Derf
Crazy Rabbity Thingy
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Frightening Fanatic of Horrible Cinema
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Lagomorphs: menace or underutilized resource?
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« on: May 31, 2006, 08:37:47 AM » |
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I found Zombie Honeymoon at a Hollywood Video store and picked it up just for the title. I wasn't expecting much, because on the cover, someone proclaims this a sure-fire cult movie, which is usually the kiss of death, marking that movie as a top candidate for obscurity. I was pleasantly surprised.
The movie tells the story of Denise (Tracy Coogan) and Danny (Graham Sibley). They are on their honeymoon at a rented beach house when Danny is infected by a zombie who comes up out of the surf. In this movie universe, zombies apparently multiply by puking black bile/blood into the mouth of their victim. After doing this, they keel over, so maybe "multiply" is too strong a word. I guess "perpetuate the species" might be closer. Anyway, Danny dies after doctors do everything they can (defibrillate him a couple of times and then proclaim him dead). He wakes up a couple of minutes later, feeling fine. Only problem is, people start disappearing, and one day Denise comes home to find Danny eating a fat jogger in the bathtub. The rest of the movie plays out as Denise tries to decide whether to stick with Danny, of whom she is increasingly frightened, or to leave. Things get gorier and gorier as Danny deteriorates and loses more of himself to zombiehood. I won't give away the ending, but it is interesting, if inevitable.
The movie is billed as a romantic comedy with zombies. If that sounds a bit muddled, so is the movie. It has moments of dark emotion followed by a sight gag followed by a touching conversation. This turns some people off. After watching it, I read some of the comments on IMDB, and people there either trashed it vehemently or else loved it. I enjoyed it quite a bit; the acting is quite good for a low budget movie, the plot is certainly different, and the effects are well done. I could see why zombie movie purists wouldn't like it; there are no roving hordes of the walking dead, so it doesn't exactly fit into the typical zombie movie mold. I've never been into zombie movies all that much (flame me if you must, but I wasn't intrigued at all by Night of the Living Dead--in fact, it bored me), but this one has good characters, a few good laughs, and a few touching moments. I've seen it compared in spirit to Shaun of the Dead, but I don't really see the comparison; SOTD is more of a straight dark comedy than ZH.
As I said, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I'd recommend it if you want something a bit off the beaten path.
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