Director: Grace
Lee
PLOT: When asked if there
are flesh-eating zombies out there, Joel--an undead political activist--quickly
retorts: "are there flesh-eating humans?" Grace Lee not only directs
American Zombie, but plays herself in the film. She teams up with John Solomon--also
playing himself--to film a documentary project about an undead community living
in L.A. The duo quickly find out that some sort of virus, brought on by a
violent death, is plaguing its residents, and ultimately zombifying an entire
community.
American Zombie is a veritable slice-of-life of four "revenants"--Joel, founder of Z.A.G.: the Zombie Advocacy Group; Judy, who naively searches for true love and denies her zombiness; Ivan, a convenience store clerk who aspires to be a writer; and Lisa, a florist specializing in funeral arrangements for other people--who secretly longs for her own. Each character represents an average person with average emotions and average problems, showing us that the undead aren't too different than the living. Well, except for their rotting flesh, of course.
What's really great about the film is the absolute mockery the protagonists make of themselves. Grace, the ever-so-astute naturalistic documentarian, and John, the bumbling investigative reporter, are at odds with each other throughout the film, and ultimately to a fault. What makes this film not-so-great is twofold: the running time and the conclusion. I think the film would have been better as a short. While it's in-depth look at each character is interesting, I'm not sure if its compelling enough to steer the audience towards anything meaningful. And even worse is the ending, after which, the audience can no longer sympathize with the plight of the community. Unfortunately, what could have been a provocative social commentary, becomes nothing more than a sensationalistic--albeit unique, comedic and funfilled--mockumentary
American Zombie is a veritable slice-of-life of four "revenants"--Joel, founder of Z.A.G.: the Zombie Advocacy Group; Judy, who naively searches for true love and denies her zombiness; Ivan, a convenience store clerk who aspires to be a writer; and Lisa, a florist specializing in funeral arrangements for other people--who secretly longs for her own. Each character represents an average person with average emotions and average problems, showing us that the undead aren't too different than the living. Well, except for their rotting flesh, of course.
What's really great about the film is the absolute mockery the protagonists make of themselves. Grace, the ever-so-astute naturalistic documentarian, and John, the bumbling investigative reporter, are at odds with each other throughout the film, and ultimately to a fault. What makes this film not-so-great is twofold: the running time and the conclusion. I think the film would have been better as a short. While it's in-depth look at each character is interesting, I'm not sure if its compelling enough to steer the audience towards anything meaningful. And even worse is the ending, after which, the audience can no longer sympathize with the plight of the community. Unfortunately, what could have been a provocative social commentary, becomes nothing more than a sensationalistic--albeit unique, comedic and funfilled--mockumentary
UGLY
MOLLY RATING:
Six Brains
…A great documentary film
For
documentary style, this is fun. It gets off to a very dull, boring start…But
don’t all documentaries? It is worth it to watch this one to the end. It is a
dry humor, but it is funny and fun! I loved Lisa’s way of dealing with the loud
neighbors! Oh yes, the end is worth the wait. Very entertaining in its own
right, and most excellent for documentary style, without all the annoying
camera bouncing that a lot of documentaries try to use to ‘make it seem real’.
I liked it and thought that the ending really made it worth it, and I enjoyed
the voids…lol…Especially when you watch Zombie Strippers and Ms. Goth chick
gets on her ‘Stars’ speech. That makes it even funnier!
Budget:
$1,000,000
Gross:
Opening weekend $3,126
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