I LIKE MOVIES #2: DANCE OF THE DEAD

Last night I watched Dance of the Dead. It's currently on Fearnet on demand if you want to check it out. I wasn't expecting much but I'm a sucker for zombie movies. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Luckily it didn't try to tread too far into Shaun of the Dead's turf, because it could have in many ways. The turf it does tread upon is very familiar but that doesn't hurt it. In many ways it helps it.

Dance of the Dead is the post-prom pregnancy of countless 80s zombie movies. In it a teen slacker with no aspirations gets dumped by his girlfriend the afternoon before prom because of his apathy and inability to take anything seriously. Zombies attack. He proves he can do something with his life by going to save her. Sounds like Shaun of the Dead, right? Luckily this movie is also pilfering themes and styles from many other aspects of the genre.

Yesterday I mentioned how I liked that the teens in Ginger Snaps don't veer into cliche territory. Today I will praise the opposite. This movie is full of high school stereotypes, but they work in this environment. The sci-fi nerds, the overbearing gym teacher, the unattainable-for-the-geek cheerleaders and prom queens, the cool slackers, the angry tough guy loner with a heart, the punks/metal heads . . . the sportos, the motor heads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, dickheads...they all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude . . . sorry, I was somewhere else there for a minute.

This movie was clearly made with a lot of affection for the genre. Many folks like to debate zombie rules. Are they fast or slow? Do they talk? Do they eat brains or will any human meat suffice? Most of these debates will likely conclude that it's different within each movie's world. Or in a fist fight. Dance of the Dead's zombie rule book kind of picks and chooses from its favorite movies. It has a pretty great cemetery eruption scene that recalls the first two Return of the Living Dead movies but also Dead Alive or maybe even Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. And it works great. Zombies burst out of the grave like Rey Mysterio and take off after their meals. These zombies cry out for "BRAINS!" although I don't really recall seeing any brain eating, just a whole mess of flesh eating. The movie tries to cover all of its zombie bases. There are slow zombies. There are fast, screaming zombies. They rip people apart and eat their faces, but they still moan for BRAINS to keep our ears entertained. But one thing is for certain: you kill the brain, you kill the ghoul.

Another aspect of the movie that was old fashioned and welcomed was the reason for reanimation. This one was simple. Chemical waste from the power plant. So many movies nowadays try to invent some new way to explain zombies. This felt right out of the 80s. It works.

The ending (this won't ruin anything) gave me the same feeling I had at the end of Demons. I have grand anticipations of some epic, weird, stylized sequel that would continue directly after the events of the first but probably won't ever happen.

Dance of the Dead isn't the most original zombie movie you'll ever see, but it's familiar waters are always refreshing. And considering the current state of zombie movies, you could do a lot worse than this.

So I guess I'll give this three and a half mouthfuls of brains out of five.

Must have been a tough call to not name this Prombies.