Scripted by Joe Ballarini, Gregg Bishop’s energetic, spirited 80’s style zombie comedy horror pays affectionate tribute to accepted classics like RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, overlooked corny gems like NEON MANIACS and even the peerless 80’s oeuvre of high school movie king John Hughes (whose influence is most apparent during the neat prom night finale).
At the Cosa High School, just as the students are preparing for their prom – while the nerdy cliques are facing up to the fact that they don’t have dates – a toxic leak from the local nuclear power plant begins to have a major impact. In a delicious contribution to the post-28 DAYS LATER fast zombie / slow zombie dilemma, the leak causes the newly buried to rise up as frenetic, fast moving flesh-munchers while those that have been in the ground for significantly longer are more akin to the shambling undead of the Romero quintet. Ultimately those not distracted by what dress to wear and imminent make-out sessions are the ones that have to save the day when the zombie onslaught spreads.
In addition to its inventive takes on accepted zombie movie mythology, what makes DANCE OF THE DEAD such a pleasure (and, alas, a rarity) are the terrific characterisations and likeable performances. It’s unusual that such a young cast of unknowns display such excellent comic timing and charisma in a low budget horror comedy, but this film’s teen cast – deftly capturing the contrasting high school cliques without resorting to clichés – are a pleasure to watch and their unforced interaction often hilarious. Familiar teen movie stereotypes like the rock band stoners, sci-fi nerds, punkish bullies and vacuous cheerleaders are all given fresh spins, and there’s a movie-stealing, dynamic performance by Mark Oliver as the school’s militaristic, drill-instructor-style coach who has an arsenal of weapons at hand in the event of a zombie crisis.
Efficiently shot in hi-def, Bishop’s film offers some refreshing twists on expectation : check out the wonderful scenes of freshly revived zombies catapulting themselves out of the ground and a running gag about heavy rock music repelling the walking dead. Few genre fans will complain about the climax, in which, for once, the nerds save the day (cue defiant delivery of the line : “We’re the sci-fi club!”).
The movie, which finds time for an apt 80’s-style tooling-up montage, plays like a wittier reworking of the popular but so-so German flick NIGHT OF THE LIVING DORKS, though it has a much more satisfying array of gore gags, with severed heads used as baseballs, people beaten with dismembered limbs and an alternatively gross and touching undead cheerleader-nerd love scene. Also worthy of a mention is the cool gravedigger dude who offers a muted, sporadic commentary on the unfolding events.
-Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
