Review: Horrorfest 10 – ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION

The extent of wit in the new horror comedy   ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION can be summed up in its title and tagline (‘A Political Zomedy’ –ha ha). Mixing political and social commentary with undead shenanigans is a novel idea and ZOMBIELAND and SHAUN OF THE DEAD proved that Zombie comedies can work when done right. While George Romero was no stranger to political messages hidden in his horror films, ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION makes blatant political statements about everything from abortion to religious zealotry to the suspicious treatment of homosexuals and Muslims in post-911 America. Unfortunately Director-writer Kevin Hamedani’s ambitious debut, though goofy and good-natured enough, is hampered by a too-broad script where 4 out of 5 of its jokes fall completely flat. ZOMBIELAND it’s not, but thanks to that film’s success, ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION is the one Horrorfest film that I can see having some big-screen afterlife post-fest.

ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION takes place in the conservative island town of Fort Gamble. The two main characters are Frida (Janette Armand), an Iranian teenager coping with the town’s suspicions that she’s a terrorist, and Tom (Doug Fahl), a homosexual reluctantly returning to his hometown with his same-sex partner Lance (Cooper Hopkins) to come out of the closet to his mother. Soon an army of hungry, lurching zombies descends on Fort Gamble, and small-town intolerance rears its ugly head. Frida’s redneck neighbors suspect Mid-Eastern terrorism, while the fundamental church leaders are certain the gays are somehow to blame, and the two leads are forced to make allies of the hostile citizenry to survive the undead attack.

Much of ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION has an endearing, shaggy-dog quality and I wanted to like it more than I did. Typical of first-time directors, Hamedani mishandles the films pacing, spending way too much time early on getting to know the characters and life in Fort Gamble before getting to the gore he should know the audiences is waiting for. The acting and writing in these early scenes is amateurish and the audience is given no invested interest in these characters. The film is a parody and most of the characters are presented as caricatures to be mocked. Fort Gamble has its brown-nosing mayor who will do anything to retain his power, the liberal aging hippy-chick who’s running against him, the mulletted redneck, the firebrand intolerant minister who’s got his own closet full of skeletons, and the Iranian immigrant who prays to Mecca and thinks all Americans are lazy, no-good rubes. There’s nothing wrong with populating satire with stereotypes, but the writing simply isn’t as sharp as its easy targets and it’s all only about one step above something from Troma studios. The best lines have to do with the gay couple and the dinner scene with Tom’s mom is the film’s funniest. When Tom admits he’s gay, his infected mom drools, attacks, spews pus, and eats her own eyeball. Lance calmly quips “When I came out, my dad had the same reaction!�

Once the zombie attacks commence, Hamedani keeps the action proceeding at a brisk pace and some of the long shots of the staggering undead swarming the town square and battling the living are impressive and well-choreographed for such a low-budget film. The gore effects are uneven and the blood splashes thin and bright red more like cherry Kool-aid. Hamedani deserves credit for attempting to run the time-worn Zombie narrative through a different and intriguing filter but the zombies are never explored with any sense of character. They exists purely as punchlines and   ZOMBIES OF MASS DESTRUCTION trades depth and dimension for   a series of slapstick jokes that mostly misfire.   Instead of seamlessly mixing horror and humor the way SHAWN OF THE DEAD (not to mention DAWN OF THE DEAD and RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD) have, it treats the two as separate elements. The result is a movie that is both horror and comedy, but seldom at the same time.