American Zombie

When asked if there are flesh-eating zombies out there, Joel--an undead political activist--quickly retorts: "are there flesh-eating humans?" Grace Lee not only directs American Zombie, but plays herself in the film. She teams up with John Solomon--also playing himself--to film a documentary project about an undead community living in L.A. The duo quickly find out that some sort of virus, brought on by a violent death, is plaguing its residents, and ultimately zombifying an entire community.

American Zombie is a veritable slice-of-life of four "revenants"--Joel, founder of Z.A.G.: the Zombie Advocacy Group; Judy, who naively searches for true love and denies her zombiness; Ivan, a convenience store clerk who aspires to be a writer; and Lisa, a florist specializing in funeral arrangements for other people--who secretly longs for her own. Each character represents an average person with average emotions and average problems, showing us that the undead aren't too different than the living. Well, except for their rotting flesh, of course.

What's really great about the film is the absolute mockery the protagonists make of themselves. Grace, the ever-so-astute naturalistic documentarian, and John, the bumbling investigative reporter, are at odds with each other throughout the film, and ultimately to a fault. What makes this film not-so-great is twofold: the running time and the conclusion. I think the film would have been better as a short. While it's in-depth look at each character is interesting, I'm not sure if its compelling enough to steer the audience towards anything meaningful. And even worse is the ending, after which, the audience can no longer sympathize with the plight of the community. Unfortunately, what could have been a provocative social commentary, becomes nothing more than a sensationalistic--albeit unique, comedic and funfilled--mockumentary.

The people who wrote all the previous reviews must be trying to sell the movie, because I don't see how any of them could have got what they say they got out of the movie. It is boring from start to finish and the characters are flaky and uninteresting! There's really no plot other than that they are making a documentary. Some elements they bring up in the film are so vague it makes you wonder why they put them in the film in the first place. It makes me think if the Lifetime channel made a zombie movie, this is what it would be. If you are a true zombie movie fan, then this movie isn't for you! Trust me, you'll be more entertained sitting in front of your TV for an hour and a half with it turned off!

For those who watch this for a zombie flick, this will be a disappointment. That is not what this film is about.

This is a movie of subtext. It is a statement on multi-culturalism and the demand to conform to social norms. The Zombies can represent any modern stereotype - from homosexuals to immigrants, or people with HIV or disabilities.

It is a statement about society's respect for the individual. We want to think of ourselves as socially permissive; accepting of differences; PC.

But the more people just want to be left alone, the more our fear-driven prejudices emerge. The climax of the movie is a wake-up call to audience of just how much we, through the course of the movie, have judged the characters, based solely on stereotypes.

This isn't a Zombie flick; it is a human flick, with zombies.

I just signed up to IMDb simply to express my delight in how refreshing this film was. It is an exploration of how groups are marginalised by society, and labelled with negative connotations, causing not only fringe group extremists but self fulfilling prophecies.

John represents the world view of the Zombie group, and as the film progress you can see how this world view is pushing the zombies away from integration, into the fringe of society and into the arms of angry primarily labelled and conforming leaders who's angry voices are the only ones to be heard at such an extremes of social exclusion.

People have said that the movement of the Zombies at the end, into the expected "typical" behaviour of that group ruins the film, and any sympathy for them dies with it. It in fact shows how having pre-conditioned ideas of how a people behave actually creates a self fulfilling prophecy.

Excellent film. Bravo.

IMPORTANT NOTE: AZ IS DEFINITELY NOT A COMEDY! - there must have been a mistake in the classification. Emotions are all represented in this movie, from hope to pathos to sadness, but certainly not humor.

If your average idea of a good movie is 120 minutes of explosions and flying limbs, move along, there's nothing to see here. If, though, you're interested in something new, fresh, giving a second birth to a topic already exploited to death and beyond, you're in for your money.

In world where Zombies retain their mental faculties after turning, and try coping with their ailment, American Zombie is a mockumentary (fake documentary) following the afterlife of several revenants, each having a distinct approach towards their status (legally dead), future, lack of memory regarding event before their legal death and, most of all, their place in society. But activist, new age tinker or desperate optimists, they all have one thing in common: well kept secrets.

Every aspect of this movie is impeccable, and really leaves us with the impression that the mock filming team has done the best they could to uncover the truth, even it the film deliberately leaves some questions unanswered to add to its realism. The acting is surprisingly masterful, techniques used are not over the top, yet not sub standard either (no overused shaking and bad image quality) ; the mock filming team is supposed to be made of professionals, and we're watching professional result.

Grace Lee manages to fuse narrative and documentation to keep a dramatic curve that will hook you until the last minute, and deliver a spectacular piece of entertainment which will make you wonder for a minute or two whether or not zombies are real.

A must see, definitely.