DANCE OF THE DEAD
* * * (2008, 87 minutes, Rated R)
Just like "The Monster Mash," this is a graveyard smash.
Do you have any idea of how hard it is to impress me?
Seriously: The movies I review for this site are crap. Sometimes it's entertaining crap, more often
it's amusing at it's own expense crap, and far too often it's just awful crap... at the end of the day, it's
all crap.
This movie should have been crap. As Netflix puts it, "this tongue-in-cheek, teen creature feature
centers on a high school prom at which the living dead await a crowd of unsuspecting students."
Oh good, ninety minutes of thirtysomethings playing teenage stereotypes. Hell, I could make a
game out of it: the bitchy cheerleader, the goofy stoner, the preppy All-American, the science geek.,
BINGO!
* * * (2008, 87 minutes, Rated R)
Just like "The Monster Mash," this is a graveyard smash.
Do you have any idea of how hard it is to impress me?
Seriously: The movies I review for this site are crap. Sometimes it's entertaining crap, more often
it's amusing at it's own expense crap, and far too often it's just awful crap... at the end of the day, it's
all crap.
This movie should have been crap. As Netflix puts it, "this tongue-in-cheek, teen creature feature
centers on a high school prom at which the living dead await a crowd of unsuspecting students."
Oh good, ninety minutes of thirtysomethings playing teenage stereotypes. Hell, I could make a
game out of it: the bitchy cheerleader, the goofy stoner, the preppy All-American, the science geek.,
BINGO!
| Mildred is only a Goth-Chick-Who-Smokes away from winning High School Stereotype Bingo. |
This movie, Dance of the Dead, impressed me. Dance of the Dead is most definitely not crap.
The treatment of the high school students do a lot to make this film not crappy. The Bitchy
Cheerleader is *gasp* not a bitch. The Insecure Bully doesn't have a glass jaw and isn't insecure,
he simply doesn't respect anyone else -- and once he does respect them, he starts playing a
different tune. The Goofy Slacker clearly has a hard time taking the particulars of high school life
seriously... and the fact that he's dating the hottie Class Go-Getter hints that he can't be too much
of a slacker. The script doesn't give the actors much to run with -- this is a zombie movie -- but just
enough to give the feeling that you're watching actual teenagers and not cardboard cut-outs.
Speaking of the script, this is one of the better and more playful takes on the zombie genre in a
while. Sure, there are some aggressively silly moments: a zombie carjacker, a Mortal
The treatment of the high school students do a lot to make this film not crappy. The Bitchy
Cheerleader is *gasp* not a bitch. The Insecure Bully doesn't have a glass jaw and isn't insecure,
he simply doesn't respect anyone else -- and once he does respect them, he starts playing a
different tune. The Goofy Slacker clearly has a hard time taking the particulars of high school life
seriously... and the fact that he's dating the hottie Class Go-Getter hints that he can't be too much
of a slacker. The script doesn't give the actors much to run with -- this is a zombie movie -- but just
enough to give the feeling that you're watching actual teenagers and not cardboard cut-outs.
Speaking of the script, this is one of the better and more playful takes on the zombie genre in a
while. Sure, there are some aggressively silly moments: a zombie carjacker, a Mortal
Kombat-style Fatality, the world's first elbow drop on a
zombie and the ability to keep the undead entranced with the
power of heavy metal.
But for all it's silliness, this is still very much a zombie movie
-- one that walks that "zom-com" line much like the flawless
Shaun of the Dead and, to a lesser extent, BioZombie. And
there are plenty of smart moments in this movie: The film
opens with a fairly traditional "zombies popping out of the
grave" scene that ends in a nice little twist, our band of
survivors realize they've holed up in one of the worst places
to be during a zombie outbreak, and the biology teacher
discovers that it's not just dead humans coming back to life.
Perhaps the most clever move of all is having all the kids
who couldn't (or wouldn't) get dates to the prom being the
ones rushing off to save the prom.
How's that for school spirit?
* * *
zombie and the ability to keep the undead entranced with the
power of heavy metal.
But for all it's silliness, this is still very much a zombie movie
-- one that walks that "zom-com" line much like the flawless
Shaun of the Dead and, to a lesser extent, BioZombie. And
there are plenty of smart moments in this movie: The film
opens with a fairly traditional "zombies popping out of the
grave" scene that ends in a nice little twist, our band of
survivors realize they've holed up in one of the worst places
to be during a zombie outbreak, and the biology teacher
discovers that it's not just dead humans coming back to life.
Perhaps the most clever move of all is having all the kids
who couldn't (or wouldn't) get dates to the prom being the
ones rushing off to save the prom.
How's that for school spirit?
* * *
What? You're still here? Waiting for me to rip this movie apart? Sorry, I just call 'em like I see 'em.
If you're looking for a second opinion, you could check in with Fred [The Wolf] or with Kelsey and
Anthony T over at FilmArcade.net.
As for why I only gave this movie three asterisks... It's too good for what The 'Bin is looking for. This
kind of thing has happened before -- for me, it's like the opposite of an occupational hazard.
Anyway, for a legitimately, straight-up entertaining picture, three asterisks is as good as it gets.
If you're looking for a second opinion, you could check in with Fred [The Wolf] or with Kelsey and
Anthony T over at FilmArcade.net.
As for why I only gave this movie three asterisks... It's too good for what The 'Bin is looking for. This
kind of thing has happened before -- for me, it's like the opposite of an occupational hazard.
Anyway, for a legitimately, straight-up entertaining picture, three asterisks is as good as it gets.
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