Scherzi della natura

This may be the goofiest film of 2015, and I had a blast watching it! It's even more fun describing it to a friend.

When it was playing at one local Portland theater, with no local reviews and no advertising I knew I had to check it out.

No spoilers here.I'm just going to say this horror comedy combines vampires, zombies and aliens in a totally original way. Everything is played straight here, this is not just another cheap rip-off.The cast is top notch headlined by Dennis Leary and a very cute Vanessa Hutchins,a number of unknown actors and a few totally unexpected cameos. The film doesn't quite hold together because of various factors,I suspect budget was one of them. Try it, take a chance, you won't regret it.

Freaks of Nature is really a curiosity; a town inhabited by zombies, human and vampires, living peacefully until an alien invasion creates havoc and a huge civil war. It has some really comic moments (aided by the presence of comedians like Patton Oswald, Joan Cusack, Keegan-Michael Key, Denis Leary, Bob Odenkirk among others; and a voice cameo from Werner Herzog that is really worth watching).

Sadly many times, the movie slow down too much to enter into the clichéd territory of school / teenagers stories, with the romance, the good girl and the slut one, the nerd and the former nerd trying to be cool. If the movie did not sink is because the acting of the three main characters is really good and some secondary characters / situations are hilarious.

With all its mistakes; however the movie has a deeper subtext that rise the movie above the classic teenager fare to become a satire on thin equilibrium of a society that looks peaceful but is a time bomb about to explode, the USA concept of family, food and culture; and the rejection of the smarter being just because it is smarter.

In brief; if you can digest some gory situations and zombie makeup, the movie is worth to dedicate some time.

"Freaks of Nature" had it all, literally, it had it all. Zombies, vampires, werewolves and aliens. The only thing that was missing was robots. Now, one might think with a mix of that many iconic movie creatures thrown together, that it might be a bit too much. But it wasn't! And "Freaks of Nature" turned out to be a very entertaining movie.

The movie starts out in a fast pace, and the audience is introduced to a world where vampires and zombies live among the living humans. Then on one fateful night, aliens show up and that upsets the balance of the world, causing the vampires, zombies and humans to turn against one another in a chaotic surge of violence.

The characters in the movie were nicely detailed, lots of characteristics and personalities. Plus the people hired to portray the various characters were doing great jobs with their given roles. It was a nice touch to see Denis Leary, Keegan-Michael Key and Bob Odenkirk in the movie as well. The three lead talents, Nicholas Braun (playing Dag), Mackenzie Davis (playing Petra) and Josh Fadem (playing Ned) really carried the movie quite well.

The story is good, filled with action and humor, and the effects are great as well. And having good special effects in a creature feature is a make or break deal, and I am glad to say that the special effects team really pulled their weight here and came through where it counted.

The whole mixture of aliens, humans, vampires and zombies in one movie was really good. It was surreal, for sure, but it was highly entertaining.

There has been a good addition of zombie comedies to the zombie genre in the recent years, and "Freaks of Nature" does rank high on the list, right alongside with "Shaun of the Dead", "Zombies of Mass Destruction" and "Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse".

Fun kooky movie. Some bloody elements but these are low to the absurd humor of the film. Earnest acting, fun script, and good direction make this a good watch. Horror comedy done well.

Mixing zombies, vampires, and aliens sounded cool enough. With Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, Denis Leary, Keegan-Michael Key, and Werner Herzog, one would think this could be a really funny movie. Instead, those really funny people all play relatively small roles and we are mostly left with a trio of unfunny heroes plodding around the film.

The town has zombies and vampires mixing in society, mostly at a high school, and none of that ever gets a back story. Attempts at wild comedy don't need to explain too much, especially if it would interfere with the jokes. But this wild comedy never gets wild enough, and it is nowhere near as clever as it portrays itself. Is it really all that funny to kill people around you and then act like it was NBD?

There are funny moments, but not enough LOLz. There also seems to be some attempt at a morality play about classism or racism, as we see humans vs. zombies vs. vampires. Vampire-on-zombie crime is most assuredly despicable, and we should all get along.

This vague social commentary gets mixed with the eternal story font: High School is Tough For Everyone, Even the Popular People. If you don't want to feel, you don't have to: just go be a zombie. If you want to be cool, be a vampire. Whatever you do, just make sure everyone sees, so you can make the scene.

It's a bad sign when Ed Westwick has the best performance in a movie. Nicholaus Braun rattles off his lines like he can't wait to get to the bar. Mackenzie Davis, however, puts in a sincere performance and is a star-to-be.

Freaks of Nature is neither clever enough, funny enough, gross enough, nor serious enough to be much of anything in particular. Even the smooth and dulcet tones of Werner Herzog's voice do little to step up the scene. This is no Cabin in the Woods.