Les Zombies font du ski

How often have you really seen comedy and horror work well together? Probably not too often but "Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies" does a great job at fusing these two categories. This lighthearted, zombie filled film brings together every aspect of horror films and comedies to make it enjoyable for everyone to watch.

When three teens are stranded on the Austrian Alps during a snowboarding trip, you don't think many bad things could happen. But add a science experiment gone wrong, and a mountain full of zombies to the equation and then you have real mayhem. Luckily, the humor throughout keeps the spirits high and hopeful for an escape from this hellish location.

The script has cleverly written jokes that kept me laughing and a self-aware cast that notably mentions they are in some type of "zombie movie" to the audience. I noticed an 80's vibe present that also helps to give off a quirky feel.

But not to worry for all the horror lovers. There is an intense fight scene between the zombies and snowboarders that still had me hiding my eyes (mostly because I'm squeamish). If you can think of any way to kill a zombie with a snowboard, it is done in this movie and probably more. Whether there is a head being cut off or in half, a body severed, or a zombie being shot to death you will have enough gore to last you a lifetime. Basically, the special effects did not disappoint and the makeup helps make some of the most realistic looking zombies.

This ZomCom is a great flick that I really enjoyed. It is perfect for a movie night and deserving of any comedy or zombie lovers time. This spoofy film does not disappoint and should be added to everyone's movie watch list.

If there's one horror sub genre that truly outstayed its welcome for far too long by now, it's undoubtedly the zombie-comedy. Particularly since Edgar Wright's fantastic "Shaun of the Dead", there's an oversupply of literally hundreds of wannabe refreshing and original zombie flicks in all kind of shapes, settings or specific situations. We've had Nazi zombies, zombie boy scouts, zombie beavers, Cuban zombies, Russian zombies, Aussie zombies, zombie strippers, retired zombies, baby zombies, intelligent zombies, mockumentary zombies, space zombies, ex-girlfriend zombies, drug-addicted zombies, football zombies, political zombies, cowboy zombies, zombie nerds, handicapped zombies and I could probably list another few dozen of zombie variations… The thing with these flicks is that they are light- headed and easily watchable, but gradually becoming so damn mundane and tiresome. Personally I have decided to skip 99% of the 'zomedy' spawn and only still watch the occasional one at a festival or together with friends while getting drunk. Zombies in traditional Austrian garb and roaming around in an après- ski resort are gimmicks that hadn't been done before yet, so here's the movie with the all-summarizing title "Attack of the Lederhozen Zombies". The worldwide premiere took place at the Brussels' International Fantastic Film Festival around midnight, so ideal place and circumstances for me to switch off most of my brain functions and enjoy the bloodshed along with the rest of the outrageous festival crowd!

High up in the Alps of Tyrol, Austria, the megalomaniac resort owner Franz has developed a monstrosity-machine that supposedly turns liquid into pure and fresh snow regardless of how warm the outside temperatures are. His plan is to beat global warming and make the skiing season last all year, and thus he invited a Russian industrialist over to give a demonstration and hopefully receive financial support. The demonstration goes horribly wrong – or what else did you think – and the Russian inhales green fumes that almost instantly turn him into a zombie. Meanwhile, three stunt- snowboarders are stranded atop of the mountain as well and Rita's après-ski hut is getting ready for the end-of-the-season party that will last all night. They all come together for one hellish night of bloody mass annihilation and schnapps! The film doesn't feature any gag or kill that you haven't seen numerous times before in other movies, except now the massacres are done with the sharp edges of a snowboard or ski poles instead of the more conventional armory. According to writer/director Dominik Hartl, the concept idea comes from observing drunken winter sport tourists at the après-ski parties in Tyrol. People drink too much schnapps or beers, lose their dignity and stumble around the snowy landscapes as if they are drooling, brain dead zombies. My family and I go on skiing vacation in Tyrol every year and I can definitely confirm that the comparison is very accurate. Heck, I probably even wandered around there looking like a zombie myself! What Dominik Hartl does quite well is referring, both obviously as well as subtly, towards legendary sequences of other genre milestones. The opening sequence is a beautiful homage to John Carpenter's "The Thing", the artificial snow liquid looks exactly like the green goo in Stuart Gordon's "Re- Animator", the mingling of the zombies between the regular party- goers is a big fat wink towards Edgar Wright's "Shaun of the Dead" and Rita's bloody stroll with the forage chopper is very reminiscent to the lawnmower scene in Peter Jackson's "Braindead".

"What we have is a problem with the damn climate. Every year it's getting warmer. So we can soon forget about skiing, you know. It's like the Arabs losing their oil. "

Frankly, the film title was the only reason why I wanted to see this movie. Admit it. Such a film title appeals to the imagination. You know up front you can expect an über-ridiculous horror full of kitsch and cheap horror effects. Eventually I was expecting a similar result as in a Bavarian porn from years ago. These were satirical soft porn films where you could admire a shapely bosom from a lusty Bavarian farmer's daughter occasionally. But otherwise it was merely suggestive. Even the movie titles were more exciting and more titillating than the content of the film itself. The same goes for "Attack of the lederhosen zombies" . It's obviously a satire on the zombie genre and focuses more on the comedy part than on the horror section.

