DVD REVIEW: AAAH! ZOMBIES!! (2010)

AAAH! ZOMBIES!!  (2010)

STUDIO: MVD Visual
REGION: 0
RATED: R
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
DURATION: 90 Min.
DIRECTOR: Matthew Kohmen
CAST: Matt Davis, Colby French, Julianna Robinsonb, Michael Grant Terry, Betsy Beutler, Richard Riehle, Tracey Walter
TAGLINE: A new perspective on the zombie movie.


PLOT: Zombies. You know 'em, you love 'em. But what do they think of you? In this hilarious twist on the Classic Zombie Tale, we see the world through Zombie eyes when a barrel full of Toxic Goo transforms four friends in to the Walking Dead, and suddenly, it seems every one else has gone mad. In the most unique Zombie story in years, the Zombies embark on a bumbling quest to find the "Truth", completely unaware of their rotting undeadness. After all, Zombies are people too.

FILM: The U.S. military is working on a super-soldier serum but it has the unfortunate side effect of turning it's test subjects into gut-munching zombie fiends. Taking a page from RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD the military decide to dump the unstable serum (labeled as infant formula) but it falls off the back of a transport (unnoticed, of course) and rolls right up to the backdoor of a bowling alley where it is mistaken for a keg of beer by four friends inside, one of whom decides to pour the beer into a soft-serve ice cream machine and they have at it. Oops. After consuming the alcohol infused soft-serve trioxin they writhe in pain and pass out and wake-up undead. Familiar stuff so far but here's the twist. They think everyone else has been infected, not realizing they themselves are zombies. The film is shot from their perspective in black and white for 85% of the film. Herein lies the comedy aspect of the film. They appear normal to each other and are able to communicate to each other but to everyone else they are shambling zombies moaning incoherently - unless the observers are supremely intoxicated, nice touch. To them everyone else appears super-caffeinated and sound like Foamy the Squirrel. Along the way they run into Nick Steel, a military black ops agent who's also infected. The quartet set out to get to the bottom of what's going on and discover new found strengths and a a hunger for human flesh. It's a novel idea and the comedy definitely has it's limits but it's fun stuff. The film could have easily lost 10-15 minutes from it's 90 min. running time to tighten things up a bit but it is what is. 

How they feel.

What they really look like.

The film is well-written and there are actual laughs to be had, it's a fun premise with some good gags throughout. The acting is uniformly good from a cast of young actors and there's a fun cameo from Richard Riehle of OFFICE SPACE (1999) as the cigar chomping Col. South and a brief appearance from REPO MAN (1984) alum Tracey Walter. The effects are definitely done on a dime-budget but the filmmakers didn't overreach their grasp and showed some effective restraint resulting in decent (if mostly gore-less) effects.

DVD: The DVD is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen  with 5.1 surround sound. The films looks quite good with a great soundtrack and good editing. The only supplemental material is a music video by Barricade. Would have loved to had a commentary here.  

VERDICT: A fun zombie-comedy with a unique premise and irreverent spirit. It's great to see that the tired zombie-comedy genre still has some spark left to it. Bonus points for featuring Camper Van Beethoven's "Take the Skinheads Bowling" - great song. I'll  be looking forward to director Matthew Kohnen's next film. Definitely worth a watch. *** (3 out of 5 stars)

AAAH! ZOMBIES!!! Official Site: http://www.aaahzombies.com/

- McBASTARD