Review of A Little Bit Zombie (2012) by Robert B — 06 Apr 2013

A Little Bit Zombie (Casey Walker, 2012).

Okay, I admit it: I'm a sucker for stupid zombedies. You make a silly movie and you put some corporeal undead in it, and baby, I am there, with bells on. And I'm not going to tell you that A Little Bit Zombie is the best of its breed, but if you're looking for a zombedy and you've seem all the classics one too many times, dialing this one up will not disappoint you in the least.

Veteran TV director Walker's first theatrical feature gives us soon-to-be-married couple Steve (Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling's Kristopher Turner) and Tina (Insomnia's Crystal Lowe), who have rounded up their wedding party and dragged them to a remote cabin so obsessive Tina can put everyone through their paces. Problem is, there's a zombie outbreak in the area. Professional zombie hunters Max (The Dark's Stephen McHattie) and Penelope (jPod's Emilie Ullerup) think they've got it contained, but a mosquito bit one of the zombies just before it got dispatched, and when it subsequently bites Steve, he starts feeling a bit peaked, looking worse, and developing a craving for brains (which, conveniently, can be fed by local grocer Cap'n Cletus [X-Men's George Buza], who happens to be a cerebrum gourmand himself). When Max finds out about Steve's "condition", he's all for dispatching the groom-to-be with a shotgun to the skull, while research student Penelope believes Steve could be the means to cure the zombie plague once and for all.

It's predictable, it's dumb, and it's funny. If you're a fan of the zombedy, this is going to be a hit; if you're not, you can safely pass on it without feeling like you're missing much, but some surprisingly good acting (Buza's scenes are comedy gold, every one of them), solid comic timing on everyone's parts, and the always-welcome presence of Stephen McHattie, who's just started getting noticed as the fearsome talent he is in the past five years or so, make this one worth your time. ***.