I was pleasantly surprised by the opening scene with a wide view over the Austrian Alps. Unfortunately, this panoramic view looks slicker than the gore, bloody zombie scenes at a later stage. The makers of this Austrian zombie satire don't like wasting time though. So you don't have to wait half an hour before the first infected victims appear. This time it isn't a uncontrolled virus that's the cause of the epidemic, but a chemical substance which has been brewed by the local ski-lift owner to produce artificial snow. Who invents such stuff? When an interested investor attends a demonstration, this goes awfully wrong causing him to swallow the chemical crap. Well, and this is the beginning of a lot of trouble.

A piece of advice. Don't take it all too seriously. But then again, which zombie movie should you really take seriously? To be honest, this is the first time I thought the combination of humor and horror wasn't that bad. It's obvious that the emphasis is more on creating comic situations than making the film scary. It isn't really creepy or exciting at all. And stating that this is a real thigh-slapper (which is customary with those lederhosen ) is also a bit exaggerated. There are some chuckle moments (that zombie with those ski poles getting stuck in a stairwell) and some sly tongue-in-cheek jokes ("It's all downhill from here"). But don't expect more.

The only acting performance I could appreciate was that of Margarete Tiesel as the voluptuous Rita. The protagonists are clearly not recruited because of their acting skills, but rather because they know how to snowboard, I guess. The most irritating piece was the dance-scene with Steve (Laurie Calvert) and Branka (Gabriela Marcinkova) demonstrating their best dance moves. Kind of funny but the fragment was a little too lengthy. In terms of makeup used on the creatures, this obviously couldn't match the zombie movies with a significantly higher budget. The gore scenes, however, were gross enough with a multitude of spraying blood, decapitations and winding intestines (although they looked plastic). Unfortunately, however, the zombie deer looked like the work of a taxidermist. "Attack of the zombies lederhosen" is not a sickening zombie-movie, but tries to be unique in the current stream of zombie movies we have to swallow the last few years. It's not the type of film one would say "It's so bad, it turns out to be good". But it's a close call.

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Horror/comedy fans can rest easy knowing that Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies director Dominik Hartl pulled off an incredible feat: delicately walking the line between horror and comedy. The humor in this film is truly humorous (slapstick is not the name of the game here, thankfully, but there is a little thrown in for good measure). Likewise, the horror is truly horrendous in the best possible way—dramatic character deaths, gory zombie dismemberment, and painful moral decisions see to that. As the film is foreign, it also possesses a unique trait that further distinguishes it from less inspired contemporary films: the humor is intellectually funny. It is evident that actual thought went into not only the jokes themselves, but also their timing and story integration. It is entirely possible to laugh out loud without even looking at the screen; listening to the words is often simply enough. Lederhosen Zombies earns the "comedy" in its horror/comedy genre label; if you like other cerebral horror comedies (like Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead or Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness) this film deserves a spot on your list.

What would you get if you took elements from "The Thing", "Shaun of the Dead", "Cabin Fever" and "Night of the Living Dead" and mixed it all together? Well, I would say that you'd end up with something like "Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies".

This is a zombie comedy that takes place in the Alps. Here you have two snowboarders and one of their girlfriends stuck at a mountainside tavern, unable to reach the bottom of the mountain and thus not being able to get to transportation, as night falls upon the mountain. However, an experiment to create fake snow has unleashed a deadly infection which turns people into a ravaging zombies, and the night has just begun...

Right, this is a fairly straight forward, albeit a bit too generic storyline. Sure, it was entertaining, especially because of its originality. But it just didn't really bring anything new or exciting to the zombie genre, and that was sort of a hindrance to the movie.

The acting in "Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies" was quite alright. They had a group of fairly diverse talents on the cast list, so there is bound to be something for just about everyone here.

As for the special effects, which are all-important to a zombie movie. I will say that the special effects team behind "Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies" stepped up to their task and delivered quite well. The effects were good, and the zombies looked good. And there was just enough gore here as well to keep most gorehounds happy as well.

"Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies" did suffer from being a quite generic zombie movie. And by that I mean that you will not see anything here that you haven't seen in other zombie movies already. On that account, the movie lacked creative thinking, and that permeated into all layers of the movie. However, don't get me wrong here, "Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies" is still an enjoyable and watchable movie, it just didn't stand out in the genre.

I really enjoyed the zombie deer, they were hilarious, and they looked quite cool as well. I think it was a real shame that they didn't opt to utilize them more and incorporate them more into the movie and give them more screen time.

"Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies" scores a mediocre five out of ten stars rating, because of its generic nature. It was a shame that they failed to bring anything new and refreshing to the zombie genre, because "Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies" really had a bigger potential.