You have to be logged in to comment! If you don't have an account register now for free! Your account allows you to post comments and reviews, upload videos and images, access or our forums, write personal blogs, and maintain your profile.
I remember a time—maybe five years ago—when zombies were actually, you know, pretty cool. Sadly, that fact became too well-known with Hollywood and now it's an unspoken law that every major studio and indie producers alike must release at least five zombie movies a year. If a studio is having hard times financially, no problem! Just release a sub-par zombie movie and all the zombie geeks will have you swimming in cash before you have even written the script. Furthermore, I think "Yahtzee" Croshaw summed up my thoughts on the subject when he said: "It's my observation that zombies are second only to ninjas, pirates, and monkeys in the list of things nerds like and need to shut up about." The zombie genre has become more overbearing and overdone it makes the amount of remakes and pointless sequels look downright conservative. And what bothers me even more than that is the fact that 99% of the zombie movies I'm talking about are EXACTLY the same. If you think Dance of the Dead is any exception to the paragraph I just wrote, you have less intelligence than a zombie itself. (Forgive the terrible analogy.)
People site Dance of the Dead as some sort of shining pillar of originality in the carbon-copy genre just because the movie revolves around a prom. This may be true for the setting, but aside from that, Dance of the Dead repeated every single zombie cliché known to man. The jokes are all stereotypical clichés (example: the gym teacher). The situations are all cliché (example: the romantic subplots). And if the movie was oh-so-original, couldn't at least think of ANYTHING more creative than a power plant as the source of the zombies? I mean, for once, in a "horror-comedy", can't zombies become zombies from eating bad soup or something? As I said, beyond the setting, Dance of the Dead has no originality, or even creativity.
The overall film also lacks polish to an unbearable degree. It's filmed like a made-for-TV movie (for one of the kid's channels) and the acting ranges from decent to downright painful to watch. I'd go as far as to say the acting is harder to watch than the gore. Why? Because another thing Dance of the Dead lacked was gore. While a kill happens on screen, the camera is off staring at the wall, or some flowers, or a passing car, but never on the gore itself. Never. When a kill does (rarely) happen on screen, there is no blood. This happens more than once. A zombie's head in cleaved in two, yet there is NO blood. What is up with the conservative use of gore? This is a zombie movie. I want gore. Not the camera looking at cars.
But the biggest problem I had with Dance of the Dead was the lack of entertainment value. I give it credit for being at least slightly more energetic and fast-paced than the average zombie movie, which are almost all synonymous with: "Let's slow down for grandpa; he just had hip surgery." But other than the slight energy, the action scenes are few and far between. The movie had me so bored I had to watch it in two separate viewings, desperate for anything to start happening whatsoever. 75% of the run-time is nothing but teenagers being forced to act like fake, politically correct, cliché teenagers. What is the point of a zombie movie if it's not entertaining . . .? I once loved zombie movies, and though this new sweep of pathetic zombie movies can't make real zombie movies any less enjoyable, it's sad to see zombies treated so poorly and uncreatively.
Overall, while Dance of the Dead isn't a completely bad movie, it's the one thing I despise more than anything else: FORGETTABLE. You know, I was told prom was going to be the night I was never going to forget: so I stayed home and watched Kill Bill and ate left overs. That was a night I never forgot. But everyone who did go to prom in my class completely forgot about it by a week later. I was so glad I didn't waste my time. I think that's a lot like Dance of the Dead. People told me it would be the most awesome zombie movie in years, yet when I watched it I saw a waste of time. Take my advice: don't watch Dance of the Dead. Like prom, it isn't memorable. At all. It's a waste of time and money.
Posted By: seras_integra at 5:39pm, December 19, 2008
I really enjoyed this movie. Funny, gory and some very likable characters. On a personal note, I loved the fact that this movie was filmed in my dad's hometown of Rome, GA. It gave me a connection that I've never had with any other film. I actually recognized the school and the cemetery...cool!
this was a good movie, i thought it was going to be kinda lame but it wasn't it was pretty funny and i liked all characters =]
Posted By: JonOfTheShred at 3:19pm, December 11, 2008
This was a pretty good zombie flick. Hot girls, good gore, and quite a bit of zombies. The acting is decent too, although I hated the band and the terrible music they played. Worst part of the movie, emo fags have no place in zombie movies...not as the heros, anyway.
Two things set this film apart from the rest of the zombie crap that has been saturating the industry lately. First off, it was made for a fraction of the budget of most main stream films, yet it never feels small or cheap. Second, and probably the most important aspect that raises this above the rest, is that the film is populated by real likable characters. Characters who develop as the story progresses, and you can't help but love. How many other gore fests can boast about that? The film is not perfect, but as anyone who has ever tried to make a film will tell you, these guys did one hell of a job! definitely see this flick!
This movie was the worst zombie flick I have ever seen, even worse then Day of the Dead 2. I hated every character but one and he died off quickly. I dont care about stupid teenagers and their gay ass prom. If you liked this flcik get rid of any good zombie movies you have (Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Re-Animator, etc.) cause you dont deserve to own them.
This movie is awesome, awesome awesome! just go see it..right now
its really funny...like not just for a horror movie..its actually a funny movie, and there were parts that were actually pretty scary, and the characters are all people you grow to love, i just watched it and im pumpeddd, cant wait to see it again =)
Posted By: kaicooper at 10:43pm, November 23, 2008
GUYS .. why u take this serous..i agree that its the best horror comedy zombie movie ever with Shoun of the dead ... it was the best really..nice acting and gri8 horror moment..but .. at the beginning i though its a really cheap film ..!! after was another movie..its fucking Gri8
I really don't see what's even remotely good about this film, it has nothing good going for it. This is not funny, it doesn't work and the acting is atrocious. I actually bought this film because of the certain hype around it...I never buy films based on hype but I thought would take a chance, well I'm not doing that again. I give this movie a zero!
Posted By: turtlenipple at 5:27pm, November 17, 2008
I didn't really like this as much as I had expected to.. I've seen it compared to John Hughes films and return of the living dead, but I didn't see any of that sort of magic here.
Effects were good and I enjoyed the coach character, I'll take what I can get when it comes to zombies..
While there is a bit to admire in this zombie comedy, its still just mediocre. The laughs are well not that funny. Especially when compared to Shaun of the Dead which was funny. Maybe I just don't like teen comedies anymore.It has some good effects and zombies but that's about it
Dance of the Dead kicks some serious butt. I love this movie. It's like Breakfast Club meets Dawn of the Dead. Full of crisp plotting and snappy dialogue, this movie rates extremely high in entertainment value. The biggest plus is the fun and well-developed characters you enjoy spending an hour amd a half with...And did I mention there's great zombie action.
Posted By: thedescent08 at 4:53pm, October 30, 2008
I enjoyed this movie well enough. It lacked a bit in the originality department, and wasn't nearly as funny as Shaun of the Dead, but it's still worthy of checking out. The best out of all the Ghost House Underground series that I've seen so far.
Highly reccommend If you haven't seen this yet something is wrong with you. This is one of the best zombie movies to come out for several years. This is as good as it gets.
OMG THIS MOVIE WAS AMAZING!!! It seemed so random but that's what made it so fantastic. I loved the whole thing with the fact that some of the zombies were runners, some were slow-walkers, and some of them just leapt out of the freaking ground and started chasing people!!!! I loved how it was about teens and that it did a pretty good job with it, other than most teen oriented horror flicks. I was running around my house with so much adrenaline from watching that film for about 40 minutes after the movie was over. I would have to say one of the most fun movies I have ever watched and completely recommend to watch it with a bunch of gore/zombie loving teenagers!
