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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
John Hughes meets a Zombie flick, October 21, 2008
Dance of the Dead was released by Ghost House Underground, which is sort of their take on the 8 Films to Die For and I suppose the Dimension Extreme label as well. From what I have heard Dance of the Dead was hand picked by Sam Raimi for Ghost House Underground and bottom line is this; you'll either really enjoy Dance of the Dead or hate the movie, while most reviews have been more positive this is the type of movie I can see why many loved it and some hated it. I for one really enjoyed Dance of the Dead and it was exactly what I expected.
Dance of the Dead however is as flawed as it is entertaining and quite honestly not everything works here. There are moments where it's too over the top and seems too forced, but other times certain aspects work and it's highly enjoyable. Despite any flaws in my opinion Dance of the Dead has far more good going for than against it. Think of this movie as a John Hughes movie meets Night of the Living Dead or more like The Return of the Living Dead since Dance of the Dead has a lot more of Return of the Living Dead rather than Night of the Living Dead. Dance of the Dead starts off as more of a teen comedy and like I said something in the style of John Hughes, but than the horror kicks in and it becomes something like a John Hughes movie that meets a zombie flick.
The screenplay written by Joe Ballarini and overall it was quite well done, but not everything he does works well. As stated there are moments that are too over the top and moments that seem a bit forced as if Joe Ballarini was trying a bit too hard. But once the middle sections come his script while already good gets better. The characters aren't the best developed characters we've ever come across, but most of them are likeable. Honestly I actually grew fond of a few of the characters and was hoping they would survive. The characters were a lot of fun and Joe Ballarini does very well with the characters he created. Again despite any flaws with the script it does work well overall.
Director Greg Bishop does a bang up job, but like the script there were moments in his directing where certain aspects just didn't work, but for the most part he does well and crafts a very enjoyable and funny movie. Most of the scenes in Dance of the Dead are played light with little suspense, but more of a comedy. Though with that said there are some fairly suspenseful moments in Dance of the Dead, but most of the scenes are played light and it works great. The pacing is solid and there really aren't any moments where the movie is slow. It pretty much always moves forward and always has the fun level working.
The zombies are cool looking and this one has a mixture of running zombies and slow moving zombies. The zombies are pretty much inspired by those from Return of the Living Dead in many ways you can see Dance of the Dead as a modern day version of Return of the Living Dead. Like I said about aspects not working one in particular was a zombie frog; it was only one brief scene, but that's what I mean about things not working, but thankfully it was only one brief scene and that was the end of it.
The cast was solid and all the actors put in good performances with the highlight for me was seeing Mark Oliver as Coach Keel; Mark Oliver starred in Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland as Tony DeRaro. Mark Oliver pretty much steals the show with his intentional over the top performance as a former military man who goes on a zombie killing spree. James Jarrett as the Gravedigger is a brief role, but very memorable. Again as I stated before the characters were really fun and I was hoping quite a few of them would survive.
The gore level is good and it's a mixture of special make up F/X and CGI, but don't worry any CGI used looks pretty good. It wasn't over used and it was mixed with make up F/X so most of the time you won't really notice the CGI and the way it was shot and edited makes it tougher to notice. I hate CG used in horror flicks, but if used right it could work and it was used right in Dance of the Dead
Dance of the Dead is a movie you'll either love or hate; certain aspects fall a bit flat, but overall in my opinion it was a fun ride, but as I stated before I can easily understand why it's also disliked by some people. But I highly enjoyed this movie and it delivered just what I expected. Don't go into Dance of the Dead expecting to see something totally different; it follows the basic zombie movie formula, but still works well in my opinion and was a fun ride.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best of the Zombie Movies, November 16, 2008
That title may go a bit far, but this one is a hoot. While the tongue is never even slightly out of cheek, and once quite literally, the requisite gore and shock value just add to the fun.
I recommend this movie highly to newcomers and aficionados of the genre.
Two green, twitching, decaying thumbs up!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Darn good fun!!, November 1, 2008
This was a fun movie that did not take itself so seriously as to be over the top. They knew they wanted it to be funny and a little crazy and that's what they made. I liked it and have bought it to add to my collection of comedic horror!
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