Blu-ray Review: BUCK WILD (2013)

BUCK WILD (2013)

Label: Millennium Entertainment
Region: A
Duration: 96 Minutes
Rating: Unrated
Audio: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Video: 1080p Widescreen
Director:

Buck Wild (2013) is a pretty damn corny zombie-comedy featuring four 20-somethings friends on a weekend deer hunting trip who just happen to find themselves smack dab in the middle a hillbilly zombie outbreak in Southern Texas. What causes this articular outbreak of the undead is a nasty bite from the dreaded Chupacabra, that's right, the dreaded Mexican goat sucker of legend makes a very brief, bug-eyed appearance early on and then disappears from the scene altogether once the events are set in motion. 

We have three bros lead by super-nice guy Craig, the sensitive and sweet one of the bunch. Then we have his two friends, one of 'em is uptight while the other is a typical male whore who's secretly banging Craig's fiance on the side. Also along for the ride is Craig's cousin visiting from New York who could possibly be on the run from Johnny Law back East, a survivalist of sorts, a nut job who knows his way around a weapon and loves to quote philosophy at every turn. 

The jokes come fast and furious, it a case of quantity over quality but there's some decent jokes and comical situations throughout with an over abundance of rural-folk jokes. As self aware horror-comedies go there are much worse offenders, but this is definitely a film that realizes it's a horror film. Side characters include the murderous psycho-father of a redneck nympho, a forest service ranger with an attitude and a ridiculous Southern-fried pimp with a nutty accent. Sometimes it feels overstuffed with weirdos just for sake of weirdness but I did enjoy this one quite a bit despite it's issues, it's disposable entertainment but sometimes that's what I need, not every zombie movie is gonna be Dawn of the Dead.

We have plenty of blood but not a ton of gore, this one is definitely more self-aware comedy than grotesque horror though we do get some decent lo-fi zombie make-up effects and the production value is fairly consistent. The story is loaded with filler and the characters are about as deep as a puddle but depending on what you expect from a zom-com there's enough here to enjoy to warrant a rental but probably not enough juice to recommend a purchase. 2.5 Outta 5 

DVD Review: GEORGE: A ZOMBIE INTERVENTION (2009)

GEORGE: A ZOMBIE INTERVENTION (2009)

LABEL: Vicious Circle Films
REGION CODE: 1 NTSC
RATING: Unrated
DURATION: 93mins
AUDIO: English Dolby Digital Stereo
VIDEO: 16:9 Anamorphic (1.78:1)
DIRECTOR: T.J. Seaton
CAST: Peterr Stickles, Michele Tomlinson, Lynn Lowry, Carlos Larkin, Shannon Hadson, Eric Dean

J.T. Seaton's debut feature film GEORGE: A ZOMBIE INTERVENTION is a quirky indie zombie comedy the likes of which I haven't quite seen before. The films sets up straight away that zombies are a fact of life, not all zombies are flesh-eating lunatics and some can actually be productive members of society. This conceit is set up through a fun and ingenious PSA styled advert at the top of the film.

We then meet the focus of the film, a zombie named George (Carlos Larkin) who's definitely not what you would call a productive member of society, dead or alive, he's a bit of a slacker zombie who lounges around his home in a bathrobe and a tie-dye t-shirt watching TV and occasionally gnawing on a human from time to time. It's this appetite for human flesh that has his best friend Ben (Pete Stickles, SHORTBUS), sister Frannie (Shannon Hodson), ex-girlfriend Sarah (Michelle Tomlinson, BRAIN DEAD) and her douche bag boyfriend Steve (Eric Dean, OFFICE OF THE DEAD) concerned. Fearing that George may be turning to the dark side of zombiedom they stage an intervention at his home with the charmingly inept interventionist Barbra (Lynn Lowry, THE CRAZIES) presiding over the event.

While George attempts to evade his well meaning friends and family his hunger for flesh human grows and when the group take a time out from the intervention people start turning up dead around the house including a couple of Mormon missionaries, some ditzy strippers and a door to door salesman who ends up a prisoner in the basement where the bodies keep piling up. The thing about a only half eaten corpse is that it tends to become a zombies themselves which proves problematic to the proceedings.

I gotta say I really enjoyed this flick, it's smartly written and capably acted. Carlos Larkin as the slacker zombie George is a ton of fun, such a likable guy even when he's sinking his teeth into a nice slab of stripper breast looking like Sylvester with a mouth full of Tweety when he's caught. It was a treat glimpsing Lynn Lowry of SHIVER, THE CRAZIES and SCORE as the interventionist and Troma impresario Lloyd Kaufman appears in one of his patented cameos. The group dynamic totally works, the dialogue really is quite funny while there are horror elements this is a straight up situational zom-com with loads of deadpan humor.

DVD: The screener from Vicious Circle Films presents the film in 16:9 widescreen (1.78:1) with English language Dolby Digital stereo, with no subtitles. It's a bare bones disc and did not include any of the special features which include director's commentary, featurette, alternate takes, deleted scenes and a short film.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Deleted/Alternate Scenes
- Cast and Crew Commentary
- Behind-the-Scenes Footage
- Zombie Rehab Center - Group Therapy
- Lloyd Kaufman Alternate Takes and Bloopers
- "Sunday on the Street with George" - Short Film

VERDICT: First time feature length director J.T. Seaton has crafted a fun, quirky zom-com that manages not to quirk itself right into the realm of annoying which is a rare feat. Zombie purist may scoff at this irreverent take on the tired zombie genre but if you enjoyed FIDO, AAAH! ZOMBIES or SHAUN OF THE DEAD this should prove entertaining, it's not rewriting the zom-com but it's a fun entry in the sub-genre. 3.5/5