Zombie Lover

The Deagol Brothers' "Make-Out with Violence" is a stylish, smart, sweet little American indie that is sure to leave the viewer buzzing. This isn't your typical genre film, and the quirky mix of comedy and horror defies description. Films that terrorize with tongue firmly planted in cheek are among my favorites, but "Make-Out with Violence" doesn't even fit that profile.

The film opens with the slightly creepy voice-over of little brother Beetle (scene-stealer Brett Miller), segues to flashbacks shot with a soft, dreamy, oversaturated look, then takes the viewer on a ride through the most perverse summer this group of slightly off-kilter misfits has ever had. The soundtrack is one of the film's strongest elements, mostly the work of composer Jordan Lehning (who also plays lead character Rody). The writing, direction, editing, and production of the film are all the handiwork of a small group of multitalented family members. Even the actors had a hand in the film's creative process. The two brothers at the center of the film (Eric Lehning and Cody DeVos) are also credited as writers, along with the Deagols. The film is shot and edited with such precision that there isn't a single frame of filler. Every word, every camera angle, every visual and sound effect is devoted to advancing the story. The filmmakers certainly made the best use of their low budget -- from all appearances there were no post-production special effects. Everything appears to have been done in-camera. No small feat for a genre film. This is quite an impressive calling card for these first-time feature filmmakers.

This is sort of an indie coming-of-age story with snippets of horror.

Don't be misled by the cover and the title of this flick (as I was), because this is in no way a full blown horror flick.

Wendy comes back from the dead as some sort of a zombie. Without the craving for human brains that is, because once again: this is not a horror story.

The rest of the story is about Wendy's friends being bored and feeling sorry for themselves. Without having any shocking epiphanies while doing so.

The movie starts with over half an hour of storytelling and elaborating on the characters.

Although the acting is more than decent, the pace of the story is excruciatingly slow and filled with unnecessary scenes (buying a chocolate milkshake, minutes of walking through fields etc.).

Maybe it's me being impatient, but I turned it off. How long can one watch a couple of teenagers walking around explaining how sad they are?

But then again, that's just my 2 cents....

The DVD cover for "Make-Out with Violence" had the 'the year's rom-zom-com' on it, and that is what caught my attention along with a couple of other high praise lines from various magazines and websites. And being the zombie aficionado that I am, I just had to get it and see what it was.

And now having seen it, I must say that it wasn't anything at all what I had expected it to be. The movie was incredibly slow moving. That being said, then I am not saying that the movie was bad, because it was really nicely filmed and edited, plus it had a good enough storyline. I, however, had just expected something more from it and more than just one decomposing girl, zombie-wise. And the 'zombie' is more of a backdrop character to help the story along.

The story in "Make-Out with Violence" is about two brothers, Patrick (played by Eric Lehning) and Carol (played by Cody DeVos) who is trying to deal with and come to terms with the loss of their close friend Wendy (played by Shellie Marie Shartzer). They happen to come across her body, as it was never found, but Wendy is now a living dead. They bring her to a house, where they try to keep her alive and have something that resemble a life.

Actually, the storyline was well put together and worked out well enough, I just had a whole other expectation to what it would be. And as such, I wasn't really enjoying the movie, because it was a drama and not a horror (as the DVD cover had listed as the genre). Don't expect this movie to be a zombie fest, because it only have that one zombie in it.

The people they had hired for the various roles were actually doing good jobs with their roles, and they really helped the movie to step up a notch. Most noteworthy, in my opinion, was Eric Lehning; his performance was just incredible.

If you enjoy zombie movies that aren't mainstream, then "Make-Out with Violence" might just be something for you. Just bear in mind that it is a drama about the lives of the brothers and their friends and their morbid situation of having a living dead amongst them, and not being a horror zombie movie. It is a beautiful movie, to be honest, but hardly an ordinary zombie movie.

Unlike Deadgirl, which was released around the same time, this movie struck me as pretentious nonsense that exists only to showcase the indie cred of all involved. There wasn't anything really *wrong* with it, per se, but I found myself constantly rolling my eyes and sighing heavily. Most of the scenes are melodramatic, though the acting is decent enough. None of the characters ever seem to express any strong emotions, though I suppose that's probably the fault of the writers/directors than the actors. Speaking of the writing, it was pretty mediocre. I've seen much, much worse, but with the pretentiousness of the directing, I was really expecting something a bit deeper. The soundtrack seems to be a major part of the experience, and I'm sure that if you're one of those hipsters who can't get enough of pretentious, derivative pop music, you'll love it to death. Unfortunately, I don't think I was in the target demographic for this movie. Some movies can transcend their genre and target demographic, like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (spaghetti western), The Shining (horror), and The Godfather (crime drama). That requires good directing and writing, however, and this movie simply can't rise above the silly pretensions of the Smeagol brothers (or whatever). If you're into this sort of thing (pretentious "indie" movies), you'll probably love it, but I was overcome by boredom and annoyance.

There are enough stylistic coups to indicate that the creators of "Make-Out with Violence," an uneasy genre-bending tale about twin brothers who are keeping the not-quite-dead (or once but no longer dead) object of the oldest brother's affections on ice in the bathtub of a friend's house, have potential to make a really good movie. However, this isn't that movie. It's not especially bad, but it suffers from a lack of confidence in tone. The writers and directors pitch it somewhere between the deadpan humor of "Napolean Dynamite" and the disturbing surrealism of "Donnie Darko," but don't commit fully in either direction. Therefore, it too often leaves the audience feeling adrift, not sure how we're supposed to be reacting.

It doesn't help that the majority of the acting is sub-par, especially that of the actor who has perhaps the most crucial role, Patrick (Eric Lehning), the older (by minutes) brother. Cody DeVos, on the other hand, playing the younger twin Carol, goes a long way if not quite all the way at making up for what Lehning fails to deliver. Leah High, as Addy, love interest for Carol, does some nice work, but Jordan Lehning, as the friend who lends his house to a zombie, and Brett Miller as Beetle, the younger brother of Patrick and Carol who also serves as our narrator, are weak.

The film's central conceit -- that Patrick's love for a zombie is a symbol for all the unrequited angst-filled yearnings swirling around this group of almost-adults over the course of a lazy summer -- is a good one, and the movie's not a total wash by a long shot. But mostly it spends its running time being just good enough to make you wish it was better.

Grade: B-