This movie doesn't open until June 15th in the US, but it just opened this Friday (March 16) here in Canada. And I'm so glad I caught this film. It's currently at 92% on RT, with 13 reviews.

*General Spoilers about movie*

This movie made me laugh hysterically. The script is super and contains so many great lines. I love how the pet zombie acted as a substitute father-figure for the son who's real father didn't play catch with him or do anything with him. Even issues of race and class divide seem subtly inherent in the plot that deals with owning a zombie as reaching a certain "class level", hence the mothers "Now we're not the only one on the street without one". She desperately wanted to keep the zombie or else she would feel like an outcast to society. It also brought up the issue with regards to how the zombies were treated (like slaves), and without a containment collar, the zombie would roam free and eat people. But Fido, with a malfunctioning containment collar, somehow overcomes his natural instinct to kill and eat, and chooses not to do so with little Timmy (and his mother), the only two people who seemed to treat him with some sort of affection.

Ultimately, the movie just made laugh hysterically and I haven't had that much fun in theatres in a while. The entire cast is brilliant in playing the entire thing straight and portraying a regular 1950's society with a little twist.

Some awesome quotes:

"Just because your dad tried to eat you, Bill, doesn't mean we have to live unhappily...forever."

"Old people... can you really trust them?" (This had me laughing hysterically!!)

Mr. Jonathon Bottoms: "I'd take Cindy's head off in a second, if I had to."
Mrs. Cindy Bottoms: *Delayed laughter* "He always says that."

Mother: "I don't want you thinking what we did is normal or okay in any way."
Timmy (son): "I don't."

Timmy: "You ate Mrs. Henderson! Oh man, my dad is going to kill me!"

Priest: "Head coffin, please."


And plenty more...

Peace,
Mike.

B+


Andaroo fittingly described the plot to me recently as something that could take place after the events of "Shaun of the Dead". In fact, I would call it a mixture of Shaun of the Dead and Pleasantville. It is story of friendship between a boy...and his zombie.

And trust me, the film is just every bit as absurd and twisted/funny as it sounds. Even though I wasn't completely enthralled by it, I'm pretty sure this is a cult film in the making. The 50s America style is perfectly captured here...just with some zombie infusion. Humor is present, but not laugh-out-loud funny. It's obviously very dark humor, but the movie also has some very light and sweet moments.

I dunno. It's got a brilliant concept, and it did make me laugh lots, and the screenplay is frequently pretty witty, but it never really clicked for me. Usually I'm a fan of the dry humour, but this was a little too dry, even for me. It was just.... awkward at times. I mean, the parody works well, but it got to be a bit too much at times. It also wasn't helped by bland characters - not the mockingly plain characters of stuff like The Truman Show or Pleasantville, but just terribly uninteresting - or some pretty bad acting - especially the kid - and the third act turns incredibly corny. The laughs, when they happen, are pretty impressive, and it's got some brilliant ideas, but it never really pans out. Still, it could be worse.