American Zombie

American Zombie is the story of the zombie community in Los Angeles. A mockumentary, comedy, and issues film, American Zombie slightly humorously follows several fictional zombies, or revenants as they prefer to be called. I didn't know that this film was actually supposed to be a statement about racism or civil rights going into it, but that became clear as the film progressed.

The fictional zombies themselves are mildly funny. Judy, an asian zombie, tries the hardest to hold onto her human past. She collects cat statues, makes scrapbooks, works at an organic food company, and is searching for a human boyfriend. Lisa, by far the funniest, is a florist who specializes in funeral arrangements while pursuing her not-so-good art. Ivan, a dud of a character, is a teenager that happens to be a zombie. Joel (pronounced ho-el) is the founder of ZAG, Zombie Advocacy Group, which puts on Live Dead, a zombie Woodstock. What happens at Live Dead is the big twist of the film...

The film is told from the perspective of real life documentary filmmakers Grace Lee and John Solomon, who are parodying themselves. This is another theme of the movie that some viewers may find pretentious, in that American Zombie is something of a tongue-in-cheek diatribe on documentary film-making. Many reviews I've read have claimed it's boring, and that's a fair assessment but the humor is more quiet and not a goofy in-your-face attempt at garnering laughs. The other biggest complaint is that the last third of the film takes a serious turn, but that's the point and I didn't mind it. The events of Live Dead shift the documentary's focus both in the film and the film itself. Also, there is so much foreshadowing to the climax that I don't know why people didn't see it coming.

I recommend this film if you have nothing better to do, but thankfully it's not too long. It's a wee bit boring but there's some twists that make it possibly worthwhile in the end. Perhaps that was part of the point, in that some documentaries can be hideously boring (read: Food, Inc. Waste of time!)

Who said Zombies Can't be Cute!

Hedorah showed me an excellent campy/b-movie zombie flick by Peter Jackson called Dead Alive, released as Braindead everywhere else. How could Pete go from making such a masterpiece in over the top gore to the LOTR trilogy? I've seen this film derided on the internet, and that's sad. This movie will satisfy gore and humor fans. Anyways, I consider this post Part 2 of an earlier post about Non Traditional Kawaii. Dead Alice contained many adorable zombies.

One such zombie is the zombie baby. The spawn of the priest and a zombie woman, the zombie baby provides some of the best moments in the film (besides the mother's gasp, the glowing zombie, and "this calls for some divine intervention"). The zombie baby reminds of Kuato's evil twin. When he goes for a day in the park, he can escape even barbed wire, and goes careening down a hill in a tram. The attempts to stop him from attacking the park goers are hilarious. I don't like normal babies, but I do love zombie babies!

I couldn't find a picture of the organs, but they are really kawaii. The zombie organs are the remains of another zombie that take on a life (or unlife) or their own. They attack people by using intestines like rope. The cutest scene is sadly its demise, when it puts together what looks like lungs as "hands" begging for mercy. The heart as the face is adorable. I did find a picture of the half-head zombie in the ensnares of the organ zombie's intestines.
Lastly, the rat monkey found in New Zealand's outback is really cute. Hedorah said it's reminiscent of Salacious Crumb, and that's right. The rat monkey bites the mother at the zoo, which leads to the whole mess of zombies in the little town. Its demise, though sad in that it's cuteness is extinguished, is funny because the mother stomps it to death. At least it enjoyed a meal of a primate arm before it died.

So I ask again, who said zombies can't be cute? These ones sure are!

The Crazies: Good Thrills, Weak Plot

The Crazies is a remake of a George Romero movie. The film is about a sheriff of a small town in Iowa who has to tackle a major problem: the water supply in the town is polluted by a government biological weapon which turns the townsfolk into, well, zombies! The government quarantines the town and seeks to destroy all of its citizens, infected and uninfected, undead or alive. The sheriff, with his wife and deputy, escape the town and the government's quarantine tactics, only to find themselves turning on each other. A nuclear bomb destroys the town, and the film ends with the sheriff and his wife walking to Mason City, only the audience knows that Mason City is set for "quarantine" as well. Sucks for them...

The film itself is high on scares. There were many moments that I jumped in my seat, and the suspense and terror was too much to handle. However, the editing of the film was conscious, as in some scenes you could tell that they removed a gorier shot. I'm interested in seeing the inevitable unrated edition, to see what I suspect was removed. Other thrills included a saw careening toward the sheriff, and a man whose eyes and mouth were sewn shut. The parts at the rest stop are just about the scariest in the whole film. The best scene in the movie is when an old woman repeatedly asks "Did Peter call?"

