Comedic horror is one of those things that just should not be done except by real professionals. There is a fine line between actually being funny and being cliché and stupid. There is a rhythm you need to find that defines the film. There are so few films that pull this off.. Fido is a good example as is Sean of the Dead. Dance of the Dead is not one of those films. Does that mean it sucked? No – just means they should have just kept it cool and chill. They were trying for this sub-genre but failed at it and good thing too or else it wouldn’t have been as good as it was.
This movie is great for fans of the zombie sub-genre of horror as well as new arrivals. There are editing issues but since the flick was low budget and the director was directing, editing and producing you will get problems. There are some good lines and some nice ways or shooting putting the coyboy western shot to great affect.
The premise of the film is simple and combines two horror standards: teens wanting to get laid and the undead. The movie serves to achieve this and takes things to new heights – a joy if you will. Not a completely original idea the movie takes place at prom (sorry, no pig blood here) but you have to look deeper because there is some new stuff here which is great for the genre. One key thing here is that the movie is believable. In many cases you will have an actor or acress nearing 30 that still looks young and then plays 18. Dance of the Dead 18 IS 18. Real teens PLAYING teens? Holy crap! That’s like a 12 year old playing Harry Potter.
There is a list of unknowns and what not but the cast is still good young actors ACTING and that type of freshness is hard to come by especially in this genre. The characters are real people in the sense they aren’t all EMO wannabe losers. You got the guy who thinks he’s the top banana and his girl wo is hot and wonders why he’s such a prick to her (duh – cause you let him!) and thinks about going to get somethin somethin from someone else. The map is right there for us – we can see where the destination point is – getting there is another story entirely.
A couple things stand out here and first I need to mention the script. Unloike most movies where you have the writer lurking at the mall like some lewd stalker listening to the teens talk and getting it all wrong this script actually hits the nail on the head. Instead of being a guidebook on how to not talk teen it comes off as smart and witty. Soundtracks in horror movies are usually pretty awesome and this one definitely hits it out of the park. It even features a remake of the Pat Benatar classic “Shadows of the Night”. A special note about the special effects: OUTSTANDING! They had nearly no momey and when you see the movie think back to what I am saying: IT-IS-ALL-DONE-IN-CAMERA!!! This means NO CGI! Stunning.
Dance of the Dead proves that you don’t need millions of dollars or the EMO cast from Twilight to make a decent movie (btw – Twilight sucked if you didn’t see my other review) and that you can still do awesome things if you have a love of it.
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