Dance of the Dead

My first and obvious reaction when I saw "Dance of the Dead" standing on the shelves of my local video store a couple of years ago was: "Yet another highly acclaimed and supposedly hilarious zombie comedy? I think I'll pass…" Zombie comedies (also referred to as 'zom-coms' or even 'zomedies') exist since many years, as in the 80's and 90's we already had cult classics like "Night of the Creeps", "Return of the Living Dead" and "Braindead", but particularly since 2004 and the release of "Shaun of the Dead" we can speak of a genuine epidemic. A selected few of them actually manage to be original and funny (like "Zombieland", "Dead Snow" and "Fido") but the vast majority of them are just dumb, derivative and downright pathetic. Automatically assuming that "Dance of the Dead" would fit right into the latter category, I always refrained from watching until now I could pick up an ex-rental DVD copy for the bargain price of $1. Now I'm pleased to announce that "Dance of the Dead" is a lot better than I thought it would be, merely because it's a 200% unpretentious, straightforward and rejoicing little flick. Nearly all the characters are stereotypes and the gags/situations are hugely predictable, but at least the movie is never boring and doesn't waste any time on wannabe intellectual dialogs or far-fetched plot twists. The film opens with a quirky cemetery caretaker having enormous difficulties to keep his cadavers underneath the ground. As the camera zooms out, we perceive that the cemetery lies right next to an overactive nuclear power plant; so there's your explanation. In this same sleepy nuclear energy town, the popular kids prepare themselves for the annual high school prom, whereas the outcasts carry on with their Sci-Fi club meetings, rock band activities and pizza deliveries. As the zombies adrift from their regular cemetery boundaries and head towards the prom, it's up to the freaks and geeks to rescue the rest of the school. Personally, I wouldn't refer to "Dance of the Dead" as one of the best zombie comedies ever made, and I would definitely not label it as an instant cult classic, but it's undeniably a fun and unhinged little gem. The clichés and stereotypes are amusingly enlarged and the make-up effects are often gloriously over-the-top. The pacing remains fast throughout the entire running time and the movie doesn't contain any redundant sequences or padding footage whatsoever. The acting performances are more than adequate, as you can clearly tell that everyone truly enjoyed starring in this one. Recommended to watch in group, or on a lazy and rainy Sunday afternoon.

I walked into this film at it's last showing in The Atlanta Film Festival, not expecting much. It had gotten a little hype, and the Atlanta Journal seemed to like it, so I figured I'd give it a chance. What I got was a delightfully corny zombie film, on par with Shaun of the dead, except even more low-budget. Some of the characters were actually reasonably likable, a fair amount of witty dialogue, and slapstick violence, plus Large amounts of gore to satisfy true Zombie Film junkies. The film is exceedingly low budget, but in many parts that actually works to it's advantage, such as the nuclear power plants conveniently placed directly behind the cemetery, looking as though they were pasted in there with photoshop, and fairly corny zombies. Through much of it, the audience cackled and cheered, and it was greeted with much applause at it's finally, plus I recognized some of the locations, and many of the stars were in the theater. It has many unexpected touches, such as zombie frogs in the science lab, and some deaths twists. Overall, I really enjoyed this film, and if it ever gets wide release, I recommend seeing it.

On the day of the Hawaiian Hula Prom, the high-school students are excited with the party. The immature pizza-boy Jimmy Dunn (Jared Kusnitz) has an argument with his girlfriend Lindsey (Greyson Chadwick), who is the vice-president of the student council and wants to wear a corsage, and she calls off their date. The outcast Steven (Chandler Darby), who is one of the members of the mocked Sci-Fi Club, invites the cheerleader Gwen (Carissa Capobianco) to go to the prom with him, but she prefers to invite the leader of the band Quarter Punks Nash Rambler (Blair Redford) to have a date with her, but he rejects her invitation. During the night, Lindsey dates the snobbish Mitch Cutter (Jeff Adelman), who is the president of the student council, and he heads his car to the local cemetery nearby a power plant to make out with Lindsey. Meanwhile the members of the Sci-Fi Club – the president Jules Reiner (Randy McDowell), Steven, George (Michael V. Mammoliti) and Rod (Mark Lynch) – decide to spend the night investigating the cemetery using a MIT device that Jules borrowed from his brother. Out of the blue, Rod is attacked by a zombie and the trio of survivors runs away from a legion of living dead. Meanwhile, Mitch is beheaded by a living dead and Lindsey drives his car to escape of zombies. She rescues Jules, Steven and George and break in the funeral house. Meanwhile, Jimmy is delivering a pizza and is attacked by the dead. He flees and sooner he meets the badass Kyle Grubbin (Justin Welborn) and Gwen that is jogging on the street. The Quarter Punks is rehearsing in Nash's garage and they discover that the zombies like their music. The three groups team-up under the leadership of Coach Keel (Mark Oliver) and together they decide to help the teenagers in the prom. But it may be too late.

"Dance of the Dead" is an entertaining and gore horror comedy with a huge potential of cult-movie. The plot is not original, actually it is a combination of "Carrie" and "Night of the Living Dead", but the story is hilarious and I laughed a lot. The special effects are another plus of this delightful film. The resemblance of Greyson Chadwick with the sweet Julianne Moore is impressive. I really enjoyed this funny film and laughed a lot. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Like I already said,this is a very good horror-comedy. The only problem is that special effects aren't the best (but that is far away from spoiling you watching this movie). Film offers us enough humor and gore to keep us in the mood to the very end of it.

If I remember correctly, Bishop made his first movie with only 15000 $. The movie was nothing special, but for that budget it was more than satisfying. Almost the same thing happened with this movie (the only difference is that this one is even better than The other side). I have a feeling that with 15000 $ Bishop makes more than some directors with 15 mil. $. At least he knows how to make a very entertaining movie (I don't wanna think how good this movie would be if Bishop had a bigger budget). So I gotta say: "Dammit,will someone finally give this man the money so he can make a movie with decent special effects?!" He really deserved it.

So go,take your friends,watch this movie and you will all have a great time. Take this movie for what it is (by that I mean that this isn't some big budget movie,just the opposite) and this will be one of the best prom nights you have ever seen. In the end,I would give this movie 7 stars,but because of having so little and offering so much,I'll give it 8 for effort.

Not being a huge zombie flick fan, but being surrounded by MANY, I was surprised to have really enjoyed the classic zombie feel this movie had, but with the musical twist. It was one of my favorites in the Atlanta Film Festival this year and most everyone I have talked to loved it, both here in Atlanta and at SXSW. I think that Gregg Bishop really has an amazing talent and I'm hoping for more from him and his crew in the future and will go back and check out the ones I've missed.

You can tell at times that this was a low-budget flick and pretty indie, but had a good story line and really had you rooting for these kids all the way through. Of course the classic "ready for war" walk down the hall is always a great addition and there were some great lines.

There were issues with editing that I caught all along, but the director was also the editor and producer and I'm quite sure had his hands full, maybe having someone a little more removed would be helpful, but budget is budget :). Can't wait to get this one home and have folks over for a movie party!