Yet the film suffered from plot holes and other confusing points. The man that was sewn was able to tell the sheriff a zombie was behind him, despite the fact that his eyes were sewn shut. They never explained how the deputy got infected, and how his transformation took the longest. Why would the government enlist townsfolk to help with the quarantine when they had an annihilate all people order? Also, the nuclear bomb blast scene was quite reminiscent of the "fridge scene" in Indiana Jones IV, as the couple were able to escape it unscathed. The ending was sad, as the couple were the arbiters of Mason City's destruction, just by walking into it.

For me, the thrills and the solid acting, coupled with the fact that zombies are just awesome, made up for the questionable plot. This is a three star film.

The Best Twist Ending Ever

"I See Dead People" move over, because Zombi 2 has the best twist ending in film history. Sure, the poison berries at the end of the Blue Lagoon is a huge twist, and the freezing of Han Solo in carbonite was an iconic cliffhanger, but Zombi 2's ending captures the flag of movie twist endings.

Thanks to Hedorah, I had the privilege, nay, the honor, of seeing Zombi 2. The undead prey on the humans of Mahtul, a tropical island where a doctor lives that can answer the questions of a young woman whose father died. The beginning of the movie provides a clue as to the end, after all, a zombie winds up falling into the Hudson Bay. After experiencing the awesome horrors of Mahtul, including the amazing eye gouging scene, the survivors board a boat only to hear over the radio that New York City has been over run by zombies.

As the realization of this new horror sinks in (they have nowhere to go), the beautifully haunting electronic score plays over a wide shot of a zombie horde overrunning the Brooklyn Bridge.

This twist is truly iconic. Some people deride it as campy, sexed up horror, but Zombi 2 is actually a cinematic masterpiece.

Nazi Zombies!: Dead Snow

The last movie I talked about on There's Something Wrong With Esther was Wild Zero, an oddball Japanese zombie comedy. Today, I will cover Dead Snow, another foreign zombie comedy, that, while different in style and tone from Wild Zero, is equally funny and entertaining.

Dead Snow begins with a group of Norwegian med-students heading to a remote cabin in the mountains where they plan to party their spring break away. The characterization here is minimal. Each character is given one major distinguishing factor and that's pretty much it. Included are a "very single" gal, an overweight movie nerd (who provides a lot of the movie's self-aware humor), an aspiring doctor whose terrified of blood, and a cocky ex-military guy, among others. If this premise sounds familiar it's because it is. The creators of Dead Snow are well-aware of the cliches of the horror genre, and seem to have a lot of fun poking fun at them. As mentioned earlier, the chubby film nerd makes frequent references to other movies, and often pokes fun at the more tired elements of Dead Snow's plotline ("How many movies start with a group of friends on a trip to a cabin with no cell phone signal", he asks). While such dialogue was necessary to set the tongue in cheek tone of the movie, jokes like this could have easily become grating over an hour and a half long span of time. Luckily, it seems that the people behind Dead Snow were aware of this as the movie guy is the first member of our core group to die, and his death is a memorable one.

His death is caused by the central source of the mayhem behind Dead Snow: the Nazi-zombies. Nazi zombies are the film's main selling point, and the concept of these creatures is so brilliant that I can't believe they aren't in every movie. Just imagine Tron, Mama Mia, or March of the Penguins with Nazi zombies. See? They are brilliant in every scenario you could possibly place them in. On a slightly more serious note, these zombies worked for me mainly because of their look. The combination of the Nazi uniform, which is famously cold, sharp, and utilitarian looking, combined with the look of a rotting zombie body, which looks messy and organic, was a great combination. Also, I have always liked the idea of applying supernatural themes to real life historical event, whether it is done to communicate a serious message (as in the original Gojira), or for simply for the humor that results from the absurdity of it all (as is in Dead Snow).

It helps that the zombie makeup here is well done. The zombies have cold grey faces and mouths that spit blood. These zombies are creatures that really do look like monsters and not simply people in costumes. Watching them growl, trudge through snow banks, and stab our med-students in synchronization (yes, these zombies use weapons), is bizarrely entertaining. That said, these beings are still monsters, so you won't feel too bad for them as they are destroyed with all manners of weaponry. Zombie movies as a whole are generally a gory bunch, and Dead Snow is no exception. During the last half-hour of the movie, there are guts, brains, and blood galore flying across the screen non-stop. It is in the gruesome moments of the film that its delightfully dark sense of humor comes through, and it is here that Dead Snow becomes something awesome.

