[Dance Of The Dead]
Plot:On the night of the big Homecoming Dance, the dead rise to eat the living, and the only people who can stop them are the losers who couldn't get dates to the dance.

Cast:Jared Kusnitz, Greyson Chadwick, Zoe Myers, Mark Lynch, Randy McDowell, Mark Oliver, Jonathan Spencer, Emma Page, Chandler Darby, Lucas Till, Laura Wiggins, Chris Fedun, Carissa Capobianco, Blair Redford, Jeff Adelman, Stephen Caudill, Erin Smith, Michael V. Mammoliti, Dale Basescu, Justin Welborn, Hunter Pierce, James Jarrett, Terrie Thompson.

My Thoughts:A zombie comedy that would've been better minus the comedy.

Review:For some odd unknown reason, every new zombie movie nowadays has to be a comedy/zombie mix. "Fido" and "Undead Or Alive" for example. "Dance Of The Dead" is yet another zombie movie that tries to mix the undead with some comedy aspects. It doesn't work very well at all, well...the comedy anyways. The zombie portions of the film are pretty spirited though. The pic follows your typical every day high school teenagers, who are getting ready for their big homecoming dance.

In the midst of the preparations for the dance, there are all sorts of side plots which mirror lots of stuff from films like '10 Things I Hate About You" and "Can't Hardly Wait". One girl is angry her boyfriend doesn't take life seriously, one guy likes a girl who doesn't even notice him, and instead she wants to go to the dance with the lead singer of a local rock band, and of course there's a punk/grunge kid who is mean to everyone.

All of these subplots are leading up to the big dance, and some will be settled at the dance..others won't...some...maybe...but one thing that no one had prepared for was the walking dead crashing the party to feast on the flesh of the living. But that's exactly what happens when the toxice chemicals and fumes from a local power plant seep deeply into a nearby cemetary, thus reanimating the dead. Now the dead walk, and it's up to a select group of teenagers to stop them before they devour and turn the entire town! "Dance Of The Dead" is a good ZOMBIE movie because it moves forward with simplicity.

It doesn't make the reason for the dead coming back to lfie too complicated. Nor is there any cliche bullcrap like rogue scientists or government experiments. The movie instead decides to standby a pretty unique, yet underused catalyst for the zombies showing up, which is good ole fashioned environmental pollution. Surprisingly enough, this is a plot arc that has bene underused in the zombie subgenre in general. Usually it's always an experiment gone wrong, nice to see that director Gregg Bishop hasn't forgotten about the obvious.

The film has some very gross looking zombies, and alot of nicely shot attack moments where the zombies are feasting on the living. Unfortunately, most of these scenes happen in the dark, so you're not gonna see much blood flow, spurting, or anything of that sort. But still the scenes work due to their suggested graphicness. The chase and action sequences are also nicely done, but the film as a ZOMBIE/COMEDY is not so good. And that's really the big distinction here.

"Dance Of The Dead" is a good ZOMBIE pic, but with the comedy aspect added in, it's only average. The comedy weighs this film down heavily. It's too teenagerish, and unless you're 16 or under, you probably won't laugh or be amused at most of it. On other issues with the comedy, it's far too predictable. For example, late in the zombie attack on the town...it's revealed that the high-strung school coach is actually a gun nut with an arsenal of weapons stashed in his garage which he uses to help what's left of the student body fight the undead. Now who couldn't have sene that coming?

*Sarcasm*...I mean it's so predictable, the guy was either gonna turn out to be a gun nut or a clumsy hero who would've gotten hismelf and other skilled while trying to save the day. Maybe the casual horror film watcher won't see this twist coming, but avid watchers like me spotted this one from a mile away. The male/female interactions were also the same ole same ole, as I said...like stuff you'd see out of those 98'-2003 teen comedies. For once, I'd like to see male/female relationships of teenage characters in horror films not hinge on the same hangups and issues.

All of these things are suppsoed to inject comedy into the film, but they instead wind up leaving a major stain on it's quality. If the comedy had bene left out altogether or atleast sharpened alot more....the film would've been a great straight-to-dvd undead effort. Instead, the flat and repetitive comedic elements drag it down to being just an average zombie movie. Although some of the comedy works, especially one twist moment where it's revealed that a certain someone in a close line of work...knew of the dead returning to life and never saw any reason to warn people...however, beyond that, most of it doesn't work.

The performances are pretty decent though, and oddly enough...they actually help what are some very flawed comedy aspects. There's nothing worse than seeing bad actors act out badly written comedic dialogue, but these actors and actresses are pretty good actors, so they elevate the otherwise flat comedic dialogue to as high of a level as they can and as it can possibly go.

The finale of the film is pretty intense, and has a few ambiguous aspects to it as well. Whether that's for better or for worse, is really up to the viewer to decide. "Dance Of The Dead" is a decent zombie picture, with alot of above average performances.

Positives:Gross-looking zombies, a few intense chase sequences, an intense finale, decent performances, smart plot points unsed to bring the zombies into the story.

Negatives:The comedy was flat, predictable, and cliche.

Overall:Two and a half out of four stars.





( Talk about it in the Forums!)



( Back to the main page)