5/10
Not bad but not particularly good either
9 August 2015
Wuss (Anton Yelchin) works up the courage to break up with his girlfriend (Ashley Greene) but, before he can go through with it, she's hit by a bus and killed. Just as he is about to start a new relationship with another hottie (Alexandra Daddario), the dead girlfriend returns as a zombie.

I had a hard time liking Anton Yelchin's character. He's this wimpy hipster unmotivated guy that I doubt I could stand for five minutes in real life. Surprisingly, there's no mention of his smoking weed as there usually is with characters like this. You're slacking on your clichés, Joe Dante. He also doesn't contribute much in the humor department. That's left on Ashley Greene's shoulders. Oliver Cooper plays Yelchin's half-brother, which is itself supposed to be a joke of some kind. It's repeated throughout the movie despite never being funny. Some people have half-siblings. I don't get what's funny about that. Outside of that 'joke,' he's pretty much the Jonah Hill character. You know, the fat gross guy who is inexplicably attractive to women and whose material is something that was envelope-pushing decades ago but now seems trite. Consider yourself warned he is naked in this so don't eat while watching. As for Ashley Greene, she owns this thing. She delivers all of the movie's laughs and things just seem less interesting when she's off-screen. Sexy Alexandra Daddario is given little to work with but does fine.

I'm glad to see Joe Dante is still around and hasn't completely lost it. I mean, this is nowhere near the stuff he made in his prime, but it's better than anything John Landis has made lately. It's got a lot of the expected Dante touches (perhaps too many), such as old horror movies constantly playing in the background, a moving truck with the name Romero on it, and an amusing guest appearance from Dick Miller. It almost feels like Dante is homaging himself at this point. Aside from these touches, there really is nothing about this that stands out from a thousand other directors with less status. The movie looks as though it could have been made for television, honestly. It's a watchable horror comedy, funny in parts and gross in others. Worth a look but don't expect much.
16 out of 23 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed