Stalled

A janitor (Dan Palmer) gets trapped in a women's restroom and encounters an all-out attack by a horde of zombies.

Clearly the people who made this have talent, had an idea, had a good cast and crew and had a sense of humor. But it just never really took off. There are some scenes that are pretty awesome, but the vast bulk of the time is drawn out (I could not care less about the relationship between WC and the girl in the other stall).

Unfortunately, another issue was the strong British accents. I cannot hold this against them -- or at least I should not -- but many of the talking parts were completely lost on me. These were some thick accents.

I enjoy all things zombie, and check out just about everything I can come across. Now, the title of this movie, the concept of the story and the fact that it brandished "a worthy successor to Shaun of the Dead" on the front cover really had my interest peaked.

So, of course I had to give it a go. And the verdict is, well, the story has its moments, and it is one of those particular movies that is thick with British comedy. A worthy successor to "Shaun of the Dead", however, nah, I wouldn't go that far.

The story is in all its simplicity about W.C. (played by Dan Palmer), a janitor who gets trapped in a women's bathroom stall when a Christmas party takes a turn for the worse and people start turning into ravenous flesh-eating zombies.

I will say that director Christian James did have an interest approach to this movie, especially since about 95% of all the movie just takes place in a confined, cramped stall in a ladies restroom. That being said, then that limitation of location also set a heavy limitation on the movie, because it was starting to wear a bit thin towards the end.

The acting in the movie was alright, especially since the entire movie was just riding on the performance of Dan Palmer and the voice of Antonia Bernath - from two stalls over.

"Stalled" is in itself a good enough zombie movie, that should be watched at least once, if you enjoy zombie movies, as I do. However, it is not outstanding, nor is it as great as initially hyped up to be. The movie is fairly generic, and while it is not amongst the worst of zombies movies I have seen, nor can I claim that it is amongst the better of such movies.

A janitor is fixing the fan in the ladies room when people starts to turn. At first, he's a perv peeping on a couple of hot chicks. Then, the girls go zombie and he's hit by a wave of company Christmas party goers turn zombies.

This is a low budget British zombie comedy. The blood and gore hold very little scary moments. I actually like the charm of a low budget horror, but the only scary thing is that oversized stuff rat. As for the comedy part, it had a couple of smile worthy moments. Certainly, there is nothing worthy of a big laugh. The lead character WC is a loser weasel. But Dan Palmer is no Simon Pegg. He doesn't have the likability of Pegg. He's a pale imitation. For a low budget movie, it had its moments. There's just not enough moments to recommend the movie.

The premise is stupid on paper, cleaner stuck in toilet during an apocalypse, using items like door hooks and toilet seats to fight off creatures who want to turn him into a snack at the Christmas buffet. And do you know what? We at the #UndeadSymphony actually quite enjoyed this one...

Is it Citizen Kane? No, but in truth, does this little Rosebud pretend to be? It knows it's limitations, it knows what it can and can't do and does it's best with it. The main character is unlikeable and selfish, but in a way that makes you chuckle (see the scene with fingers and catapults). Some scenes which are cliché are surprisingly tense and although you don't really see the supporting actress (bar a cartoon on a cubicle door), the hints of romance are enough to make you feel genuinely for her. The gore is good, the slapstick is funny and the acting is good and brings you into the story.

Is this Citizen Kane? No, think more Phonebooth with Colin Farrell... in a toilet... with Zombies.

Very watchable, give it a crack.

Shaun of the Dead ? No. Waste of time ? Not if you love zombies. Everyone knows that zombies have experienced a resurgence of sorts from its heyday back in the late 70's, early 80's. Problem is, how many different ways can you tell a story involving re-animated corpses ? We've got Nazi Zombies, Ninja Zombies, Zombie Gangs, Zombies on a train, plane or automobile, etc. There's even a TV series, The Walking Dead, which simply uses zombies as a prop to distract from the real story about survivor interaction. "Stalled" is (not just) another installment in the Zombie Comedy genre, the best of which started with the above-mentioned "Shaun of the Dead" and continued with "Zombieland"... Stalled is an inventive take on the whole "holed up" premise started way back with the original; Romero's Night of the Living Dead. But instead of a farmhouse, it takes place in a women's commode. It's got it's funny bits, it's got lots of blood, and it gets right to the action; it's even has a little sexual thrill (nothing explicit); that's it's positives. What it's got going against it is, it's fairly predictable and it's just not as funny as it thinks it is...but, with zombie comedies, they've got a huge yardstick to measure up to with Shaun. For those that view zombies as just another horror character, Stalled may seem like so much crap, but for the true zombie connoisseur, it's an inventive way to tell another zombie story. Any movie that can hold your attention and (nearly) everything takes place in a restroom, must have something going for it.