It's true that Dead Snow is not a flawless zombie epic- it's not entirely original either in premise or tone, and the first half of the film is a bit slow. These faults are forgivable, however, because Dead Snow does not attempt to be truly different or expertly paced. It merely wants to make the viewer laugh, and possibly makes them squirm. From my own experience, and from watching other's reactions, I would say that it does what it set out to do, and does it very well.

"Hey mister, do you know 'Rock 'n Roll'?": Wild Zero

Like the hordes of undead themselves, zombie comedies are overrunning the pop culture landscape. This sub-genre's reign shows no signs of slowing down. Last year alone saw the release of numerous books and movies that cast a humorous light on the undead. Most notably there was the New York Times bestseller Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (a goofy reworking of the Jane Austen classic), Death Troopers (the first Star Wars horror novel and the only book in the history of literature to feature zombie wookies), and the crowd pleasing Zombieland. So what makes this blend so appealing? I can't speak for everyone, but I believe that, when done correctly, a zombie comedy is a delicious mix of action, horror, and pure insanity. Wild Zero, a Japanese movie from 2000, is such a mix.

Wild Zero opens with a view of the Earth as seen from outer space. Hundreds of UFOs swarm across the screen. They are arriving to launch the zombie apocalypse and doom us all. Wild Zero, if you couldn't guess from this, is a movie that doesn't take itself seriously. The UFO plot point is ripped straight from no-budget 1950's science fiction. In particular it seems to be a nod to Plan 9 From Outer Space, a favorite amongst fans of "so bad it's good" cinema. This should give you a hint as to the tone of Wild Zero- it's crazy, campy, and makes no attempt to slow down and think about things.

As one would expect, the characters that populate the world of Wild Zero are as colorful as can be. Our hero is Ace, a rock 'n roll fanboy who wants nothing more in life than to be just like his favorite band, Guitar Wolf. Guitar Wolf is a real Japanese rock band which consists of three band members who go by the matter-of-fact stage names Guitar Wolf, Bass Wolf, and Drum Wolf. All three have starring roles in Wild Zero playing exaggerated versions of themselves to great comedic effect. It's hard not to love Guitar Wolf. They all dress in a simple uniform that consists of black leather jackets, sunglasses, and slicked-back hair. In between battles with the undead, they scream into microphones that shoot fire, offer advice against intolerance ("Love has no borders, nationalities, or genders!"), and make Ace their rock 'n roll blood brother (when Ace is in danger, he can blow a whistle to summon the band to his aid). The majority of the soundtrack consists of Guitar Wolf songs, and they, like the movie itself, are loud, fast, obsessed with B-grade sci-fi and horror, and distinctly Japanese.

Standing in Guitar Wolf and Ace's path to happiness is hundreds of hungry undead. The zombies in Wild Zero are an odd bunch of creatures. They have blueish complexions, similar to the zombies in Dawn of the Dead (1978), but unlike that crowd, the creatures in Wild Zero can speak, and they seem to have clear memories of their lives pre-zombification. In one humorous yet bizarre scene a zombie attempts to trick a group of humans into thinking he is one of the living.

While the zombies themselves are entertaining, the majority of the special effects surrounding them are pretty bad, and are easily the weakest part of the movie. The zombie makeup is passable, but could've used some touching up. The computer generated exploding zombie heads, however, are atrocious looking, and represent everything that is wrong with CG gore. It doesn't help that Wild Zero was made in the early 2000's, making such poor effects look dated as well as cheap. Luckily, this is not a movie that relies on special effects to propel the zombie mayhem. Instead, it uses the strong personalities of its characters to grab your attention, which makes the subpar gore more forgivable than it might be in another story.

In fact, I would argue that the true villain of Wild Zero is not the zombie horde, but rather a greedy, sleazy, club owner with a passion for criminally short shorts. While a money hungry business man is not exactly a new character concept, the way this man dresses, speaks, and acts is totally unique, totally hilarious, and very different than anything I could imagine seeing in an American movie of this style. I would even say that Wild Zero is worth looking into just to see this outrageous character.

Wild Zero is a movie created for a specific taste. It is crazy, random, fast, loud, and packs in as much fun per minute as is humanly possible. Its something you either "get" or you don't. For the record, I get the joke of Wild Zero, and it never gets old.