American Zombie (2007)

People are voting emotionally.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

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

This is not a conventional zombie movie, this takes the stance that zombies are not necessarily brain munching mindless creatures, but some of them, while still being dead still retain most cognitive function. A group sets out to make a documentary on zombies, specifically centred on ZAG the Zombie Activist Group and how they are fitting into modern American Society. It should also be pointed out that this cast and crew were generally quite inexperienced when they made this but it's not obvious for the most part.***SPOILERS*** Some of it is quite black humoured which is good, there are few Zombie movies that have any humour at all and the whole documentary feel to it is reasonably well done, particularly when the crew argue amongst themselves about what to do. However it is a little too long and the ending stinks of a hasty re- write

The people who wrote all the previous reviews must be trying to sell the movie, because I don't see how any of them could have got what they say they got out of the movie. It is boring from start to finish and the characters are flaky and uninteresting! There's really no plot other than that they are making a documentary. Some elements they bring up in the film are so vague it makes you wonder why they put them in the film in the first place. It makes me think if the Lifetime channel made a zombie movie, this is what it would be. If you are a true zombie movie fan, then this movie isn't for you! Trust me, you'll be more entertained sitting in front of your TV for an hour and a half with it turned off!

The craftsmanship is topnotch, the performances solid, the writing sound. There are some astute observations here and there about life after death- and life before death. Like the risen dead in THEY CAME BACK, the undead in American ZOMBIE aren't just mindless, flesh-eating zombies (not that there's anything wrong with mindless, flesh-eating zombies) (check out my black and white comic, CAPE FEAR COMICS, available from comiXpress, which is dedicated to George A. Romero himself, and you'll see whereof I speak). The socio-political ramifications of the dead rising from their graves is explored (sometimes hilariously, sometimes more sublimely), but it's the superb film-making that makes this one worthy of a nice, long look.

This movie seems to have multiple personalities. It starts out very, very dry, a little too much so. Then it warms up and is hilarious in the middle, but suddenly turns serious at the end, making it seem like a different movie entirely. A good mockumentary should build to a large climax that leaves me smiling, not depressed.However, I do recommend seeing it. The good parts are enough to make the movie worthwhile. The private investigator is especially funny, and John Solomon's antics perfectly balance Grace's personality. I'd be excited to see what these filmmakers do next. Though a better ending would have moved this film from six stars into eight or nine, there's certainly quite a bit of talent at work here, and a few more films under their belt might make all the difference.