Woke Up Dead

Not much of a fan of Jon Heder, but I decided to give this movie a chance any way, especially because I assumed it would be something in the lines of a zombie-like comedy. But wow, was I far from the truth.

To summarize this movie quickly: it is 1 hour and 20 minutes of your life that you will never get back.

I didn't laugh at all throughout this movie, so it failed horribly as a comedy. And the dialogue in the movie was pretty bad, lots of really bad writing here. And worse yet, the dialogue seemed forced and halting.

Now, the good parts in the movie was the role of Matt (the guy with the camera) played by Josh Gad, he was the one who carried this movie. And then the role of the annoying co-worker in the adjacent booth played by Wayne Knight.

I didn't even make it all the way to the end of the movie, I gave up about three-quarters through. It was just that terrible. If you are in for an evening of comedy, this movie is not a good choice. Mark my words. Sadly enough, I have seen low budget zombies movies that made me laugh more than this, and those movies weren't even comedies.

Unfortunately, Heder only has a few minutes to convey a lot in these webisodes. Looks like it could have been a great "made for TV" movie or nice "B" flick. The acting is horrible (especially Heders) and the writing is childish. The idea seems solid, but a lot of execution is missing. Great camera work, good lighting, some decent direction, but most the characters lack anything of interest. They are cartoons of people but not funny.

Krysten Ritter comes off amazingly strong, though, and shows some serious skills like she did in "Breaking Bad." She looks to be a real a star on the rise with the right roles. Good for her.

I'm afraid that this is just another notch in Heder's acting decline. This productions is almost too glossy for this poor talent. Strange.

Love zombie flicks. Now let's see a good one!

The other reviews make a point of how bad the acting is and how corny. I think the show is best watched in the short segments it was originally made in. I've only seen the first four episodes but I think it is a kind of neat idea that someone could wake up a zombie and not know why. The show is unlike any other zombie show or movie when there are hundreds of them running around and eating everyone else. It's funny to see a relatively intelligent guy coming to terms with the fact that he may in fact be dead. I like the acting, it's realistic. Jon Heder is always this way, no matter what he's in. I like him best as the voice of Chicken Joe in Surf's Up. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the episodes. I don't find it laugh out loud funny, but there are enough amusing incidents during the unfolding of the plot that it keeps me watching. This is one of those shows where it's so bad it's good.

The story had potential for some fun with zombies. The script is something out of junior high school. Just because the writers or producers were relying on a teenage boy demographic, this is one of the worst zombie comedies. I like the lead character. What is up with the voice over? Is this Blade Runner? What is up with the over gratuitous tits and ass all the moment a chick enters the scene? How did this series get made in the first place and more importantly WHY? There is so much better fluff out there: Sean of the Dead, any Will Farrel flick, any good Eddy Murphy, heck RV with Robin Williams, dumbed down for the film executives with enough fun for the viewers!

Drex Greene (Jon Heder) is a college grad without direction. He gets hit by a bus and finds himself on the dissection table with medical student Cassie (Krysten Ritter). He took a strange pill that could have turned him. His best friend Matt (Josh Gad) wants to film girls for the internet but zombie would work just as well. Drex starts a new job at Infocorps with overbearing co-worker Andrew Batten (Wayne Knight).

It's a net series of 22 4-min episodes. It's suppose to be a comedy horror. The problem is that there are no funny jokes. The only comedy comes from little bits that Josh Gad and Krysten Ritter throw in. Quite frankly, that doesn't add up to a whole lot of anything and none of the writing is actually funny. It's not like the horror is scary. The production is pretty low rent. I do like the actors in this but it's more closer to a student film.