for successful boys; the complex Konrad lists all the humiliations he has been submitted in school; and Wurst only cares to dope himself and smoke pot. Philip's next door Gothic neighbor Rebecca (Collien Fernandes) has a non-corresponded crush on Philip. When Rebecca performs an ancient voodoo ritual in the cemetery with her friends, Philip and his friends arrive, mocking the ceremony and are accidentally blasted with zombie ashes from Haiti. Then, while driving his van, Wurst smokes marijuana but he has a car accident and the trio dies. However, they awake in the morgue and sooner they realize that they have become zombies. While seeking an antidote in the Necronomicon, Konrad, Wurst and Philip find the advantages of being zombies, becoming successful due to their recently acquired strength.

"Die Nacht der Lebenden Loser" is an extremely funny parody of zombie movies, a sort of "American Pie" meeting "Night of the Living Dead" or "Shaun of the Dead". The result is hilarious and this enjoyable movie is highly recommended to make the viewer forget, for example, the defeat of his soccer team (my case today), since it is impossible not laughing along the 89 minutes running time. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Noite dos Mortos-Bobos" ("The Night of the Dead-Fools")