Dance of the Dead (2008)

Simply Perfect

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

What a wonderful surprise this movie was. After reading a lot of miserable, negative reviews I decided I'd give it a go anyway because nothing in the bad reviews was telling me it was boring. I approached it with caution hoping I wouldn't end up feeling like I wasted my money and time. But truth is, I liked the idea of a movie with a "low budget" feel, unsophisticated special effects, cheesy humour and even bad dialog. Sometimes they are entertaining because of all that.But it turned out to be an absolute gem! Instead of being entertained by how bad it was, I was entertained by how GOOD it was. What this director has achieved with just a teensy budget puts a lot of the big players to shame. The characters were quirky and adorable, there was actually a little bit of character development and unexpected twists in their behaviour. Cool music, wonderful camera work and direction and perhaps the biggest surprise - lots of good acting! Sure there was some hammy performances but many of the actors were REQUIRED to be hammy. The characters were drawn larger than life. They were exaggerations of the kind of characters you find in this genre all the time. The movie was deliberately parodying the stereotypes and clichés and messing around with them. I guess those negative reviewers missed the point - unfortunately for them.After I saw this movie I read a bit about how it was made and that increased my admiration for all of the people involved in it. There is a genuine warmth and a sort of joy that emanates from everyone and everything about it. It must have been awesome to work on it together - and it shows. There were so many characters I really loved I found myself hoping for a sequel!! And some of the scenes were astounding. The "makeout" scene in particular was gruesome & hilarious. I also liked the way the scenes in the graveyard were done, loved the walking torso and of course, the zombie carrying it's head around so it could see. LMAO So much to love!! Ignore the nit-pickers and people who didn't get it. It's not an Oscar winning movie. It's a well directed low budget funny horror flick. It's a barrel of fun. Watch it. You wont regret it.

My first and obvious reaction when I saw "Dance of the Dead" standing on the shelves of my local video store a couple of years ago was: "Yet another highly acclaimed and supposedly hilarious zombie comedy? I think I'll pass…" Zombie comedies (also referred to as 'zom-coms' or even 'zomedies') exist since many years, as in the 80's and 90's we already had cult classics like "Night of the Creeps", "Return of the Living Dead" and "Braindead", but particularly since 2004 and the release of "Shaun of the Dead" we can speak of a genuine epidemic. A selected few of them actually manage to be original and funny (like "Zombieland", "Dead Snow" and "Fido") but the vast majority of them are just dumb, derivative and downright pathetic. Automatically assuming that "Dance of the Dead" would fit right into the latter category, I always refrained from watching until now I could pick up an ex-rental DVD copy for the bargain price of $1. Now I'm pleased to announce that "Dance of the Dead" is a lot better than I thought it would be, merely because it's a 200% unpretentious, straightforward and rejoicing little flick. Nearly all the characters are stereotypes and the gags/situations are hugely predictable, but at least the movie is never boring and doesn't waste any time on wannabe intellectual dialogs or far-fetched plot twists. The film opens with a quirky cemetery caretaker having enormous difficulties to keep his cadavers underneath the ground. As the camera zooms out, we perceive that the cemetery lies right next to an overactive nuclear power plant; so there's your explanation. In this same sleepy nuclear energy town, the popular kids prepare themselves for the annual high school prom, whereas the outcasts carry on with their Sci-Fi club meetings, rock band activities and pizza deliveries. As the zombies adrift from their regular cemetery boundaries and head towards the prom, it's up to the freaks and geeks to rescue the rest of the school. Personally, I wouldn't refer to "Dance of the Dead" as one of the best zombie comedies ever made, and I would definitely not label it as an instant cult classic, but it's undeniably a fun and unhinged little gem. The clichés and stereotypes are amusingly enlarged and the make-up effects are often gloriously over-the-top. The pacing remains fast throughout the entire running time and the movie doesn't contain any redundant sequences or padding footage whatsoever. The acting performances are more than adequate, as you can clearly tell that everyone truly enjoyed starring in this one. Recommended to watch in group, or on a lazy and rainy Sunday afternoon.

"Dance of the Dead" is a fun zombie movie that takes place on a high school prom night. The effects and acting are enjoyable.The less fun part was the casual, negative use of "queer", "pansy", "gay", and "girls" (applied to boys) throughout the movie and the otherwise good making-of feature. This is current reality. Still, it is dismaying to hear on the good commentary track that the local, Georgia school authorities reviewed the script, insisted on some clean up of 'f-word' and religiously-inspired expletives, but apparently had no trouble with violence (required by the genre) or repeated anti-gay language. One fears for the safety of local, non-straight students and others.

dance of the dead is a fairly low budget zom-com with no widely known actors and there is virtually no media coverage for it either. needless to say it is well worth seeing for zombie or comedy fans.the acting is overall fairly good. the cast does a good job of filling their roles and for the most part you care about what happens to them. look out for the cool high school bully and the gym coach. 7/10 the dialogue is a little hit and miss. sometimes the characters come out with cringe worthy lines or just things that are completely unconvincing and silly at the time or just cliché. other times characters come out with some funny and appropriate lines such as the coach with "ill have this place wired like a crack-head drinking' a red bull". id say the dialogue is half cheesy half decent/funny/cool. 5/10the special effects are top notch. the sets, makeup, gore and general effects are all really good for this kind of movie and there isn't a whole lot to complain about. towards the end there is some pretty nice head squashing/crushing/splitting etc. 8/10 the camera-work and editing is also good with little to complain about. you can tell here and there that its a low budget film from hand-held movements, one too many premature cuts to black, etc. 7/10 the pacing is pretty good throughout, the film takes around half an hour to get going before the zombie action picks up but from then on, there's always something to keep you interested as the film develops. 7/10 overall the the effects, the acting, pacing, camera-work, and dialogue come together to make a far above average b movie zom-com. it isn't quite on par with shaun of the dead, but it isn't too far off. think 'teen shaun of the dead with a lower budget centered around a high school prom' and uve got dance of the dead.7/10