Batalha dos Zumbis

Although I'm not a fan of many Croatian comedies (as a Croatian myself), in this one I found myself laughing out loud on few occasions.

This movie is a parody of many things. First of all, it mocks low budget movies, superheroes and zombies, because the latter two are quite common in modern age movies. Second, it mocks the Balkan mentality which is present in all former Yugoslavian countries, along with their common history and relations, and this is the main punch-line of the movie. So if you are a foreigner (and by that I mean if you're not from one of the former Yugoslavian countries) you probably won't get many of the jokes.

The movie is simple, funny, and most importantly different from many other Croatian comedies, which is probably why the audience liked it so much.

It's a must watch for everyone living in Balkan region.

The picture of the people who were sometimes ago a members of YU and now live in a separated small and irrelevant countries for a global leaders, and still are driven by the influence of their eternal problems. In some moments it looks like a British movie "Shaun of the Dead" and in one scene reminds us on exYugoslavian "Pretty Village, Pretty Flame", when we hear the song of the old Yugoslavian band "Indexi", She threw everything down the river(Bacila je sve niz rijeku). Anyway, it gives us a good laugh.

It can be perceived as a dark comedy, as parody, as the worst movie seen, as a teenager or Balkanic public. And, sure, it can be boring, stupid or absurde. But it is one of films for a very large target. And that is its basic virtue. So Serbian, than only a Balkanic viewer understand all references. So crazy than only a zombie fan can define the sins about this theme. So crazy than it becomes...nice. Smart use of cliches, decent performances and generous subject. So, just a Swedish buffet.

This movie was already in cinemas half a year ago and i had a hard time to find it somewhere to have a look at, luckily zagrebs "luda kuca" was showing it on a saturday evening for one-time only and so i went to watch it.

Using the backdrop of a zombie-apocalypse the movie is mocking everything that relates to the current state of the regions of the former yugoslavia and its relations to each other andit does it good enough to be actually funny which seems not to be a given in most croatians comedy-movies, at the same time thats the biggest problem of the movie, foreigners wont relate to it because these are mostly inside-jokes.

Kresimir Mikic is awesome and has become one of my favourite croatian actors, i really wished croatian cinema would make movies that doesnt target only domestic audiences, because it certainly has enough good actors but lacks the screenwriters for it.

So if you are from the balkans and like domestic comedies this one is worth a watch compared to what else croatian cinema has to offer, foreigners should take a pass and rather watch "Shaun of the Dead" or "Zombieland" which this movie doesnt come close.

It is a fun movie, parody of several genres. It is a successful political parody of Croatian obsessive idea of Serbs as filthy and dangerous but fascinating Other. Also, it is a successful parody of all small nations' myths of national pride and heroes. There are some very particular parodies of certain Croatian politicians and geopolitical relations. In this respect, it is actually a better movie than it looks like right on the first sight.

There is also unfortunately still a certain problem with the movie: it is very intelligent for someone who knows ex-Yugoslavia politics and history, but it probably looks non-sensical to people who are not familiar to that. In its desire to be a comical for ex-Yugoslav audience, it has a little bit too many cheap jokes and action movies stereotypes made for Balkan market . It perhaps prevents it from being a quality European level movie. Still, having the "virus" as a centre of its theme, probably will give this movie more attention in the future, since it also resonates well with the world pandemic situation, so it might work for the film.

The cast is also very good, at least three main roles are placed in the hands of three quality regional actors, and the film deserves praise in that sense. The minus is, however, the appearance of some iconic pop-culture figures in minimal roles, again, it works just as a low-level jokes of recognition, and not really as some serious reference to anything of significance in the movie.