Chad

orlmac

A very good gory movie, only so-so as a comedy. It kind of reminded me of '80's style at times, the rock group was a good touch and the cemetery caretaker had potential. I enjoyed it.

TheBigDave

As far as low budget indy Zom-Coms go, this one was really good. I enjoyed it a lot more than the earlier subset film Zombies of Mass Destruction.

I thought the comedy was decent. Even though some of jokes fell flat, quite a few were hilarious.

The zombie action was excellent, and the gore was well done. Although the corpses flying out of the graves was a little over the top.

Trevor

Pretty much all of this. I enjoyed it more than I expected.

The commentary track (thanks Alyxstarr!) was decent; not a lot of in depth discussion, but the guys were very energetic and there was rarely a break in their conversation. I'd be interested in more films from them.

clckworang

I watched this earlier in the month and can echo most of your thoughts. This plays all the time on Showtime, and I had been tempted many times to record it but never did until it was a subset pick. I was not expecting much, but it was an enjoyable watch. I don't see myself buying it, but it was good.

ntnon

Very 80s - it seemed at several points that it was trying to be The Breakfast Club..bing Zombies to Death.

Which isn't a bad idea, but it wasn't quite polished or capable enough to live up to that. And the stereotypes were too twee for me. Particularly ConfederateFlag Coach... who inexplicably DID NOT have a hundred rifles and machine guns..! Curiouser and curiouser.

I couldn’t work out the Cemetery Guy - he was there before and after, but otherwise... absent, wasn't he?

Not bad, not great. Also Sci Fi Club members being weird, incompetent and fairly cowardly is a shorthand that is not necessarily wrong, but definitely lazy and casually insulting.

rbrown498

As Trevor said, this pretty much is what I was going to come here and say...except that I thought that the zombies skyrocketing out of the graves and hitting the ground running was really neat-o keen. I also loved that one of the characters was a redneck backyard brawler. I thought that he was going to be another stereotype, but he turned into my favorite character. I was sort of disappointed to see him go so early.

It's not perfect, but it was MUCH better than I expected it to be. I'll watch it again in the near future.

Undeadcow

I wish the zombies flying out of their graves had kept up; I could watch an entire film of just that and it's a clever idea that gets dropped too soon. Zombie frogs, yes!! [another gag too short lived] The freshly turned zombies making out and ravaging each other affectionately in the bathroom might be the most memorable zombie scene so far this month.

The prom dresses and tuxedos yield some nicely iconic imagery.

I really like the awkward teenagers underdog part even if much of the humor is hit or miss... but DotD is whole heartedly full force with the humor and it comes out more earnest - it's not just some sight gags but the whole spirit of the movie overexaggerating high school stereotypes that sells the chemistry. DotD distills down the 'us against the world' up yours of high school youth to new extremes inserting radioactive rocket launched zombies in place of society.

More films need dramatic music pumping weapon crafting montages; those segments were silly but helped the vibe a lot.

The make up effects look cheaper than I remember.

Dance of the Dead > Idle Hands.
Militant gym teacher was my least favorite character. The cemetery groundskeeper is great and reminds me a little of Cemetery Man (I wonder if that's homage). The wraparound with him setting up zombies in the cemetery then cleaning up at the end added a nice 'groundhog day' cycle element suggesting this was just mundane daily work for the guy even if our heroes were unaware.

I really like the ending how the characters just drive off to get pancakes...

I also especially like the repressed macho over compensating hill billy. He had to die like that though, nature of the character... besides before that point no other meaningful/identifiable characters died (if you count the biology teacher or tool boyfriend, but they barely had speaking roles) so it would have been lame for them to have a magically casualty free zombie invasion. The zombies liking music bit was already a bit weak, even if it lent nicely to the prom theme.

rbrown498

Whoa there, cow. Don't be smack talking 'bout Idle Hands. Dance of the Dead is good, but Idle Hands has Jessica Alba in both boy shorts AND a little tiny angel costume. Instant win. Add in Mick and Pnub, and you've got a top-five horror comedy. Go go buffalo!

DaveyJoe

How many zom-coms do they have to make before we join hands across America?

CrazyMat

Pretty much what I can say has already been said. Although I like both Idle Hands and Dance of the Dead. The caretaker part could have been a homage to Cemetery Man, the part where he said AL Hell which I thought was both pretty funny and a dead giveaway; that this happens all the time and he's tired of it.

Spiderbite

I wasn't looking forward to this one due to being zombied to death over recent years but it was actually enjoyable. Not great but I found it more enjoyable than Wyrmwood and head and shoulders above Zombies Of Mass Destruction.

The zombies exploding out of the graves was a cool touch and it seemed the zombies exploded when they came to life but then super slow when the script called for it. The humor was hit and miss but mostly hit. Decent acting from a lot of unknown kids. It was just missing some boobies.

Spiderbite

I forgot to add that I thought the Coach was pretty funny but just couldn't place where I had seen him recently. Looked him up on the IMDB.

He was one of the kids in Sleepaway Camp III that I watched earlier this month.

jacob_b

Agreed. A couple of funny moments, as others pointed, like the pop up zombies and make out zombies (I don't blame the guy either, though I would have gotten myself a bit more than a make out and ducked out) but the characters seem too one dimensional and a few quite annoying. This movie has been done before (and much better) that it loses its appeal. Man do I wish for some good slasher films to start making the rounds again.