Dance of the Dead

Definitely worth a look. Good laughs (good cheesy one liners), good horror, good gore. I was pleased to see a lower budget come out high on my list of zombie picks. Zombie films are a hit and a miss. This one with the humor was a hit. More flicks like this need to be made. I don't want to explain the plot except its a Prom Dance with Zombies. How do you survive? From beginning to end the film keeps you involved. There wasn't a dull moment or too heavy of a character build up. It was a film that doesn't go out for shock value yet creating the B style horror. The CGI was fantastic with ample amounts of gore to please any horror fan.

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 always bite on B-horror films like this (and Black Sheep) and so far, the same results - disappointment. Dance of the Dead has absolutely no suspense whatsoever, and the pacing of the movie, along with comedic timing, is a bit off at all times. Then there's the acting which ranges from acceptable to down-right BAD (I guess that's what you get when you cast real High School-aged actors). All in all, it's no better than a b-film. I wouldn't even rank it a B+. But that's not to say it lacks any redeeming value. The character development is weak, but not non-existent. There's some serious lack of creativity (Power Plant for example) and there are moments of complete cliché (I understand what kind of movie it is but let's face it), but there's also some good gory laughs thrown in during later scenes if you can bare with it a while. The gore is here and there, and the special effects are good enough. My main problem was the amateurish aspects of it. The pacing, the timing, etc. The movie just seemed to skip too quickly without building up scenes or parts of the plot. It does get better as it goes though.

I'm no disgruntled employee, but I do think the movie is way over-hyped. It's by no means anything comparable to the likes of Shaun of the Dead or Evil Dead for that matter, but it does have a few things going for it. Only recommended for zombie fanatics that have an affinity for b-quality films. If you like polished production values, you might want to avoid it. A good test is watching the intro sequence.

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

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.