Zombie
comedies are a dime a dozen. Very few of
them work either as a comedy or as horror film. That’s why it’s nice to find a movie that
manages to deliver on the gore and the laughs. On the surface, Dance of the
Dead looks like your typical high school zombie comedy, and in many ways, it
kind of is. However, there’s a lot of
spirit and even a little bit of heart (to go along with the severed heads and
guts) here to make it stand out from the rest of the pack.
Toxic waste from the nearby power plant causes zombies rise from the grave on the night of the high school prom. A group of students from different social circles band together for survival. Eventually, the zombies crash the prom, and the only ones who can stop them are our troupe of misfits, nerds, and punk rockers.
Dance of the Dead features some great gore and a few surprising moments. This is one of a handful of movies that make a good case for fast zombies as the scenes of the undead corpses leaping from their graves at full sprint are very effective. As much gore, blood, and guts get tossed around, I think my favorite moment was when the dissected frogs from science class come back to life. The zombie love scene is pretty great too.
The
zombies are seemingly modeled on the ones from Return of the Living Dead. They run around, move kind of funky, and occasionally
speak. There are even some moments that
borrow from Night of the Living Dead as well. Hey, if you’ve got to steal from someone,
steal from the best I always say. Despite the one-note premise, director Gregg
(Siren) Bishop keeps the movie brimming with zombie carnage and cranks out some
genuinely funny zingers in the process.
The
performances are solid across the board, which really helps. Greyson Chadwick was the real standout for me
as the Vice President of the student body who fights undead student
bodies. She hasn’t been in a whole lot
since the film was released, which is a shame because she really shows a knack
for believably playing a zombie slayer in a prom dress without making it feel
like a cheap gag. She has my vote come
re-election time.
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