Dug Up

DUG UP is your usual indie zombie comedy which feels a little better than some of the braindead efforts that this genre conjures up. The reason for that is that the script isn't totally mindless and the main three actors do seem invested in their roles. The story takes a while to get going and the first half is too obsessed with showing skin to get on with the plotting, but the low rent zombie nonsense in the second half is a bit better. There's the requisite cheap gore effects and some mannered acting bringing to life characters that are more caricature than real person. By the standards of mainstream cinema it's not very good, but by the standards of an indie it's not so bad.

This movie was filmed in Vermont, but would have been right at home in a backwoods hillbilly area. In fact, the actors do a great job of being clueless and stupid. Unfortunately, that can only go so far. The sheriff of the town is always busy doing extracurricular horizontal activities. An old man dies, and it was rumored he had gold and treasure hidden, and Trevor decides he will try and find it. Instead of gold hidden in a grave, they find a box, and inside is a dial and a medal. In turning the dial, they cause the dead within 100 miles to rise out of their graves. And the zombies can be quite fast. It is low budget and it shows. It is also fairly goofy. But it also wears thin after awhile.

"It's rednecks versus zombies and it's not a match of wits!" Horror "comedy" about a zombie outbreak in a small rural town. Three young grave robbers looking for buried treasure instead find a curious looking contraption that has a dial on it. We later fine out that this device is in fact a Necrometer - can't say that I've ever heard of one before - and it is used to raise the dead, which our dimwits have already done. I like seeing decaying zombies rise from their graves and to the film's credit we get to see this. And the ghouls' makeup is half decent too, though the CGI used for bloody gunshots etc looks very cheap. I also liked the fact that the lead guy explains that these are undead zombies as opposed to viral ones, therefore being bitten by one will not turn that person into a zombie. What lets this movie down big time for me is firstly the juvenile humour, farting and sex gags are only funny for so long until they become repetitive and boring. For me this happened very early on in the plot. Secondly there is the acting, it ranges from bad to abysmal. The zombie-comedy sub genre has been done to death, most are mediocre or below, this is by no means the worst that I have seen but I certainly won't be digging it up again.

Hey everyone... Dug Up will finally get you to appreciate what so many halfbaked overblown cable shows never accomplish. This one portrays the ridiculousness of 'zombie' films as they should be done. Over the top campy, hammy glory, and you won't be disappointed. If you like throw backs to the 70's, 80's and 90's camp horror films & comedy's then you'll love this. Great performances and redneck humor at its best. The final conflict with "Dukes of Hazard" stylized knock 'em dead and William Shockley channeling Kristofferson from "Blade" is hilarious.

Have you ever watched a movie that was so stupid that you felt stupider after watching it? This is such a movie.

I rather enjoy zombie comedies, so I was hopeful that "Dug Up" might be a nice indie that had flown under the radar. But the reviews that warn you to ignore the10s should be respected. Because "Zombiand," it is not.

Being low budget, I can excuse the really bad makeup and special effects. I can excuse a certain amount of sloppy storytelling and character development. I can even excuse laughable plot holes and lazy, dumb wrap ups. But what I can't excuse is filming a movie in Vermont while pretending to be the most insulting stereotypical Southern rednecks known to man.

The cast of "Dug Up" apparently rifled through all the old "Dukes of Hazzard" wardrobe, while perfecting their unknown Southern regional accents by everyone just kind of agreeing that all Southerners talk that way while punctuating the script with plenty of uses of the term "thingamajiggy" thrown in while slapping their hips and hyucking. Like all us Southerners do. Reading the other reviews, apparently I wasn't the only one appalled and insulted.

You know, had they NOT chosen to make anyone south of Mason-Dixon the butt of their joke and just played it straight, it probably would have been a much better film. It wouldn't have been near as stupid and the jokes may have landed better. I don't know...how do Vermonters talk? But honestly the ONLY reason I didn't shut this crap show off after 10 minutes was because I wanted to give it a chance, and to fairly review it.