Day of the Dead comes around again, and so what to dig out of the bargain basement bin collection still awaiting in the theme this year?
Fond of so bad they're good, disappointingly this didn't really make it to the latter category, and in effect is already best reviewed by 'amesmonde' here (check it out):
so what can I add to share to tolerate this sorta Dawn of the Dead / Resident Evil / 28 Days later (etc. etc. ETC.) mash up tedium presented here?:
Well, besides encouragement and rewarding a couple of directors who got this (presumably) direct to dvd (surely never seen on big screens?) for - (reportedly) - the unbelievably low budget of just $100,000, you might feel there could be no other reason whatsoever to watch (tolerate) this other than being a Zombie genre fan, to the extent that you will watch anything connected to it!
But (if you do), along the really tedious jeep, sorta road movie, journey way, with occasional interesting deserted building area sets found, in an otherwise almost permanently washed out down to dull greyscale look, with repetitive and uninspiring blue/green screen backgrounds, you will be, er, rewarded, with how that budget was well stretched, used, with some really good (=bad!) worthwhile seeing zombie make-up effects. (With seeming just one person credited, gotta shout huge kudos out to a one Francesca Cioni). And, come on, admit it, that's really the only reason we're along for the otherwise quite tedious (jeep) ride, isn't it?
Otherwise, along that - did I warn, tedious? - jeep journey ride, attempting to stave off yawns, you'll also come across latter day Nazis (including not Mini-Me, but Mini-Adolf, apparently), a rescued waif, á la Aliens (utterly pontless Cristina (Elisa Ferrerti) other than the fact she's related to the 'disease / virus spreader' ..?*), a zombie portrait painter (come on, that's a first, huh?) named Caravaggio (who, ho, ho, get it, paints a zombie head along the lines of his real painter namesake's obsession with decapitation - well, go see 'David with Goliath' - played by the grandly named Paola Spartaco Pallazzi); and for me the best bit (besides the Zombie make-up) - not in any acting or plot or likes - but a humble prop: the 'Corpses and Girls' girly mags the two protagansists while away their time to be thrilled with in the post-zombiefied world where all women are gone (apparently?*) raised a much needed big (pause-frame) smile: e.g. being a big fan of defunct rock group Pink floyd, it amused me to see listed on one something on girls from 'The dark side of the TOMB', plus 'True Mortician's Confessions' (! :-)) and on another, cum(!) ons into the issue included 'Virgin Mummies' (!), 'Screamer Debbie Rochon'** + Rob Zombie! :-)
Plus from that budget you can then guess what the rest of the crew and actors' cut may have been, as another part of the, well not really enjoyment, but justification to 'filmically' appreciate, is the two main protaganists practising (poorly!) their acting chops: another amusement came when the tough macho one of the two starts suddenly singing 'Wake me up before you go go' (yep; the 30 year old Wham song!), to then turn to his more sensitive buddy to assure: "Of course, doesn't mean I'm gay, y'know!"* Hmm: what made the director/writers stick that in then, for a genre that is, usually, almost exclusively male enjoyed, and in any case is in a story, if I followed it correctly*, where all the women have gone* ... ohh - now I get it!
(And BTW, since one of the co-directors, Luca Boni, also did the 'animation', so what was that all about to keep the zombies subdued ..?)
So, yep, in the end, there's more to this than would at first seem to be a throwaway, completely forgettable effort - but do you want to tolerate actually watching it to find out?
* Despite my DVD copy supposedly having an English track available (then possibly a. k. a. 'Zombie Massacre' and/or 'Zombie Z'), I only got the Italian dialogue - so much is guessed: like that all the women have for some reason been eliminated (perhaps) - except, of course you still gotta have a female somewhere as the McGuffin to plot-drive any boy's own yarn (check the brief, gratituitiously partially boob bared, Tara Cardinal (I believe?) zombie 'encountered'), so in this one it's the senstive guy's (ex?) wife, who - PLOT SPOILER ALERT - becomes de-rigueur afflicted (of course), played make up and thrillingly, er, bound by Rosello Elmi.
** N.B. I.e. A real 'scream queen' actress known as 'The Meryl Streep of Horror', apparently :-)
There: so, I (we) got all that out of it: can't be that bad then, can it? (Yes, it really can!!)
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