In Undead we have yet another horror-comedy hybrid. It had some potential, but squandered it via uneven pacing that progressed to glacial by the midpoint of the film and an overly long run time. The story gives us zombies created by a meteor, some aliens and lots of crazy redneck/outback characters, most notably the fucking ninja-like nutjob hero in overalls with the triple-barrel shotgun. The characters all hole up with our hero and slowly succumb to the zombie menace as we even more slooowly discover what is really going on. The film is Australian and it definitely looks to Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi’s work for inspiration — a bit too much, really. It goes beyond inspiration, beyond homage and veers dangerously close to slavish imitation. Still, despite the problems it is probably worth a look, if for no other reason than some great visual gags including a killer zombie fish and an old lady that takes a meteorite straight through the head. Just be forewarned, that pacing is fucking slow. It’s a movie that would have been benefited greatly from an enthusiastic editor and a slimmed-down run time.
Too slow: Undead
On May - 12 - 2009
Another movie I really like, though I think I’m in the minority. Funny, pacing was not a problem for me. This was the last movie that screened at a historic theatre called The Uptown in Toronto, before it closed. Also, hearing about the trails and tribulations the Spierig’s had while filming this endeared me even more to it.
Don’t get me wrong, I really liked elements of this. It just needed reedited to a more streamlined run time (cut out a lot of the talking and meandering through the middle, please!)