Juan of the Dead (2012)

It is a performances centric movie

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

A metaphor on the denigration of socialism in Cuba: You can't maintain socialism when government bureaucrats are incompetent and the population is predatory and out for themselves. Juan is a down and out loser. He hustles money here and there in whatever way possible. His daughter, Camilla is stopping over in Cuba before rejoining her mother in Miami. Her mother had taken her to Spain with her to start a new life after leaving her husband, Juan.All Juan thinks he wants is to desperately reconnect with his daughter, who looks down on him as a selfish, self-centered loser. However, an epidemic of Zombieism takes places and as all Hell breaks loose, Camilla is forced to stay. As Juan sees the island of socialism he lives in degenerate and collapse, he turns to capitalism for salvation and begins his new business: Juan of the Dead, "we kill your family for a price." Along with Lazaro, the local pervert, California the thief, La China, the transsexual along with her Big, buff boyfriend, they all try to make money in the chaos. Will Juan reconnect with his daughter? Will Juan and his compatriots realize that there are things more precious than money? Are the Zombies really dissenters? Does the government really have everything under-control.

It is rare that a film combines, satire, parody, thrills, scary zombies, and deadpan humor. Such is the film Juan of the Dead.Plot is simple. Zombies try to take over Cuba. But the government says they are "dissidents" created by the Americans to undermine Cuba. In a very clever film, the director, Alejandro Bruques, takes us on a fantasy ride of zombie threats and humor with many political points along the way.Several island residents form a motley crew of a trans gurl, a muscle bound dude, a hot babe and a guy named "California", is just the beginning of zombie mayhem.They even open a business, "we kill your loved one" to earn a few extra bucks off the zombies...Cuban style.The budget is not mentioned in the film overview, but I bet they really made a very low budge stretch quite a bit. From the beginning to end credits it is a delight. Every film student should see this movie to see what you can do with imagination and not the fancy cameras profiled in American media.Their first kill has a harpoon go through a zombie to kill an old lady standing right behind the zombie. Ooops! A wooden oar weapon is so decrepit that we would never use it as an oar. There is also the famous car/boat that many refuges use to flee Cuba used to escape the onslaught of zombies. In one scene, an attack by numerous zombies is thwarted by a single harpoon and a "rally around the flag pole". Heh, heh.A slow motion arrow is an tick toward Matrix.The film introduces a stereo type American and since the crew does not speak English, Juan introduces himself by saying "My name is Juan". Get it. It beginning Spanish class the first thing you learn is "Yo me llamo Juan". Very funny.They spoof Bruce Lee with a freeze frame at the end. Ending credits are terrific. There are subtitles so get ready and just read them.The ending credits are really inventive as is the entire film. I have never seen it in a bargain bin, so I will try and make my own copy from a TV showing. I recommend this highly as a very funny, highly inventive, well shot film about the zombie Apocalypse.

I saw this film as part of the Imagine film festival (SF/fantasy/horror) Amsterdam 2012. The title of this film may need some explanation (this is not a spoiler). It refers to the name Juan invented for his service offering "Juan of the dead. We kill your beloved ones. How can I help you?", this being the spoken announcement when answering the phone. In your mind you hear the text "(and earn money)" hidden behind this message.I suspect many things in this film to be intentionally satirical. For instance, TV news often accuses dissidents, paid by US, to covertly causing the reported troubles. On the other hand, I observe several halfway missed opportunities to expose the army (a helicopter crashes on town hall dome), and ditto ridicule the police (a policeman assigned to collect sane people for evacuation, defeats the very purpose by including one visibly affected person). Can it be that satire on civil servants is frowned upon in Cuba?More on this subject is that we see elevators fail, expired medicine, civilization generally looking outdated, and more such things that may be intentional satire (or not). And finally, we don't see anyone busy with useful work. Instead, we see a lot of alcohol and people doing absolutely nothing.In case you are not interested in an inside view in Cuba as of today, nor making fun of Cuban society as it is nowadays, you better be on the lookout for a different zombie movie. I don't think that zombies were meant to be the main course on the menu, only a side issue to have some sort of story line. Anyway, Juan can be of help when you want to get rid of an member of the family, be it because seemingly infected with zombie blood, or can better be eased out of the way for other reasons.All in all, the humor and the satire (intended or not) make this film to what it is, not the zombies nor the special effects. Far from perfect, but it makes us aware of a film industry presence in Cuba that we neglected until today. This film ranked 7th for the audience award, with an average score of 8.25/10.

OK, first of all this isn't a rip off of Shaun of the Dead, so put that out of your mind. It does owe a little to Shaun, but it goes off on an original tangent. Like most zombie movies, the reason for the dead rising is obscured by government B.S. The Cuban government (which is hysterical) constantly claims that it's the U.S. Government, helping subversives. the main cast is very engaging and the main two are a pair of major slackers, Juan constantly referring to surviving Mariel, Angola and a host of other troubles. I'm actually amazed that the Cuban government allowed this to made, since it is a bit subversive and down on the communist regime. As usual, our heroes have to find a way to survive, which is all I'll say. Its way better than The Dead, which was a bit boring for the most part. Homages to other zombie films, including one to Lucio Fulci's Zombie (which is hysterical) abound. My only complaint was that the frakking subtitles were yellow and in parts were hard to read. Other than that, this is way better than anything that's been done on Chiller or the SF channel, as well as Romero's last, "Survival of the Dead", which was a terrible film. So if you get a chance, are a zombie fan, see Juan of the Dead. It'll be a fun time for all.