Review of Dance of the Dead (2008) by Chase F — 22 Oct 2008

Please be warned this review contains spoilers.

When I first heard of this movie, I knew straight away I wanted to watch it. Finally I did and I really liked this film. It was a cross between High School Musical meets Return of the living dead. The humour was great and sometimes silly too but hey that didn't spoil my enjoyment of it. I found it funny when they distracted the dead by playing rock music, YES YOU HEARD ME RIGHT! At one point they play rock music to deterr the zombies from killing them. There isn't that many attacks on humans that are seen that much but when you do see them the fx are pretty damn good. However you do see the zombies dispatched quite a lot in different ways some extremely gruesome ways like one has it's head ripped clean from it's body with the spine still attached. There is some great humour in this like when the school bully become a zombie and the students get their revenge and kick the crap out of him. The acting is good too and some of the film is taken seriously then the laughs come back and so does the gore. If you love a thrilling funny zombie horror that is in the vein of Shaun of the Dead, Return of the living Dead and Peter Jackson's Braindead aka Dead Alive, you will enjoy this. The zombie make up was pretty good as well. These zombies hark back to a cross between Undead, Shaun of the Dead and the original Day of the dead they look good and they also look creepy and somewhat scary too. The acting is good too. The actors really pull off the characters that they portray and you do end up genuinely caring for them and their safety. Greyson Chadwick does a great job as the heroine of the movie using her feminine charm and attitude to get her out of tight situations and Jared Kusnitz does a good job as the kind of american teenage version of Shaun having to battle and fight it out with the undead who are threatening to kill his mates. At the centre of this horror is two romantic elements one between the main characters Jimmy and Lindsey and a cheerleader and a nerd which has to be seen to be believed. Basically the director obviously is a big fan of the Romero and Fulci zombie movies and the energy and love for the genre show in this film. I truly loved it and I hope there will be a sequel to it as I want to see more. (the end is left open so they could easily do one.) I'm happy to say this is a zombie movie worthy of being put right up there among the great zombie movies with Dawn of the dead, Day of the Dead, Zombie Flesheaters, Braindead and yes even Shaun of the Dead.

So go watch it before the dead come for you!