Dance of the Dead (2008)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Gregg Bishop

Writer (WGA):

Joe Ballarini (written by)

Release Date:

14 October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Horror

Tagline:

It's their night to come alive.

Plot:

On the night of the big High-School Prom, the dead rise to eat the living, and the only people who can stop them are the losers who couldn't get dates to the dance.

Plot Keywords:

High School Prom | Prom | Detention | Public Humiliation | Prom Dress

Cast

Jared Kusnitz	...	Jimmy
Greyson Chadwick	...	Lindsey
Chandler Darby	...	Steven
Carissa Capobianco	...	Gwen
Randy McDowell	...	Jules
Michael V. Mammoliti	...	George
Mark Lynch	...	Rod
Justin Welborn	...	Kyle Grubbin
Mark Oliver	...	Coach Keel
Blair Redford	...	Nash Rambler
Lucas Till	...	Jensen
Hunter Pierce	...	Dave The Drummer
Jonathan Spencer	...	Frank Hammond
Stephen Caudill	...	Principal Castlemoody
J. Jacob Adelman	...	Mitch (as Jeff Adelman)

MPAA:

Rated R for horror violence and gore, language and some drug use.

Runtime:

USA:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Germany:18 | Australia:MA | Australia:MA (2008) | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Rome, Georgia, USA

Company:

Bleiberg Entertainment

Trivia:

The screenplay for "Dance of the Dead" was written in 1998, before zombie movies had returned to the mainstream.

Goofs:

Continuity: When they discover the girls hiding in the bathroom, we see George removing his football helmet. However, in the following over-his-shoulder shot, we can clearly see he still has the helmet on.

Quotes:

Frank Hammond: Jimmy, quit acting like an idiot and dissect your frog!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Making of 'Dance of the Dead' (2008) (V)

Thoroughly charming and funny teen zombie horror comedy fun

I saw this at London's Frightfest a few days back after initially not planning to. I'm not the biggest fan of comedic teen oriented horror, especially not ones trying to pull of the difficult zombie comedy hybrid, since many trying to do that usually mess up the tone and end up being unsatisfying to me as a horror fan. I saw this after reading the rave critical response from a number of sites and am real glad that I did, since this film is a whole heap of good times. The plotting is fairly standard power plant causes zombie outbreak and only the geeks can save the town stuff but this film pulls it of with a great script, nicely drawn characters and best of all, a batch of fine, fresh faced performances from actors that are actually the age that they are playing. Jared Kusnitz handles the goofball to hero arc of the main character Jimmy Dunn well and Greyson Chadwick is sweet and funny as his more serious girlfriend who dumps him on the day of the prom. Justin Welborn plays the token jock in nicely layered, sympathetic and funny style and Mark Oliver is often funny as the hard nut gym teacher. As this shows, the characters are what you might expect from a high school film, but all are written with sympathy and a deft, knowing touch. The general course of events isn't too groundbreaking but there are lots of amusing imaginative touches and funny, splashy gore. The gore is very decent for a low budget production, with flying limbs, blasted heads and whatnot though I could have done with more zombie inflicted carnage. The zombies, though cool aren't particularly menacing and more gut munching, limb gnawing and such would not have gone amiss. Early on in the film there are a few instances of cutting away before people get taken out and the body count among the heroes could have been higher. The film is inclined more towards comedy than horror but a shade more intensity would have made things even better, especially since the characters are all pretty likable and the more suspenseful scenes work nicely. Still, these are minor complaints and I basically had a blast watching this. Every time I thought it was going to lag it rallied with a good line or some funny gore or a neat idea, the pace is fast and there's a charm about the whole affair that makes it very likable. Though hardcore zombie and gore fans may not appreciate this so much, this is well recommended for unpretentious, funny, put a smile on your face grisly good times.