October 22, 2007
|
He'll chew a cuddly hole in your tender heart.It's no secret that our beloved zombie subgenre has recently suffered a serious bout of cinematic bulimia, systematically purging the sickly contents of its malnourished stomach all over video shelves across the globe. Fortunately, Canadian filmmaker Andrew Currie's quirky 2006 zombie comedy Fido acts as kind of all purpose multi-vitamin, an over the counter cure for what's currently ailing this sagging genre. His insanely creative take on the trials and tribulations associated with living amongst the undead is the kind picture that traditional horror fans love to hate: it's smart, it's funny, and it takes certain artistic liberties with the mythos. Currie and Robert Chomiak's script is two centimeters away from flawlessness, hampered only by a few thin characters and one stale Lassie reference. The cast, however, is spot-on, delivering the kind of off-beat performances you'd expect from the likes of Billy Connolly, Dylan Baker, Tim Blake Nelson, and Carrie-Anne Moss. Those seeking run-of-the-mill zombie carnage will most likely hate this flick with a passion, giving the rest of us a very good reason to point and laugh whenever we spot them dissecting Day of the Dead on various genre-related message boards. Blame Canada!
Recipe For Success: An Interesting Take On A Tired Subgenre + Billy Connolly + Uncomfortable Zombie-Related Flirtation. Yikes.
Secrets Of The Dead: Though your zombie may be a flesh-eating monster, he or she may be easily swayed by the opposite sex.
Naughty ghouls need love, too.
2 Spasms:
I'm gald this actually got a release. I read about it in Rue Morgue last year and I've been wringing my hands in anticipation. I love zombies but if I have to see another copy of some no-budget, gun crazy zombie flick on the shelf at the store sporting the horror movie variation of a Cash Money or No Limit hip-hop album cover, I'm going to lose it. If there's one thing the genre needs right now is a strong dose of creativity and less arguments about running vs. shambling. This is going straight to my Netflix queue.
And anyone who likes running zombies is a noob.
Fido is definitely a step in the right direction in terms of creativity. I've read a few fanboy arguments that it doesn't even qualify as a zombie film, which is absolutely ridiculous. Just because Fido doesn't adhere to the tired formula utilized by others working in the genre doesn't mean it's unworthy of attention.
Deactivating rant sequence now.
Post a Comment